thetylerhayes

Hi there! I've been observing some Google Alerts lately related to computer repair, etc. and kept noticing Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help pop up in my alerts. So, I decided to register and help members here with some of my own expertise. Oh, and I also own a computer repair company in Minneapolis called The Simple Service. I'm a recently graduated student from St. Olaf College just this year, but have been running the business for about 5 years now. I already took the name of my company out of my signature because it's against forum rules, but hopefully I won't have to take it out of this post as I feel it helps to introduce me and why I'm so happy to have joined this forum! Hope I can be of some help around these parts :) Don't put Twinkies on your pizza, Tyler

Chris, When opening/minimizing/maximizing new programs, it's normal for the CPU to spike. If it's hovering around 8-13%, then you're CPU is in the clear. This time, open your Task Manager -> select the View menu -> select "Select Columns". Put a check mark in 2 options: 1) "Memory - Working Set" and 2) "Memory - Private Working Set". Then sort those columns like you did with the CPU column, and post the top 5 highest stats for each column. A few other things: - When you say "extremely slow," how slow do you mean? For example, how long does it take to start the computer? How long to log in? How long before all the applications in the taskbar are loaded? How long to open your web browser? How long to open this website? - Is it just as slow in safe mode?

Looks like Chris and I posted around the same time, sorry for asking the question after you'd answered it! Anyway, Chris, open up your Task Manager and click the Processes tab. Click the "CPU" column so that it sorts tasks by CPU usage. Are there any taking more than 03-05 (meaning 3-5% of your CPU)? Keep in mind, many processes will jump around from 05-15 or so, and fairly quickly. You're looking for anything that is consistently over 10-20.

Chris, You don't need to defrag, unless somehow you have a 1TB primary drive that somehow fragments to Hell and back when you format (a little excessive, but you get the point). Even if you did a "quick format," you'd want to defrag before adding to many files to the system; but, it's not critical. I don't recall Chris actually saying which version of Vista he had. Chris, could you tell us if you actually did install Vista Business, or if it's a different version? Bottom Line: Do you need Vista? If you have such a formatting addiction, why not just format and go back to XP? That way, as well, you'd know if this system slow-down is a result of Vista or if it's truly your hardware. It's only another 20-30 minutes of your time, and would benefit you greatly at this point, it sounds like.