More slow PCs! (XP)

[judierudie]

My PC is slow after ive just turned it on. It can take upto 15 minutes before i can open a window. Any idea wht might be causing this? Ive deleted all temp internet files.

Cheers

Jude

[Tony D]

Could be something in the Startup Items and Services, could be the hard drive.

 

Start your machine in Safe Mode - this is done by tappipng the F8 key while starting up and choosing Safe Mode. If it runs nicely, then it's something in the Startup Items and Services.

 

If it still runs slow, it may be the hard drive.

 

Get back to us and let us know what you find out.

[judierudie]

Hi Kelly,

Thanks. Ill let you know Monday as im out of the office now. Enjoy your weekend.

Jude

[AdvancedSetup]

Hi Jude,

 

Since you say you're not in the office I'm assuming this is a Company PC. In that case it would typically be more prudent to have someone in your IT department look at the PC.

 

If that's not the case then let us know and we'll assist you.

[judierudie]

Hi,

No its not a company PC. Ive tried a few things over the weekend with no joy. I did a disc defrag amongst other things. It still takes 15+ mins before i can open any windows. Once ive opened a window everything is fine. Help gratefully received. Cheers Jude

[Guest Wolfeymole]

What else did you try over the weekend besides defrag Judie?

[judierudie]

Hi I did the Disc Clean Up , deleted all empty folders, got rid of all unused programs and shortcuts and cleared out all temp files. Now im stuck

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Did you go into Search and delete all remaining remnants of the files dumped.

 

You'd be amazed at what can still be left behind.

[judierudie]

Ill give it a try when i get home. I know in being stupid here but what do i put in the search? Cheers Jude

[Guest Wolfeymole]

What ever the program was called, make sure you look in hidden files and folders too.

[Jamey]

Hi Jude

 

It'd be more prudent to use a tool such as Ad-Aware or Spybot - Search & Destroy. They both are designed to weed out various malicious pieces of software in two different ways. Combined, they nearly always clear out the problem.

 

Download, install and then run the update feature in each of the programs. Don't run them at the same time, just one after the other. Remove/quarantine everything that is found unless you're sure it's something genuine. A good way of doing it is: download, install and updates these programs but then reboot into Safe Mode and run them. This gives them a better chance at removing whatever is found.

 

HTH :)

[Seth]

Kelly was right on the money.

 

That is, chances are it's too many needless startup items, or errors on the hard drive.

 

For hard drive errors, go to Start>Run>type in chkdsk /r and press ok. There is a space between the K and the /. Type Y at the black screen and restart the computer. Once the check is complete, the computer will start normally.

 

If that doesn't help, we would need to see the state of your software by running a program called HijackThis:

 

http://www.merijn.org/files/HiJackThis_v2.exe

 

Once downloaded, double click on the icon and choose "Scan". Copy and paste the whole log back into this thread.

[judierudie]

Cheers guys ill give all this try tonight and update you tomorrow.

[judierudie]

Hi Guys, Ive done what youve said and it has speeded up, got it down from 15 mins to 5. Cant download HijackThis yet as not got internet access due to faulty driver. Can i ask about that here or do i start another thread?

Cheers Jude

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Like I mentioned here with regard to your sound driver Judie it may be that you may be missing certain drivers

 

What is the model number of your of your Compaq?

 

Have a look at the list here

[judierudie]

Hi its a Compag Presario 5190. I had a look at the list and it only bought up a Graphics Driver. Ive gone into Device Management and still cant resolve it.

[AdvancedSetup]

Please see your other post about the modem driver.

 

What operating system is running on this PC ?

[judierudie]

Hi its running on Windows XP Home

[Tony D]

How long does it take to start in Safe Mode?

[judierudie]

Hi Kelly,

 

In Safe Mode there are no delays whatsoever. Thats why its doing my head in! Would it be worth while saving all my important files to disk and doing a destructive system recovery?

[RandyL]

Hi Judie;

Kelly wanted you to boot into safe mode to determine if this was hardware or software related. Probably suspects startup programs or services that cause the long boot time.

 

To summarize so far:

It seems from a different post you did a non-destructive recovery.

http://extremetechsupport.com/forum/t1504-Undoing-System-Recovery

 

This type of recovery might leave many programs installed and all running at startup.Compaq/HP have a lot of their own. In safe mode they would not load thus the faster boot time. This is a clue kelly wanted.

 

It appears you ran spybot and adaware per jamey and his links above. I would also run a virus scan and SuperAntiSpyware scan http://www.superantispyware.com/ since I don't know what may have been left behind by the non-destructive recovery.

 

So the boot time has gone from 15 minutes to 5.

In safe mode it boots great.

 

Make sure you follow through with malware issues. Then it's time to deal with startup items as also suggested above.

 

RandyL

[judierudie]

Cheers Randy , problem is i cant get on the internet on the PC in question as it is not allowing me to install any drivers.

[Seth]

You mentioned doing a back up and a full recovery. If you're familiar with this procedure, then that would be a good option considering the driver problems and likely malware infections.

 

Drivers that are included with XP will not appear on the Compaq site, but you may also have a separate cd that say's something like Drivers and Utilities that can be used. If not, go into Device Manager, right click the network card and choose Uninstall. Restart the computer and let XP automatically find the driver (ditto with sound).

 

If that doesn't work, I'd go for the full recovery.

[judierudie]

Thanks for all your help guys. If it doesnt work now i think ill have to buy a new one!