an uninterpretable problem...

[jamesbrown]

Dear All,

 

This a problem which has been really eating at me recently.

 

My home build pc is a 2.40Ghz, 4GB RAM, 1.5TB space, Nvidia 9800GT, windows vista ultimate 64-bit pc.

 

As you can see it is a pretty powerful system...so why is it so slow?

 

I am NOT using up exessive amounts of disk space.

 

Now before you start telling me about viruses and malware I have scanned! with several different programs!

 

And YES i have defragmented the hardrive!

 

And YES i have sorted the registry out with CCleaner...so what is the problem?

 

I've had this system for over a year, i also have a laptop with a lower specification which i have owned for longer...but the laptop is faster than the homebuild...why?

 

When i look in task manager there does not appear to be anything hogging the cpu, the RAM is not overloaded (although vista is typically using over a gigabyte), and i have 800GB free space on my hard disk.....so what could possibly be slowing it down.

 

I have done scan after scan and nothing seems to be helping.

 

I can reinstall the operating system but that is a last resort because it will take ages and ruin my workspace.

 

Please help, i'm in a state of desperation!

[DSTM]

Hi James. Has this slowness been there from Day 1,or did the System slow suddenly.?

[jamesbrown]

Like any new system it was very fast to begin with, and admittedly it has got slower with time.

 

Is it possible to install many applications without a compromise on performance?

[DSTM]

I don't believe so.

I have had conflicking Programs slowing my OS down.

I would not be cleaning the Registry.

Only absolutely necessary programs running in start up.

If your R.A.M. is set correctly,your Browser Cache empty,nothing odd showing in Event Viewer,

no site checking programs running,then it may be the No of programs installed.

A guru here may have another opinion, on what could be causing your slowness.:)

[Match]

Hi James

 

First what Antivirus do you have running, AVG by any chance?

 

Second here is a link to a site with a few tips that you've missed to check

 

Optimize Windows Vista for better performance

[RandyL]

Nice link Match.

[Dalo Harkin]

When you say its slow, do you mean gaming performance? or just general usage?

4GB of ram is ideal, but is it configured correctly to run at full specification you could have the fastest RAM in the world and not configured correctly would be like old DDR400 :D

 

Dont run defrags as they can often hinder more than they help regardless what anyone says. and as for reg cleaners the same is true.

 

check you have all the drivers for your devices in device manager and also check how many processes are running in windows and at start up.

for startup type msconfig into a cmd window then on the furthest right there is a startup tab - click on that and it will show whats loading at startup (dont untick things willy nilly though :eek:)

[jamesbrown]

Hi James

 

First what Antivirus do you have running, AVG by any chance?

 

Second here is a link to a site with a few tips that you've missed to check

 

Optimize Windows Vista for better performance

 

 

Thanks for the link i will check that out. No i'm not running AVG. I have used it in the past and during that time i did get viruses on another machine i had that was running it, so i no longer use it.

 

I'm using norton :( which i know does affect performance but at the end of the day am i protected? I bought the version of norton i have. I also have the full version of malware bytes.

 

Is avira a good one to use?

[jamesbrown]

When you say its slow, do you mean gaming performance? or just general usage?

 

I mean general usage. It performs fantastically for games...but it is slow in the sense that it is now taking longer to open files, start programs, log in, perform tasks.

[Match]

Is avira a good one to use?

Personally I swear by Avast at the moment :D But that could change tomorrow :p

 

But Avira is just as good if not better, depends on your opinion.

 

One thing I do know is that Norton is renowned for being heavy on resources, although some say they fixed this in the 2009 edition, but as I have not tried that I can't really say or comment.

 

It performs fantastically for games...but it is slow in the sense that it is now taking longer to open files, start programs, log in, perform tasks.

This makes me think that you may have a HDD issue, however I will wait on Godlo Harkin to comment, Did I just say Godlo, I meant Dalo, say things like that and his ego will be to big for the planet :p

 

But he does have more Expertise than I :D

[jamesbrown]

This makes me think that you may have a HDD issue

 

If it was an HDD issue, surely my disks would have crashed making any task impossible?

[Match]

If it was an HDD issue, surely my disks would have crashed making any task impossible?

 

I think you misunderstood, although the symptoms you describe can be the start of a failing HDD, they can also be caused through Boot and Disk Management files being corrupt, or windows registry issues, as you don't mention the HDD is making funny noises I doubt your HDD is heading for a terminal failure.

 

But Dalo's knowledge on this is greater than mine and I advise waiting on his next post, although that may depend on how busy he is with work ;)

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, just one minor thing comes to mind, you state the CPU is 2.4Ghz, but we don't know what make, or whether it is single core, dual core or quad.

If by some silly mistake at start of build and it is only single core, the minute you put something on the computer and giving the CPU something to do, it would be slow.

Hopefully it is a quad core and we can rule that out.

Nev.

[Dalo Harkin]

James,

 

Did you have a look in the startup items? and device manager?

 

These 2 things if not running smoothly can absolutely cripple performance

 

And dont worry Match, I know you think I am great :)