XP running SLLLOOOWWW

[mysterio2099]

System Information:
Windows XP Home (all updates including SP2)
1.1 Ghz Celeron (ouch )
128 RAM
18 GB HDD (13 free)

I have Norton Antivirus (up-to-date) and Ad-aware SE (up-to-date) on this computer. I've ran both multiple times. There was some spyware/adware and whatnot that have been deleted, but no viruses. I've ran defragmentation to get all the fragments out, and I have upped the virtual memory to 2 GB.

I have taken off the background, changed the windows "skin" to standard windows (classic, whatever you wish to call it), and disabled a lot of extra things like windows fading, etc, etc.

This computer runs slower than a high and drunk turtle

I have no clue what is going on with this thing. I haven't saw a computer run this slow since I was on a 500 Mhz computer (which still runs faster than this one...yes..I still use that bad boy )

Please help

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by mysterio2099 System Information: Windows XP Home (all updates including SP2) 1.1 Ghz Celeron (ouch ) 128 RAM 18 GB HDD (13 free) I have Norton Antivirus (up-to-date) and Ad-aware SE (up-to-date) on this computer. I've ran both multiple times. There was some spyware/adware and whatnot that have been deleted, but no viruses. I've ran defragmentation to get all the fragments out, and I have upped the virtual memory to 2 GB. I have taken off the background, changed the windows "skin" to standard windows (classic, whatever you wish to call it), and disabled a lot of extra things like windows fading, etc, etc. This computer runs slower than a high and drunk turtle I have no clue what is going on with this thing. I haven't saw a computer run this slow since I was on a 500 Mhz computer (which still runs faster than this one...yes..I still use that bad boy ) Please help

Assuming you have no viruses, spyware, etc. about the only thing that might help is adding more memory-as much as you can afford and the board can accomodate.

[mysterio2099]

That's what I was thinking. The only thing I don't understand is XP says there's 33 MB or so left in physical memory, but it's already using 190 MB or so of the virtual memory....

Either way, this 'puter is slow... I guess I'll be hunting for 10 GB of RAM lol (oh yes...10 GB )

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

First of all - increasing the virtual memory to 2Gb is not a very good idea. Change it back to something like 512Mb, or 756Mb.

What version of Norton is it? If it is 2004 it is known as a huge resource hog. It might be worth switching to AVG ( www.grisoft.com ) and seeing if the problem continues.

Have you disabled services? www.blackviper.com has an excellent guide on it.

I second perhaps adding some more ram, if you can afford it, Windows XP really likes 256mb or more, although it doesn't run as slowly as you describe on 128mb.

Also run a antivirus scan at housecall.trendmicro.com and you do have some form of firewall protection don't you?

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by mysterio2099 That's what I was thinking. The only thing I don't understand is XP says there's 33 MB or so left in physical memory, but it's already using 190 MB or so of the virtual memory.... Either way, this 'puter is slow... I guess I'll be hunting for 10 GB of RAM lol (oh yes...10 GB )

Keep in mind that your HD is far slower than you cpu and memory. When the CPU has to start grabbing programs from the HD instead of memory this will really slow things down. Again, as previous poster said you need to use less VM and get some additional memory sticks.

[Panama Red]

Force Flow offers some good tips in this article.

http://www.pcmech.com/show/optimize/677/

Hardware wise, increasing memory to the 512mb area tends to offer the biggest improvement to XP. Second option is to switch to a 7200rpm, 8mb cache hard drive. That will show a very noticeable performance improvement over a 5400rpm, 2mb unit. A possible software improvement is the additon of Intel's Application Accelerator. Check to see if your Chipset qualifies first.

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...?ProductID=663

I agree with WTBF, Norton '04 is a resource hog and is reportedly quite buggy. I'm running Norton 2003 on one machine without noticeable delays compared to my others that are running AVG.

[glc]

128mb of ram is just nowhere near enough to run XP acceptably, especially with a memory resident antivirus installed. I have Win2K on my old P233 laptop with 128mb ram, and the minute I turn on NAV2003 autoprotect, it turns into a bowl of Jello. In my opinion, 256mb is the practical minimum for acceptable XP performance and I recommend 512mb to all my customers.

No need to call a 1.1 GHz Celeron "ouch" - this is plenty of CPU for a machine that's not doing heavy crunching.