XP Performance Slow...

[ScurrilousPrune]

Hey guys,
My XP performance has been crap lately. I have a relatively high-end computer and I ran disk defrag and everything. Everything just takes longer to load, like more than any other computer I've used. I use this system mostly for gaming, the specs are in my sig. I have about 34GB left on my 80GB hard drive, I just installed the latest video drivers, ran defrag, installed Battlefield 1942, and changed my graphic-heavy themes to Classic theme. Even when I right click on My Computer it takes about 15 seconds and freezes, but once I do it and let it sit idle it works fine. I think its a memory problem. Any ideas/suggestions?

[Markoman01027]

Hello ScurrilousPrune,
Sounds like a Memory Leak Problem. First, you need to "End Process" one program at a time until the problem is solved. If that does not do anything, run a Spyware scan. Go to downloads.com and look for "Spybot Search and Destroy" run a spyware scan, remove all spyware found. Then what you want to do, is remove any old entries in the registry that you have. Unused registry entries just take up space and will slow down your computer. Regclean is a great program from Microsoft that scans your registry and fixes the errors that it has. You can also find that on downloads.com
First try those solutions. If those do not help. Post back!

[mike breck]

What HD do you have and how many partitions?

Download the diagnostic software from the manufacturer's website and run it on the HD to make sure it's still in good shape.

As well as programs, you might want to have a look at reducing uneeded services as well:

http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/strangeservice.htm

I think it is normal to expect the seek times to reduce as the HD fills up. After all, the initial data will be written to the fastest part of the HD and then as you slowly fill up the HD, it will be written to the middle and end areas.

I also think the partition and directory structure will affect seek times. The more complex and "deep" the directories are (e.g. lots of levels of sub-folders) , the longer it will take to find data.

However, having a larger cache would tend to counteract this.

Perhaps others with experience of larger HDs (80-120GB) might like to comment on performance as the HD fills up past the half-way mark.

[Cricket]

Maybe this has something to do with your performance problems.

Cricket

[ScurrilousPrune]

Thanks guys,
I did as Markoman said and ran a spyware and registry clean. I also heard about that update on Techtv but I didn't think I downloaded it because it was for Windows Messenger and I don't use it. It turns out I installed it anyway, so I deleted it. Everything runs way smoother. I think my HD is just an ordinary Dell, I was thinking about saving up for that WD "Special Edition" drive with 8mb cahce for a secondary. I think I'm just used to the Win2k LAN near my old school cause all they have are a couple games on them. Thanks alot.

[Markoman01027]

Congrats ScurrilousPrune! Glad to see everything is working! Damn Patch!!

[Cricket]

Here's a webpage that discusses the patch problem incase anyone else is having problems after using Window Update.

Cricket

[mike breck]

Nice one Cricket.

XP sure likes (or doesn't like in this case) it's patches and fixes.