slow pc

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 8:59 pm

My PC has becoming increasing slow over the past year to the point I can't put up w/ it any more. I've been looking at cleaners for the registry and junk files in general. There are several choices out there, but I wanted to hit up the PC experts on the forums before I spend my money blindly.

What's recommended for getting a PC back into better working order?

Dustin Fredrickson · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:18 pm

Windows? Reinstall. Pain In the Butt, but works.

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Get this for the Registry and Browser Cleanup
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Get this for Deframenting
http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html

After you're done with those see if it runs any better.

Also some software in general is a pig and certain version are terrible. Like Java. Some versions are horrible. Also Roxio Cd Create. The older versions are horrible. Their drivers just kill a system. There are more. It depends on what version of the OS you have, what patch level are you at? How much internet junk have you downloaded...

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:25 pm

The best solution is to reinstall the whole system. However this is extreamly time consuming. I would recommend deleting any unneeded programs or files and then run the built in disk defray. I don't recommend any registry things as the registry has alwas been a deep dark place that even the experts are scared to go. I will let the more experts recommend programs as I always reinstall.

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:31 pm

JasonWatts wrote:

The best solution is to reinstall the whole system. However this is extreamly time consuming. I would recommend deleting any unneeded programs or files and then run the built in disk defray. I don't recommend any registry things as the registry has alwas been a deep dark place that even the experts are scared to go. I will let the more experts recommend programs as I always reinstall.

oh. And do you have active and up to date anti virus? Worms a nd viruses can Destroy your speed.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:44 pm

I guess I should have stated what I have. Windows XP pro, never liked Vista, but considering 7 in the near future. Auto update feature is turned on, so I get a visit from microsoft after every 2nd Tuesday of the month. A clean reinstall of the OS is not an option since I want a new PC next year, just need to get this one running better.

Also running corp version of symantec w/ auto updates. I try to protect myself by running adaware every month and running zone alarm along w/ cisco wireless router configured not to broadcast. I'll trash the stuff I don't use and defrag. What I'm really looking for is a good reg cleaner.

Chris Halweg · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:00 pm

Look at your processes (ctl+alt+del) and see what is hogging resources.

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

RodneyWright wrote:

I guess I should have stated what I have. Windows XP pro, never liked Vista, but considering 7 in the near future. Auto update feature is turned on, so I get a visit from microsoft after every 2nd Tuesday of the month. A clean reinstall of the OS is not an option since I want a new PC next year, just need to get this one running better.

Also running corp version of symantec w/ auto updates. I try to protect myself by running adaware every month and running zone alarm along w/ cisco wireless router configured not to broadcast. I'll trash the stuff I don't use and defrag. What I'm really looking for is a good reg cleaner.

defrag won't do jack for performance. symantec products are a cure that's worse than the disease. and zone alarm is similar to symantec, running both is like buying brand new wiper blades and applying rainx at the same time.

nuke and pave is the only answer. then install firefox and never ever run IE again. ditto with thunderbird and outlook. install f-prot AV, it's cheap, lightweight, and it works as well as anything else. create a no-admin-privs user and use it. don't download and install random crap. and why get a new pc? even a 3-5 year old PC with a proper XP install and setup is good enough for 95% of people, and the remaining 5% are usually satisfied with an upgraded video card and more ram. vista/7 do nothing but add more layers of slowness and drm.

or just install linux.

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:18 pm

Jason Tower wrote:

defrag won't do jack for performance. symantec products are a cure that's worse than the disease. and zone alarm is similar to symantec, running both is like buying brand new wiper blades and applying rainx at the same time.

nuke and pave is the only answer. then install firefox and never ever run IE again. ditto with thunderbird and outlook. install f-prot AV, it's cheap, lightweight, and it works as well as anything else. create a no-admin-privs user and use it. don't download and install random crap. and why get a new pc? even a 3-5 year old PC with a proper XP install and setup is good enough for 95% of people, and the remaining 5% are usually satisfied with an upgraded video card and more ram. vista/7 do nothing but add more layers of slowness and drm.

or just install linux.

Jason,

I disagree in part to you defrag comment. I have seen substantial gain's off of a VERY fragmented systems. and I have seen no visual gain's off of systems as well. I always tell people to defrag a system when they are asking how to speed up their computer, because more times than not, it hasnt been done since XP was first installed.

Though I agree that Symantec isnt the best, its clearly better than nothing.

I also agree that most people dont need more than win XP to get the job done... but windows & isnt that bad, I actually like it on my pc (thats very capable of handeling the extra layers of slowness). Linux is a good choise for someone that doesnt mind helping their OS out... someone who just wants something to work... windows still takes that one hands down (I admit this very sadly).

im sure we will just have to agree to disagree instead of starting a nice long 20 page thread :lol:

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:21 pm

For whatever it's worth, Norton Internet Security 2010 appears to be a heck of a lot more lightweight than its predecessors were. At this moment, task manager reports two Symantec processes running, consuming approx. 14K of memory between the two of them. I don't think that's so bad. I bought this version at Costco; $30 with a coupon, license for 3 PCs. I like it so far.

Anyway, Rodney, if it's cruising the web that seems to have slowed down, try using Google Chrome as a web browser. My new laptop came with Chrome set to be the default browser. By comparison, the Firefox machine in the other room feels like it's on dialup. The difference is staggering.

I'm with the others that a reinstall is probably the right play, but for a short term fix for cruising the web, check out Chrome.

Jason Tower · **Joined:** Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:31 pm **Posts:** 1173

JasonWatts wrote:

Jason,

I disagree in part to you defrag comment. I have seen substantial gain's off of a VERY fragmented systems. and I have seen no visual gain's off of systems as well. I always tell people to defrag a system when they are asking how to speed up their computer, because more times than not, it hasnt been done since XP was first installed.

Though I agree that Symantec isnt the best, its clearly better than nothing.

I also agree that most people dont need more than win XP to get the job done... but windows & isnt that bad, I actually like it on my pc (thats very capable of handeling the extra layers of slowness). Linux is a good choise for someone that doesnt mind helping their OS out... someone who just wants something to work... windows still takes that one hands down (I admit this very sadly).

im sure we will just have to agree to disagree instead of starting a nice long 20 page thread :lol:

defrag used to be more effective back when fat32 was the prevalent filesystem, however ntfs is less susceptible to fragmentation performance degradation. telling people to run defrag is one of the little tricks that IT folks use when someone complains about a slow system but we don't really want to be bothered, it's the next step following "have you rebooted three times?" but hey, it's free and easy to run so knock yourself out, certainly can't hurt anything.

and yes, chrome is very fast on javascript heavy pages (that's why google released it, their pages tend to be js-intensive and chrome chews thru them nicely). but it has its share of issues, not always rendering things quite as it should, and lacks the large number of plugins that make firefox so useful. but a very good suggestion and definitely worth trying.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Wed Dec 02, 2009 10:53 pm

Jason Tower wrote:

and yes, chrome is very fast on javascript heavy pages (that's why google released it, their pages tend to be js-intensive and chrome chews thru them nicely). but it has its share of issues, not always rendering things quite as it should, and lacks the large number of plugins that make firefox so useful. but a very good suggestion and definitely worth trying.

Yeah, if someone is big into FF plugins, Chrome isn't really there yet. There are a handful, but nowhere near the number available for Firefox. I didn't use any FF plugins, so I don't notice any difference.

Jason's right that occasionally, Chrome will render pages improperly. So far, though, that is proving a rare occurrence. An Amazon product page freaked out on me yesterday, and this very forum has the buttons (B, I, U, Quote, etc) text shifted to the right about three pixels. If you're a touch typist who uses Shift plus the cursor arrows to select blocks of text in a form field (like the one I'm typing this in now), that needs a little work. I've submitted bugs on all these already.

Rodney, if you're going to reinstall, allow me to cast a vote of confidence for Windows 7. I've been on it for a couple weeks now, and am very impressed with it.

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:05 am

RodneyWright wrote:

I guess I should have stated what I have. Windows XP pro, never liked Vista, but considering 7 in the near future. Auto update feature is turned on, so I get a visit from microsoft after every 2nd Tuesday of the month. A clean reinstall of the OS is not an option since I want a new PC next year, just need to get this one running better.

Also running corp version of symantec w/ auto updates. I try to protect myself by running adaware every month and running zone alarm along w/ cisco wireless router configured not to broadcast. I'll trash the stuff I don't use and defrag. What I'm really looking for is a good reg cleaner.

I guess I should further explain what I have PC wise. This is a Dell 4500 purchased back in early '02. It's a pentium 4, 1.8ghz w/ 1g of ram, fairly thin by todays standards. Like I said, I'm looking for a new PC w/ windows 7. Right now I just want to get this a little faster. A reinstall is NOT an option....

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

Rodney,

That CCleaner and the Smart Defragger are free. As for not touching the Registry because it is voodoo. Ah, BS... Run the cleaner. Uninstal every piece of crap on your system you don't need.

Same on the defrag. A smarted defragger does file placement along with cleanup. They are worth running a pass once a month. Not just a lazy IT answer Jason. NTFS handles fragmentation better than FAT16 sure. But it is not a miracle. Neither is ext3, vxfs, ufs on Unix. They all get dirty. The only one that would supposedly not be defragged is ZFS under Solaris. However that does self house cleaning. Eventually it will clutter up and suck too.

1GB of memory. Put another 1GB in there. It's cheap on an older box.

There is also a ton of crap under C:\WINNT\... that you would have to manually delete. Windows is notorious for leaving shit in there forever. Log files etc. All the patches under C:\WINNT\$hf_mig$ can be canned. There is plenty more. Also under C:\Documents and settings\your userid\local settings\temp\*.* . Delete it all.

Yeah tell IE to do the cleanup of all scratch files, cookies, etc. Then install Firefox and run that.

Re-install from scratch is the best but way too time consuming. But you have to do some dirty work cleanup yourself if not.

Windows 7 is not bad. I have a dual boot running that and Ubuntu 9.10 (Linux). I like both. Linux is limited on certain apps. Depends on your needs. Windows 7 is supposedly Vista that actually works. Same interface per say. Just don't get carried away with all the toys and background junk. Keep it simple. It lasts longer...

Just another lazy IT guy...

Graham

RobLupella · **Posted:** Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:39 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

My PC has becoming increasing slow over the past year to the point I can't put up w/ it any more. I've been looking at cleaners for the registry and junk files in general. There are several choices out there, but I wanted to hit up the PC experts on the forums before I spend my money blindly.

What's recommended for getting a PC back into better working order?

Buy a Mac

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