Comp not as fast as it used to be...

[SuffocateMyMind]

Hi, I got a Dell Optiplex GX620 a little over a year ago and it was running great and fast up until about a month ago. It has: Pentium 4 HT 3.00GHz, 1GB of RAM running on Windows XP Pro SP2.

I've noticed that the CPU usage is a lot higher than it used to be, it's usually at about 10-20% usage with a few programs open, when it used to run at 1-2% with the same things open. I've also noticed that there have been a lot of processes open, usually over 45 and i'm not sure what most of them are, one especially called svchost.exe, theres usually over 4 of them running with high mem usage.

Can anyone help or point me to a guide on how to stop unneccesary processes.

 

[jjsevdt]

I'm not telling you this is your best option, but I would do a clean install of windows. It's a pain in the A$$, but I do it at least twice a year and I have no problems. Of course I have to ask the obvious.

Do you scan for ad/spyware?
Do you use an Antivirus?

 

[SuffocateMyMind]

Yes I have both. I'm trying to stay away from re installing because it's such a pain, but if I have to I will. Just trying to find an easier way.