Computer immensely slow

S

Squirrel93

New Member
Hi! Sorry if this is in the wrong section or something.

Since I got my computer back from some service (they fixed a waft I believe), it has been a lot slower than before.
I had to reinstall my anti-virus software (Norton - and I know it slows the computer down a bit but it was fine before) and a few games, and I quickly noticed how much slower it was since I had turned it in for fixing.
I've searched the whole computer for viruses with Norton, and all have been removed, and I've run Registry Booster 2010, which claims to have fixed hundreds of problems, but there is no difference in performance whatsoever.

It's really serious, as a matter of fact. It's enough to scroll down a page consisting almost only of text, and the window might freeze and not be possible to scroll through again for 4-5 minutes.
Sometimes when I listen to a song on Spotify, and open an Internet Window, the song lags and will not continue for several minutes.
It's quite impossible to have more than 3 tabs open at once, and only 1 if it is a youtube video. If I click to switch to another tab, the whole window might lag and turn white for 5-6 minutes before it reacts.

Sorry to put you through that rant. There are a lot of more examples. All-in-all, the computer is suddenly capable of handling a lot less. It's a fairly good computer, though, with a lot of harddrive space left.
Any suggestions about what I can do to improve performance? Should I post a Dxdiag or something?

Any help is appreciated. :)
 
what are the specs of the system?

Have you checked for any other installed programs that you didn't have or don't want?

Have you defragmented?
 
First of all, are all drivers properly installed? Second, get rid of any registry cleaners you have as they usually cause more issues then they fix. Third, scan your system with more than just Nortons. A virus program alone won't catch most of today's infections. Use Malwarebytes and/or Superantispyware, both are free.
 
Oh, right, the specs. Sry. :P
I'm not too good with computers, I hope this is what you want:

AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.01 GHz
3 GB RAM (There are 4 but I can only use 3)
Windows XP Home Edition (Service Pack 3)
ATI Radeon HD 4650

And 3 hard drives. One is for Windows to use, one is the "old one", which used to be in the computer before a recent makeover, and the third one is for games. (Though at the shop, they tell me the Windows and Games one is the same one, somehow split to use as two drives. Idk how this works.
On the Windows one, 43 out of 97 GB are free, on the old one it's 64/186 and on the Games one, I have 667/833 GB left.


Question 2: It's mostly a lot of games and stuff that takes up place, but that's all installed on the 833 GB drive so I thought it wasn't a problem. There are a lot of "small" programs, mainly Microsoft accessories, and I don't know the purpose of half of them.

Question 3: I did defragment the "Games" drive, but haven't done it with the one Windows presumably uses.

Sorry about my English, it's not my native language.


EDIT: Saw the second reply. Will follow this, thanks. :)
 
I have a feeling it's a combination of things. First of all i would think norton is responsible... anyway, try these programs (all are free)

Malwarebytes
CCleaner
Auslogics Disk Defrag (much faster than the windows one)
Auslogics Registry Cleaner (one of the better ones)

And i would also suggest to try AVG Free and see if it improves anythig over norton, virus detection/speed or otherwise.
 
I used Malvarebytes and scanned with that, then changed Norton for AVG and did a full scan, but no bigger difference in performance yet. (It lagged for a few seconds when I wrote this.)
I'll try Auslogics Disk Defrag and Auslogics Registry Cleaner and see what happens.
Thanks.
 
I would try using IOBit's Smart Defrag. it does a really nice job of cleaning up your hard drive. i don't use any other defragmenter.
 
It sounds like you're missing a driver somewhere. Why don't you give this a try this and tell us what you see:

1. ) Click start
2. ) Right click 'My Computer' and select properties
3. ) Select the 'Hardware' tab and click device manager

Do you see any yellow question mark icons? Or any other icons with a black and yellow exclamation point? Link below below is an example:
http://www.wiredprairie.us/journal/images/devicemgr1.png
 
Thanks for the tip. :)

No, I can't see any question marks anywhere. One of the network cards has a red cross on top of it, but I'm pretty sure I don't use that unit so...

But everything else seems fine.
 
2048Megabytes said:
I agree with Linkin that Norton Anti-Virus is an awful program. I would uninstall it and get Avast! Anti-Virus. It costs around $20 for one year subscription. It is much better than Norton.

http://www.avast.com/index

I also run Auslogics Disk Defragmenter with my Windows once a day and it really speeds up my performance.

http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download/
Click to expand...

Avast! has a free home version which works fine. I have it in my system and every other system in the house (2 desktops, 2 laptops). It is so resource friendly using near nothing at all and I have never had a virus, it has flagged up if they are trying to get in, but I have never got one. It has also cleared out several from clients computers.

Still though, as you said you already have AVG, which is equally as good and a huge improvement so far as resources go over Norton, no need for that.

I don't see why it hasn't been mentioned before defragging, clear out all of the crap from your system you don't use.

Go to control panel and go to add/remove programs (if you are on vista or windows 7 it is programs and features) and be ruthless!! Anything you don't use, get rid.

Next, go to my documents and clear out everything you don't need/use any more.

now run ccleaner, and THEN defrag

As has been said, get rid of your registry "cleaners", they do more harm than good
 
For defragmentation I'd go for more advanced and better prgram. Although it is a 30-day trial it will defragment all your HDDs - Diskeeper 2010

Clean your registry with CCleaner as stated above ^

Avast! is too slow and does not find all the spyware and viruses. {URL=http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?part=dl-10044820&subj=dl&tag=button&cdlPid=11014801]AVG FREE[/URL] will give you 2x better performance and security than Avast! and other free programs...
 
I tried Avast a few years ago, and I'm sorry to say it did nothing but harm to my computer. It seemed to remove a lot of files from the system32 folder and drivers and stuff. The computer stopped functioning after the install. I will not touch it again.

Will try to defrag though, and run CCleaner. Thanks.
 
If Avast! destroyed your Windows the vital Windows operating system files were likely infested with malicious software.

I hate using Windows for Internet use because it is a constant battle to keep the garbage out of it. I have been using the Linux Ubuntu Operating System for almost two years now with the Internet and haven't had one problem with malicious software.
 
Squirrel93 said:
I tried Avast a few years ago, and I'm sorry to say it did nothing but harm to my computer. It seemed to remove a lot of files from the system32 folder and drivers and stuff. The computer stopped functioning after the install. I will not touch it again.

Will try to defrag though, and run CCleaner. Thanks.
Click to expand...

2048Megabytes said:
If Avast! destroyed your Windows the vital Windows operating system files were likely infested with malicious software.
Click to expand...

+1. I can safely say that was a one off occurance not caused by avast, otherwise the last 7 computers I touched will have messed up by now like yours did, including the one I am using now.
 
Squirrel93 said:
I tried Avast a few years ago, and I'm sorry to say it did nothing but harm to my computer. It seemed to remove a lot of files from the system32 folder and drivers and stuff. The computer stopped functioning after the install. I will not touch it again.

Will try to defrag though, and run CCleaner. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Thats because the infections themselves were attached to windows system files and when you removed them, you also removed the windows system files. You really have to watch what you remove when you scan with virus programs. I have feeling that you may have the infection called Virut, which is really nasty. The only thing that can be done is backup your data, pictures and music only, as other files may be infected with Virut and then reinstall the Operating System.
 
Thanks, but reinstalling is not an option if I can't copy things like word documents and movie files. I have a lot of stuff I wish to keep. :(
 
You would have to scan each and every file you would want to backup as if you were to copy over an infected file, your troubles would start all over again.
 
If you don't get rid of the infestation in your hard drive it could have bad long term consequences. Malicious software tends to allow access to more malicious software. From my knowledge the name of the game with the worst malicious software is stealing information. I hope you don't bank online or purchase anything on this computer with a credit card.
 
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