Slow PC

[scorpionmark]

Is there a good FREE program that I can use to tell me what program is running on my pc and causing it to run slow? I can hear the harddrive running and the fan is faster than normal, so I know something is running in the background but I don't see any processes running in the taskmanager.

Any clues?

thanks

 

[Aastii]

open up task manager, on the processes tab make sure the "show processes from all users" is checked at the bottom of the window. Then, click the memory heading so it sorts it in descending order, with most memory used, down to least, that should tell you which is using the most resources

If that isn't giving you any luck, give process explorer a go, it is the same as the standard task manager, but more detailed and cleaerer

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

or you can try anvir:

http://www.anvir.com/

once you have found the problem, as well as sorting it (if you know how), I would reccomend cleaning up your system if you don't do so regularly. You can find a load of useful programs to help you do so under the maintenance and System Information, Diagnosis & Monitoring headings of the freeware list (link to it in my sig)

 

[Troncoso]

Also. consider downloading ccleaner and going to the startup section to see what all is running at startup. There may be several programs booting that you don't want.

 

[scorpionmark]

I'll give these a shot. Thanks guys....

 

[Hsv_Man]

I would give the hard disk drive a good clean up get rid of any unnecessary files then run Ccleaner a great program to remove all temp internet files and files clogging up your system. After you have done all you can in removing files/programs you don't use anymore run a disk defragment of your hard disk and you should notice a fair speed increase.

 

[linkin]

You'll want to run the msconfig utility (start > run > type "msconfig") and check what's running on startup. anything like yahoo or msn isn't needed, basically what you want to keep is your antivirus utilities and your graphics card's control panel services.