Dell desktop Running Way slow

[RobJ]

You may also want to just go ahead and get 2 more gigs of ram. You need it these days. It will make a big difference in operational speed.

Hakim

Not exactly true. 1 gig is plenty with XP. 2 is fine if you have a high speed machine, dual processors..(and the software that actually is written for dual processors) and doing a lot of heavy work. 3 gig on a Dell machine this you are probably shooting yourself in the foot. More work for the machine to manage. MS came out with a KB on this a while back if I recall. I would not recommend Vista of this computer.

Actually on some of the Ms Enterprise software they are maxing out memory usage from boot. I have a couple Exchange 2007 mail servers, about 60 mailboxes, 6 gig of ram. Ram was maxed out at 6 gig all the time. Hmmm, added another 4 gig, 10 gig total, still maxes out the ram...WTH? A little research and I discovered that 2007 is designed to grab all the available ram for the store. The MS Technet guy that responded said why have all that ram if you are not going to use it. He was of course correct, but it was something us IT guys were not use to seeing.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[slewisma]

On the XP blue install screen there are 2 options, Full Format or Quick Format.

Thanks ... been on Linux for a few years now and my brain couldn't remember exactly what they called it.

 

[LMTC]

Check to see if "indexing" is turned on in Windows. That will slow things to a crawl. That is the first thing I turn off whenever I get a new system.

Hakim

Do you recommend this for all subfolders as well? I peeked and saw there were two options.

Will unchecking this make file searches on that drive run more slowly? Thank you.

 

[OKnewguy]

Update:
After spending way to much time and trying out almost everything listed, I think I am going to step up to a new machine. Something has to be wrong with the hardware on this machine. It is painfully slow to even diagnos. It takes about 10 min to boot up and navigate to this site (or anywhere). This has been a great machine, but the time has come. I probably will not post for a while, because I will need to get the new machine, and I will be going on vacation to boot. I Really appreciate everyone helping me out! Have a good weekend.
Dave

 

[rcrcomputing]

On a fresh install, it's likely not a software issue. Run chkdsk /r for a complete scan to mark bad sectors. You will have to go to administrative tools/Event Viewer and look at winlogon to see the results and while your there, look for other clues. Looking for bad sectors of course. Don't forget, it could be the second hard drive actually causing it. Also, double check ide device jumpers.

Does the hard drive light stay on all the time?

If that doesn't do it. Pull out modems, disconnect cdroms printers etc.. Items you don't need for now..

 

[texbaylea]

I use CCleaner to get rid of unnecessary files and to check on the registry. Also shut down Google desktop if you have it as it is always reindexing the files for fast search.

A registry clean is necessary to speed up boot times and also clean out your start menu. I stripped it down to only programs I use regularly.

That is a few of the things I have used to make Windows usable. I wish I could go back to OS2Warp. That was one super OS.

Vernon

 

[Travelover]

My desktop started to crawl after a virus program update. I turned the antivirus off and now it runs like it used to. I do a scan every night before I shut it off.

I'm sure this is not the best solution, but at least I figured out what was causing the slow down.

 

[WVBill]

Not sure this will work any more since you've re-formatted but since in your original post you said "About a week ago my desktop started acting like it had a virus or something."
You could try a Windows XP System Restore to a date prior to when you started seeing your slow down.

Select "Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools"
Click on "System Restore" and follow the prompts.

System Restore has gotten me out of similar situations.

WBill

 

[gsganzer]

Also check the CPU cooling fan. I believe the CPU slows down when the fan quits.

 

[waynokakid]

gsganzer makes a good point. The cooling fan can cause a slowdown. Also a voltage drop can make cpu do weird things.