Computer Starting to Slowdown!!!?

On Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:40:20 -0700, The Pete
<peter_neidhardt.TakeThisOut@rogers.com> wrote:

>My computer is approximately 2 months old and now has just recently
>started to slow down after 3-4 hrs of use after each bootup.

This is most likely a software issue (unless it's clearly
overheating) and you might get the best / systematic advice
in a Windows XP forum.

Determine which subsystem is slowing. Run some benchmarks
before and after the slowdown and compare them.

Look at Task Manager, the CPU utilization per process, used
and free memory and memory per app... maybe something has a
memory leak.

>I have
>scanned for viruses, malware/spyware,

These aren't likely, since it runs fine when windows first
loads, unless something is loading the malware later, like a
MS Office plugin or a BHO on IE (If you hadn't ran them for
the first ~ 3-4 hrs?).


>uninstalled unecessary programs,
>defragmentized the hard drive, run diskcheck and cleared cookies and
>temporary files from Internet Explorer. After a few hrs the system
>slows down substantially thus making it difficult to browse the net
>and switch inbetween programs.

Check Event Viewer. A couple of other possiblities might be
an intermittent LAN connection (will make windows very
sluggish even if you weren't trying to access anything over
the lan/wan), or a failing HDD or just bad cable/connection
to one.

>
>I am currently running: Windows XP SP2 (with all updates), Pentium
>Core Duo 2.4ghz, 2 Gigs of Ram, Norton Internet Security.
>
>Any thoughts?

If all else fails, can you make a temporary testbed
installation of Windows? I mean without disturbing the
present installation, and _not_ applying all those updates
"yet"... if the system is autoupdating especially, we'd want
to rule out the possibility that a recent update has caused
this.

At what point did the problem seem to first occur and do you
know of any changes to the system (hardware or software)
that might've occured just before (if the system isn't
rebooted very often it could even have been days ago the
change took place).

Try to determine if the slowdown seems to coincide with use
of a particular application. Try to avoid using the apps
you usually do during the sessions of slowdown,
one-at-a-time avoid using each but still using the other
apps to try and isolate it. Frequently check Task Manager
to see if things are closing when you direct them too. Some
apps do tend to be a bit more buggy about closing like IE
and Adobe Acrobat.
 >> Stay informed about: Computer Starting to Slowdown!!!? 

"Ed Medlin" <ed RemoveThis @edmedlin.com> wrote in message
news:EMLli.37983$YL5.3261@newssvr29.news.prodigy.net...
>
> "The Pete" <peter_neidhardt RemoveThis @rogers.com> wrote in message
> news:1184319620.817970.327120@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
>> My computer is approximately 2 months old and now has just recently
>> started to slow down after 3-4 hrs of use after each bootup. I have
>> scanned for viruses, malware/spyware, uninstalled unecessary programs,
>> defragmentized the hard drive, run diskcheck and cleared cookies and
>> temporary files from Internet Explorer. After a few hrs the system
>> slows down substantially thus making it difficult to browse the net
>> and switch inbetween programs.
>>
>> I am currently running: Windows XP SP2 (with all updates), Pentium
>> Core Duo 2.4ghz, 2 Gigs of Ram, Norton Internet Security.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
> Since it slows down over time, I would first suspect a heat related issue.
> Check your HS/Fan to make sure it is in good contact with the CPU and you
> might even clean and reapply thermal compound. NIS is known to eat a lot
> of system resources and slow some systems to a crawl. Personally, I would
> not have any Norton security products on my system after fixing problems
> with it on so many systems for others. There are so many other products
> available that are much cheaper or even free that do as good or better job
> without eating up system resources.
>
> Ed
>
To add to what Ed is saying, if you don't already have a software program
that gives you a visual on the cpu heat you can usually get that information
by going into the bios at startup (often by pushing the Delete key, but
depends on the computer you're using) and go to PC Health portion. Quite
often the temperature of the cpu and the system are displayed.

--
Jan Alter
bearpuf RemoveThis @verizon.net
or
jalter RemoveThis @phila.k12.pa.us
 >> Stay informed about: Computer Starting to Slowdown!!!? 

All good replies so far. Another possibility is the hard drive is dying...
I've seen some get REALLY slow just before taking a ****.

Might want to run a factory diagnostic on it, or temporarily swap with
another just to see.

"The Pete" <peter_neidhardt RemoveThis @rogers.com> wrote in message
news:1184319620.817970.327120@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
> My computer is approximately 2 months old and now has just recently
> started to slow down after 3-4 hrs of use after each bootup. I have
> scanned for viruses, malware/spyware, uninstalled unecessary programs,
> defragmentized the hard drive, run diskcheck and cleared cookies and
> temporary files from Internet Explorer. After a few hrs the system
> slows down substantially thus making it difficult to browse the net
> and switch inbetween programs.
>
> I am currently running: Windows XP SP2 (with all updates), Pentium
> Core Duo 2.4ghz, 2 Gigs of Ram, Norton Internet Security.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
 >> Stay informed about: Computer Starting to Slowdown!!!?