slow computer

[Earl Davis]

I'm using a laptop HP Pavilion zv6000, running Windows XP Professional. I'm noticing that programs open slower and slower, and the computer takes longer and longer to come up or shut down. I get a lot of Mediahub hangups. What can I do?

Earl Davis

[Jeremy]

Download, install and run CCleaner. This will clean out many junk/temp/cache files stored on your system by many applications over a long period of time.

Download a trial version of Diskeeper and let it automatically defragment your harddrive. If you prefer freeware I'd suggest JKDefrag.

Go to Start > Run > type in "msconfig" (without quotation marks), go to the StartUp tab and deselect anything listed there that you don't want running. Keep in mind that nothing listed there is required for the normal operation of your computer so feel free to uncheck everything if you want. You can always open the application manually later. If you prefer to do this and never have anything load at start-up again, go to the General tab and uncheck "Load StartUp Items".

Do you have any anti-virus installed? If so, would it happen to be Norton? If so, please use the SymNRT tool to completely remove it from your system. It is a resource hog and causes more problems than its supposed to solve. If you're wondering what to use, Avast and AntiVir are both powerful freeware alternatives. The two best payware ones are Kaspersky and NOD32.

Make sure your device drivers are up-to-date, especially your chipset drivers.

You may also have a spyware/worm/virus/malware infection. Please use Ad-Aware and Spybot to clean out the spyware.

[Ludwig Von Cookie Koopa]

In General most slow computers in home and work is from viruses and other programs that startup.

My computer did the same thing one time but I have barely anything running thanks to my trafficer program. Another thing Explorer.exe is a program used with other programs and should not be downloading/uploading anything.

Then turning off Update from Aol IM is great along with MSM unless you use it alot.

[bonestonne]

or if you use multiple instant messengers, i'd suggest trillian. it supports AIM, ICQ, YIM, MSN, Jabber and network IM'ing. the pro version at least...the basic version just has AIM, ICQ, YIM and MSN. one of the best instant messaging programs you'll ever use.

also, don't have a ton of tabs open in firefox. defragment, scan for viruses, spyware and adware, and then clear out the extras, and it should work a lot better. the temp folder is probably just stuffed up.

[hulkviper]

AutoRuns

It will show most of the start up entries, loaded files that are loaded during boot.

Options/Hide Microsoft Entries

This will hide microsoft entries, then it will be alot easier to see what 3rd party software you have installed.

To be safe with AutoRuns, uncheck instead of deleting.

Also download Process Explorer, a must have!

Instead of what defrag tool Jeremy recommends, I would recommend UltimateDefrag.

Just because it's better in every way possible and does not require any service.

But if you need a easy and effective defrag then Vopt is the best.

Vopt and UltimateDefrag, very easy to use forever without buying or cracking.

Don't blaim me, both infect my registry

A good tool pack is EasyCleaner

Tweak UI is must try, has some settings Windows should have easily available.

Erunt

Backup and optimize your registry with NTREGOPT.

NTREGOPT is included in Erunt package

Well there are many others................

Hope it helps!

[Jeremy]

Instead of what defrag tool Jeremy recommends, I would recommend UltimateDefrag.

Just because it's better in every way possible and does not require any service.

Diskeeper's advantage over every other defragmentation tool is that it is completely automatic out of the box (meaning it does not require post-install configuration to do so) and only does it when your computer has idle resources available to fulfill the task. There's actually a portable and open-source defragmenter tool called JKDefrag v3.7 that I would use myself if it supported the same automatic and resource friendly method that Diskeeper did. The main reason for recommending DK (and a trial version as no one should jump the gun and buy something based on a few recommendations and they shouldn't have to pay and thus be urged to crack it due to a cost) is because it just works, just like that. You don't have to be 1337 to use it. If you like freeware that much (and I do too), then use a free one.

[LeveL]

I'm using a laptop HP Pavilion zv6000, running Windows XP Professional. I'm noticing that programs open slower and slower, and the computer takes longer and longer to come up or shut down. I get a lot of Mediahub hangups. What can I do?

Earl Davis

Its called "Windows XP"

My answer would be to re-install the wretched thing, but I guess thats

too radical. What you could do thats not mentioned here is get HijackThis...

http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip

Then scan, save a log file and paste that log file here:

http://www.hijackthis.de/

After pasting your log just click "Analyze"

At least you'll know if its running slow because of "Nasties".

[hulkviper]

Instead of what defrag tool Jeremy recommends, I would recommend UltimateDefrag.

Just because it's better in every way possible and does not require any service.

Diskeeper's advantage over every other defragmentation tool is that it is completely automatic out of the box (meaning it does not require post-install configuration to do so) and only does it when your computer has idle resources available to fulfill the task. There's actually a portable and open-source defragmenter tool called JKDefrag v3.7 that I would use myself if it supported the same automatic and resource friendly method that Diskeeper did. The main reason for recommending DK (and a trial version as no one should jump the gun and buy something based on a few recommendations and they shouldn't have to pay and thus be urged to crack it due to a cost) is because it just works, just like that. You don't have to be 1337 to use it. If you like freeware that much (and I do too), then use a free one.

Jeremy you are right that it's easier, but with Diskeeper you can't totally re-arange all the files in alphabetcial order.

This is good sometimes. because having all the files only defragmented isn't enough.

UltimateDefrag also can put all directories at the end of the files/close to MFT area.

This is good for the drive and for faster windows explorer browsing.

Having all files sorted in alphabetical order is good, then the drive read head doesn't move around more than needed.

This isn't recommended to use everyday, 1 time a week is enough.

It's also not recommended if your system partition is very large, takes time ....

Vopt is good for everyday use, because it's fast and effective.

Edited March 7, 2007 by hulkviper

[Jakebo]

If you haven't yet run an antivirus and antispyware it would be a good idea. Many times spyware causes the system to run slow because of the spyware using to much of the system resources. I hope you get it all worked out.

[Jeremy]

Jeremy you are right that it's easier, but with Diskeeper you can't totally re-arange all the files in alphabetcial order.

Who said alphabetical order was best for performance sake? As I understand it's by either last access date or last modification date. Are you an NTFS File System Specialist/Guru? The ones this Diskeeper Topic @ The DriverHeaven Forums (which I participated heavily in had something completely different to say about fragmentation and the pros and cons to using either Diskeeper or PerfectDisk.

This is good sometimes. because having all the files only defragmented isn't enough.

I'm well aware of this, do you not know about I-FAAST?

UltimateDefrag also can put all directories at the end of the files/close to MFT area.

This is good for the drive and for faster windows explorer browsing.

Mine is lightning fast.

Having all files sorted in alphabetical order is good, then the drive read head doesn't move around more than needed.

This is very vague. This is true even if you simply defragment the drive without any file placement. Think about a 3GB file in several hundred chunks, how much do you think the drive "head" has to move around to read that file, compared to having it totally defragmented thus in one solid chunk? It takes longer to read a fragmented file than it does a defragmented one. File placement is the next priority, not the first.

It's also not recommended if your system partition is very large, takes time

Larger HDDs are faster than smaller ones due to the capacity of the platters. Zxian explained this to me once, he should do so again. I need a recap on that.

Vopt is good for everyday use, because it's fast and effective.

Every defragmenter claims to be fast and effective. I don't mind Diskeeper taking its time because I sleep during the night so I won't put up much of a fight.