[Idgie]

Hi there,

I'm running XP; my computer is AMD Sempron 2200+, 1.49GHz and 768mb RAM. I do not have SP2 installed anymore, I removed it last week in my quest of getting my computer to be nice to me. I've got Comodo as my firewall, and AVG as my virus thingie.

It's not too slow to shut down, but reboot can take anywhere from 3 to 20 minutes, but most take about 15 minutes. The 3 minute reboots usually happen a few times after I've tweaked something, then it goes back to its old behaviour. This is frustrating, because I always think I've got it fixed, and then I realize that it is not fixed at all! Accessing programs are slow initially, but if they've been opened and closed once, they open with normal speed. Also, if I leave my computer unattended for six or more hours, everything is slow again.

To try and fix the computer, I've run the following programs:

Ad-aware
ATF-Cleaner
AVG Anti-Spyware (in safe mode)
Bootvis
CCleaner
CWShredder
Dr. Web Cure-it
HijackThis
Panda ActiveScan
Speedfan
Spybot
Startup Inspector
SuperAntiSpyware Free
Symantec (since uninstalled to put AVG in)
System Mechanic (since deleted)
TrendMicro scan

My computer is squeaky clean! Besides running the programs, I've also:

Checked and changed startup programs and services by using online references
Checked to make sure there are no open ports or shared stuff going on
Uninstalled programs which hadn't been used in awhile
Fixed the registry
Did a system restore
Scandisk
Defrag

Thinking that my system was overheating because of what Speedfan was saying, I rigged up a room fan to cool off the opened computer, which gave me two days of three minute reboots and instant program access. Then again, a lot of the above mentioned things did that, including removing SP2. There's no CPU bottlenecking, either.

Please, can someone help me? I've been working on this for over a month and my brain hurts!

Thank you!

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Hi there,


Firstly a couple of words - SP2 is necessary - it fixed so many security flaws alone that not having it is more of a danger to your system than anything.

We'll re-install that after the biggest thing is sorted. Can you first run the norton uninstall tool, found at the following link: http://service1.syma...005033108162039

This will remove all traces of norton software from your system (this can conflict and cause issues.) RESTART

Download and run dklite (get this from filehippo.com) (defragmenter) RESTART

go to update.microsoft.com or start>all programs>windows update - get service pack 2 and all updates

Open a run dialogue (windows key and R) and then type:

prefetch click edit, select all - delete
%temp% click edit, select all - delete
chkdsk /r /f <--------- notice the spaces after the k and before the / and after the r and before the /
type y when prompted - RESTART

Download a copy of TuneUp Utilities (tuneup.com), install and run - click the clean up and repair tab and then tune up registry cleaner.

Having done all this, let me know how long your restarts take please. If a long time still it may be worth doing a repair install (you can create a partition prior to this and move all of your documents on to it and then repair C)



Stevie

[exparisstevie]

Hi there,


Firstly a couple of words - SP2 is necessary - it fixed so many security flaws alone that not having it is more of a danger to your system than anything.

We'll re-install that after the biggest thing is sorted. Can you first run the norton uninstall tool, found at the following link: http://service1.syma...005033108162039

This will remove all traces of norton software from your system (this can conflict and cause issues.) RESTART

Download and run dklite (get this from filehippo.com) (defragmenter) RESTART

go to update.microsoft.com or start>all programs>windows update - get service pack 2 and all updates

Open a run dialogue (windows key and R) and then type:

prefetch click edit, select all - delete
%temp% click edit, select all - delete
chkdsk /r /f <--------- notice the spaces after the k and before the / and after the r and before the /
type y when prompted - RESTART

Download a copy of TuneUp Utilities (tuneup.com), install and run - click the clean up and repair tab and then tune up registry cleaner.

Having done all this, let me know how long your restarts take please. If a long time still it may be worth doing a repair install (you can create a partition prior to this and move all of your documents on to it and then repair C)



Stevie

[Idgie]

Hello!

Thank you very much for responding. I'll be working on this over the next day or two, doing the defragging bits when I'm asleep. I'll let you know how I progress.

[Idgie]

Stevie,

I am very grateful to you for your help! My computer is booting up nice and quickly, in less than five minutes, and there's no system hang or program delays. I am awed by your knowledge (my thought was, "How does he know this stuff?") and I'm glad that you shared it with me.

Again, thank you so much for everything. I feel as though a load has been lifted from my shoulders, and I no longer want to take jabs at the computer with the business end of an umbrella.

[exparisstevie]

Hey Idgie,

Thanks a million for your feedback. It is a response such as this that keeps those of us who help on many forums and work in the industy of technical support to continue to provide free forum support in our free time.

Have fun with your improved machine. Ensure you keep it clean and tidy, think of security especially, much free advice on here......




Steve