[skoorb28]

Hi Guys

For the last week my pc has slown down to a crawl. It takes 2-3 minutes to open everything (IE, outlook express, ATF Cleaner Etc) . If I try to copy/paste a simple item it takes minutes rather than seconds. The pc just seems extremely bogged down. I have tried countless things but nothing has worked. So far I have done the following:

Defragged
Ran ATF
Ran Ccleaner
Norton Scan
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Installed IE8 (went back to IE7)
HD Tune
Ad-Aware
RegScrubXP
chkdsk
sfc /scannow (could not fix all of the errors do to no xp cd)
msconfig/start-up

I have xp with 960mb Ram and 152 gig of free space and my pc is 3 yrs old

Thanks for your help,

Brian

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Hello welcome to GeeksToGo, We will be happy to help you.

We will need some more information

If this is a name brand system:
Make
Model
Operating System
Age of the computer
Memory Total
Hard Drive Size, How much free space



If this is custom then We will need the following:

The CPU brand and model
The Motherboard brand and model
Ram amount and speed
Cd\Dvd rom interface IDE/
Hard Drive size and free space
Any cards in PCI slots

In Addition please supply:

Any software installed\updated and driver updates done just before problem started.
Any hardware installed\updated prior to problem starting.

All this will help in determining a course of action to best correct the problem you are experiencing.

[rshaffer61]

Hello welcome to GeeksToGo, We will be happy to help you.

We will need some more information

If this is a name brand system:
Make
Model
Operating System
Age of the computer
Memory Total
Hard Drive Size, How much free space



If this is custom then We will need the following:

The CPU brand and model
The Motherboard brand and model
Ram amount and speed
Cd\Dvd rom interface IDE/
Hard Drive size and free space
Any cards in PCI slots

In Addition please supply:

Any software installed\updated and driver updates done just before problem started.
Any hardware installed\updated prior to problem starting.

All this will help in determining a course of action to best correct the problem you are experiencing.

[skoorb28]

Thanks for your help.

I have a HP Pavilion AMD™ Athlon 64
1.79 ghz 960mb Ram,
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002, Service pack 3, IE7,
pc is 4 years old
224gb hard drive 152gb of free space


I haven't installed anything new software or hardware. Once the problem started I tried IE8 but that didn't help so I went back to IE7

[rshaffer61]

Lets see what you have in your startup

Please click on
Start and then to Run
Type in msconfig and press Enter
Now click on Startups
Then uncheck everything and restart.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a startup problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results


If the above doesn't help then continue on with this:



Lets see what you have in your startup services area

Please click on
Start and then to Run
Type in msconfig and press Enter
Now click on Services
Click on the Hide All Microsoft Services
Then uncheck everything and restart.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a startup problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results

[skoorb28]

rshaffer61,

I did both and didn't see any improvement. I did get a (System Configuration: An error was returned while attempting to change a service) when I enabled the services.

I forgot to mention that when this problem started I was getting a low virtual memory warning. I normally get that after about 20 minutes. I read to check a certain # because it was suppose to be between 50-200 and mine was set at 700. I changed that back to 100 and the warning only comes after a few hours but the pc is still slow.

When I restart the pc everything works ok still slow but not too bad but once anything on the pc it slows to a crawl

[rshaffer61]

Since your Hd doesn't seem to be running low on space, I want to make sure we can get rid of the Virtual memory problem. Please follow the next steps:


Go to Start and then Right click on My Computer
Click on Properties and then click on the Advanced Tab
In the Performance area click on the Settings button
When the new Window opens click on the Advanced Tab
In the Virtual Memory area please click on Change
Half way down the window you will see the System Managed Size option
Select this if it isn't already selected
Now click OK, OK, OK. This will now hopefully end the warnings.


Let me know how everything works then

[skoorb28]

Ok I checked and it was on System Managed Size. I remember doing that step a few days ago, I'm not sure if I have seen the warning since I did that. Hopefully that took care of the warning. The pc is still running slow though.

[rshaffer61]

Then lets do some basic maintenance and see what pops up at us. Please follow the next steps in order and let me know the results when you are done.


Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune.
Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
Under Main choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
If you use Firefox browserClick Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
If you use Opera browserClick Opera at the top and choose: Select All
Click the Empty Selected button.
NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.
Click Exit on the Main menu to close the program.


If this does not work then:

Go to:
Start and then My Computer
Right Click On "C" drive and then click on Properties
Click on Tools tab at the top
In the Error Checking field click Check Now


If you are not happy with Windows Defrag or just want a alternative:
Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged


Reply back after rebooting and seeing if your system has gotten faster now

Edited by rshaffer61, 05 May 2009 - 05:59 PM.

[Broni]

Download, install, and run Whats Running.
Click on Take snapshot in the left pane.
New pop-up window will open.
Click on Save snapshot, and save the file as snap (.xml extension will be added automatically) to know location.



Zip the file, and attach it to your next reply.

[skoorb28]

rshaffer61,

Completed the ATF, Error Check and the Auslogics Defrag, I gained 2% The pc runs a little better at first but once I perform normal activities it slows down normally within about 20-30 minutes depending on what I am doing.

Broni,

Thanks for your help

I did what you said, hopefully I did it correctly

Attached Files

•  snap.zip   76.86KB   201 downloads

[Broni]

Well, your computer is slow, because at the time of you running the scan, MsMpEng.exe (Windows Defender)is using 37.5% of CPU.
[EDIT: thanks to PM from "happyrock", I just realized, that System Process, is same as System Idle Process, so we don't have to worry about that part, but the rest still applies]
Both, very abnormal.

I suggest you go to the Malware Forum and run all the steps located in the START HERE. These self-help tools will help you clean up 70% of problems on your own. If you are still having problems after doing the steps, then please post a OTListIt2 log in THAT forum. If you are unable to run and/or post a OTListIt2 log, then post that in your initial post in the topic you create in that forum.

If you are still having problems after being given a clean bill of health from the malware expert, then please return to THIS thread and we will pursue other options to help you solve your current problem(s).

Edited by Broni, 14 May 2009 - 06:13 PM.

[skoorb28]

Thanks Broni,
I was cleared by the Malware forum. Still having the same problem though, any ideas? I removed Windows defender (I rarely used it) and that didn't seem to help any.

[Broni]

Please post fresh What's Running log.

[skoorb28]

Thanks for your help Broni, I attached the new log

Attached Files

•  snap2.zip   76.16KB   237 downloads

[Broni]

Can you, please, post a link to your malware forum thread?
I'm reviewing your log.