[LiveBrianD]

Recently I was helping someone with their computer, which was REALLY slow. Granted, it was a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4 and 512MB RAM (XP SP3), but still, it was quite bad. What I tried (in order): Removing junk programs, browser toolbars; running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it), running Windows Defrag. They said it made a noticeable difference. What things have worked for you?

[Rommel]

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it),

In addition to what you did:

Guide them away from bloated AV protection if any
Scan for malicious crap with a couple scanners.

If an OS disc is available as well as needed programs, sometimes a nuke is good when a system is real old running on the original install.
Thats exstream but I know ppl who do that as an interval of time maintenance.
I do mine after x-amount of time. A nice clean fresh start.

By the above quote, you are referring to whats under the boot tab in MSCONFIG?

This post has been edited by Rommel: 30 September 2011 - 03:06 AM

[SikFly]

what works best for me?
format and reinstall. it leaves no BS and no questions asked behind.

[LiveBrianD]

Rommel, on 30 September 2011 - 03:04 AM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it),

In addition to what you did:

Guide them away from bloated AV protection if any
Scan for malicious crap with a couple scanners.

If an OS disc is available as well as needed programs, sometimes a nuke is good when a system is real old running on the original install.
Thats exstream but I know ppl who do that as an interval of time maintenance.
I do mine after x-amount of time. A nice clean fresh start.

By the above quote, you are referring to whats under the boot tab in MSCONFIG?

I mean using the startup tab in CCleaner. Very similar to msconfig though. There was a Cyberdefender or something registry cleaner on one machine, so I booted that.

[smax013]

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

Recently I was helping someone with their computer, which was REALLY slow. Granted, it was a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4 and 512MB RAM (XP SP3), but still, it was quite bad. What I tried (in order): Removing junk programs, browser toolbars; running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it), running Windows Defrag. They said it made a noticeable difference. What things have worked for you?

Is the RAM maxed out? If not, a RAM upgrade.

[LiveBrianD]

smax013, on 30 September 2011 - 05:59 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

Recently I was helping someone with their computer, which was REALLY slow. Granted, it was a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4 and 512MB RAM (XP SP3), but still, it was quite bad. What I tried (in order): Removing junk programs, browser toolbars; running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it), running Windows Defrag. They said it made a noticeable difference. What things have worked for you?

Is the RAM maxed out? If not, a RAM upgrade.

I noticed that the machine wasn't using a whole lot of CPU, but the HDD was constantly active, thus suggesting that it needed a defrag. I doubt the ram is maxed out, but that's a computer that was assigned to the person by the school's IT department, so I probably shouldn't do things like that to it.

[amphi]

I got rid of some toolbars and add-ons for the browsers. Then a regular error check up and defragmenting of the disks.

[SANSAIL]

Run task manager to identify what programs are responsible for a high disk I/O level. Then search for a solution like using an alternative program.
Running Windows Defender or Microsoft security essentials puts a big strain on disk I/O, especially after reboot.
If MsMpeng.exe (used by the above) is high on the I/O read it is implicated.

[crazy4laptops]

Also, stop unneeded services (services.msc) to get some CPU time back... It may seem scary at first, but you can stop some services that you may never use but they sneak in with iTunes/Adobe/Windows Defaults.

Ones you can stop/disable in Windows7/Vista-

Adobe Reader Update Manager
Smart Card
Windows Image Acquisition
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
Windows Search (stops background indexing of the hdd)
Yahoo Updater

If you don't have an iPod/iPhone/iPad, but you use iTunes, disable these-
Apple Mobile Device
Bonjour Service
iPod Service

If you'd like the complete list, I'll post it, otherwise stopping those will be sufficient in dropping 10-15 processes.

[ice49man]

Format the hard drive and reinstall the OS.

Advanced System Care seems to keep things pretty clean and running fast.

You can get it here: http://www.iobit.com...temcareper.html

[LiveBrianD]

crazy4laptops, on 22 October 2011 - 10:07 AM, said:

Also, stop unneeded services (services.msc) to get some CPU time back... It may seem scary at first, but you can stop some services that you may never use but they sneak in with iTunes/Adobe/Windows Defaults.

Ones you can stop/disable in Windows7/Vista-

Adobe Reader Update Manager
Smart Card
Windows Image Acquisition
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
Windows Search (stops background indexing of the hdd)
Yahoo Updater

If you don't have an iPod/iPhone/iPad, but you use iTunes, disable these-
Apple Mobile Device
Bonjour Service
iPod Service

If you'd like the complete list, I'll post it, otherwise stopping those will be sufficient in dropping 10-15 processes.

That's why I keep itunes in a vm (rarely need to use it). I also don't use Adobe reader. I set the other services (except search) to manual.

[orlbuckeye]

LiveBrianD, on 01 October 2011 - 09:51 AM, said:

smax013, on 30 September 2011 - 05:59 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

Recently I was helping someone with their computer, which was REALLY slow. Granted, it was a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4 and 512MB RAM (XP SP3), but still, it was quite bad. What I tried (in order): Removing junk programs, browser toolbars; running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it), running Windows Defrag. They said it made a noticeable difference. What things have worked for you?

Is the RAM maxed out? If not, a RAM upgrade.

I noticed that the machine wasn't using a whole lot of CPU, but the HDD was constantly active, thus suggesting that it needed a defrag. I doubt the ram is maxed out, but that's a computer that was assigned to the person by the school's IT department, so I probably shouldn't do things like that to it.

Adding memory helps with multitasking. Look at the windows page file and looka at the recommended pagefile size. Typically computer run faster with more memory because window likes to cache data. If it doesn't fine the memory it uses the page on the disk for caching. By caching it's moving data inside and out of cache. The transfer rate of memory is WAY faster the hard drives.

[scottrobbin]

Hi there ! I'm sure like other people you need to install OS again because Windows has gone. I don't use AV because I know where to be on internet. After new installation of OS on this configuration to be fast this computer don't update to SP3, SP2 or don't update, install some old versions of used programs and try to put more 512RAM.

Scott

[SuperSamuraiBlades]

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

Recently I was helping someone with their computer, which was REALLY slow. Granted, it was a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4 and 512MB RAM (XP SP3), but still, it was quite bad. What I tried (in order): Removing junk programs, browser toolbars; running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it), running Windows Defrag. They said it made a noticeable difference. What things have worked for you?

Those are pretty useful tips. I actually have a similar system like that. What I do is increase the virtual memory to it's maximum and I make it static. This helps me a great deal and if I want more virtual memory, then I use my external HD and do the same, give it the maximum virtual memory and make it static. The PC will actually use the virtual memory from both the PC and the external HD as one. It does wonders for those with limited RAM and a friend of mine taught me that trick.

This post has been edited by SuperSamuraiBlades: 06 December 2011 - 08:00 PM

[brainout]

LiveBrianD, on 29 September 2011 - 08:18 PM, said:

Recently I was helping someone with their computer, which was REALLY slow. Granted, it was a 1.6GHz mobile Pentium 4 and 512MB RAM (XP SP3), but still, it was quite bad. What I tried (in order): Removing junk programs, browser toolbars; running CCleaner (and getting rid of startup entries with it), running Windows Defrag. They said it made a noticeable difference. What things have worked for you?

The following remarks apply to XP Home and Pro, and Win98. I won't upgrade to Win7, it's not backwards-compatible, and makes stupid changes in essential programs like email. I'm so sick of Windows bugs and incompatibilities from one version to another, I could scream. None of my DOS programs have problems. Windows eats my life. Starting with, its arcane crashes and long boots for reasons you can never diagnose. So here's what I've learned over the 12 years I've been forced to use Windows.

1. Norton System Works and TuneUp Utilities (still using 2011, but 2012 isn't much different). Every time a program installs, it generally puts a kernel of itself in startup, but doesn't show in Startup menu so you can't see it. TuneUp Utilities StartUp manager is STERLING when it comes to listing such programs and enabling you to stop them from starting at startup. Moreover, once you invoke the program it still runs. You can turn it off, too. This #1 alone has cut bugs, boot up time, and shut down time by well more than half.

2. Defrag is a must. I have mine in Scheduled Tasks. But you should run it after cleanmgr, which wipes out the files you select, including the Recycle Bin. I read somewhere that you shouldn't defrag SSD drives.

3. After cleanmgr and Defrag, I run Norton System Works One Button Checkup. TuneUp Utilities has a version of this which is updated (you can't buy NSW anymore), but it's more tyrannical. I wrote a review of that in Amazon. Basically you have to tweak it to make it manually operate. Only in that mode do you get to SEE the kinds of problems it will fix, and optionally decide to ignore them. There will be several shortcut and other problems announced which are not problems (i.e., you use removable drives but they aren't always plugged in).

4. I remove fonts. Turns out these consume a lot of memory and time in booting, in order to be always ready. If I need a font, I'll just copy it back to the Windows Fonts directory.

5. I remove programs which want to add themselves to the 'context menu', or if I have the option to install without adding that feature, I do. Example: Nero, COWON, Iomega, many other programs want to be part of the right-click listing (as in 'open with'). For Roxio, you need it to be part of the context menu, but most other programs just take up space and time, if you allow them to be added. Worse, when you uninstall, Windows often crashes. This happened with Jet Audio aka COWON (recently purchased and uninstalled). It also happened with programs I was trying out during the past two months, too many to list. That's how I learned the time difference in startup time after such programs were uninstalled and I had recovered from the crashes (using Norton GoBack, in some cases). For example, Nero adds itself to not only the context menu, but to all your files; it never uninstalls properly. My system was much slower when it was installed, and slow still afterwards, until I finally found (via TuneUp Utilities), the lingering program files and other junk. For that means Windows still looks for the program files, if the peripheral files are still lingering in the registry.

6. One surprise was the effect of upgrading Roxio's DVD writing program (a packet writer alleged to be unstable, but in my experience it's been the most stable). When I upgraded to its latest version, suddenly my boot time was cut in half. (I use only Roxio for DVD writing.)

7. TURN OFF THE COMPUTER AT LEAST ONCE EVERY 24 hours. The longer your computer stays on, the more it slows down. This, because Windows has always had a memory storage flaw of backing up older copies somewhere on disk. That's why sometimes, when you turn off the computer and start again, your settings from long ago, are suddenly deemed latest. If you reboot again, then your TRUE latest settings, suddenly come back again. For finally, Windows dumped that old remote sector of the past, at boot.

8. Restrict Windows Restore, clean it out often so that you only have a few restore points. Or, if you have a good backup program you diligently use: turn Windows Restore OFF. I prefer Norton GoBack, and there is an equivalent to it called MagiCure, but if you've a dual-boot system or are beyond XP, you can't use it. You can only store a day's worth of activity for restore, but it's fast. So there's a tradeoff between speed and backwards-restore times to consider. I love my Macrium Reflect 5, so now am not worried about backups past the current day, since I image-backup every day.

So the heart of it, is to make sure your registry doesn't look for missing files (like mscvr.dll in various spellings), because then you're waiting for hundreds of timeouts. Make sure that what starts up, is only what you need at boot time. And, what you don't need, you either offload or shut off, until you do need it.

Hope this helps.

[TTGSteve]

crazy4laptops, on 22 October 2011 - 10:07 AM, said:

Also, stop unneeded services (services.msc) to get some CPU time back... It may seem scary at first, but you can stop some services that you may never use but they sneak in with iTunes/Adobe/Windows Defaults.

Ones you can stop/disable in Windows7/Vista-

Adobe Reader Update Manager
Smart Card
Windows Image Acquisition
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
Windows Search (stops background indexing of the hdd)
Yahoo Updater

If you don't have an iPod/iPhone/iPad, but you use iTunes, disable these-
Apple Mobile Device
Bonjour Service
iPod Service

If you'd like the complete list, I'll post it, otherwise stopping those will be sufficient in dropping 10-15 processes.

I would love for you to post the whole list.

[johhny]

You can try Disk Defragment to free up the memory along with go for disk clean-up for every hard drive partition. Also install an updated Antivirus program on your computer and try keeping it update. Also you can opt for PC Optimizer software program which frees up the RAM frequently.