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why is my computer so slow?

For the past year, my computer has become slow. It's not a terribly new machine (5 years old), but it's not outdated. My work computer is the exact same model and OS - Dell, Pentium 4, Windows XP. I haven't had the internet at home for almost a year now since I graduated college. It crashed 2x during my last semester of school and one of my professors offered to fix it for me - he got it to actually turn on again and cleaned out a crapload of malware and adware, despite the fact I had two virus programs - Norton and AVG. As of recently, it's really slowed down in performance. I cleaned out programs I don't use anymore, formatted the hard drive, used the disc cleanup, transferred more files to my flash drive - but it's still slow. It takes about 15 minutes to restart and 5-10 to open any large programs like Adobe or Microsoft Office. When I checked my hard drive, I had 67% free memory. I only have three major software programs on the computer I downloaded - Sibelius, the Sims 2, and iTunes, all of which I've had for about 3 years and never had a problem of my computer being slow. I often get messages of "Virtual Memory Running Low" and sometimes I'll see messages from Microsoft Word about changes being made to the global template, though I never use templates or macros in my Word document. I know about the CAP virus but it's been around so long I know Norton or AVG would pick it up....or would it? What could be going on? I'm buying a new computer when I move to another state for graduate school so I can't drop a lot of cash in my home PC. I don't consider outdated because it still functions for my needs. Some of you could've saved time by reading the whole question here - I don't have the internet at home so I can't download anything. I've defragmented and cleaned the hard drive. Why would I need extra RAM if my hard drive is 67% free? I make no claims to be a computer guru, so please, if you have time, feel free to explain that to me. Thanks so much for clarifying hard drive vs. RAM. The professor who got my computer to start up after it crashed told me there were too many programs uploading during restart and I've been trying to figure out how to change startup programs, so thanks Mickey L.

Public Comments

1. download and update then run PC TOOL free version of threat fire if that older virus is on there it should take care of it as well as stop others but leave your current anti spy ware anti virus in place also as threat fire will work in the back round
2. A 5 years old Dell IS old and outdated.
3. Give it a system scan and defragment. Add memory sticks in matched pair.
4. have you heard of the advantage care system, http://www.iobit.com It has a optimizer, registry cleaner, scans your security, has smart RAM, auto defrag, I use it and have noticed a big difference. The free version does wonders, if you like it , the pay for pro versions is only 19.95 for a year.
5. since you are going to buy a new one in the future, and do not want to put a lot of money in it, then you are better off just waiting , unless you wanted to put more RAM in the computer, ( which is around 50-70$ depending on what RAM you need ) http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=10 there is a link to a site that sells RAM other than that, there is not much you can do.
6. Don't confuse hard drive space with memory.They're both measured with GB but they are totally different.When you work with the computer you work with the memory,the more you have the better.The "memory" of the hard drive is just the capacity of the drive,how much information can hold.Today you need at least 512 RAM for windows XP.And another fact is a 5 years old computer is outdated but is it does what you need, keep it.Add more memory ,do a defragment and get that demo(30 days) maintenance software to solve many problems. http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/
7. If your virus/spyware free, there are a couple things you can do get your computer working faster. If you using your computer for normal stuff and not gaming. You don't always need more RAM you just need to perform a few maintenance task. First, if you haven't cleaned your registry in a while. This is necessary. Your registry holds all the information regarding updates, installs, un-installs etc. Each one of those events produces a key. That key needs your PC's resources and free space. So, if you clean your registry, you make more resources available for speed. Do a registry scan if you got more than 20 errors you should clean it. http://www.delete-computer-history.com/what-is-the-best-registry-cleaner.html 2. Clear your Windows cache files, this is your temporary file. It can grow up to a large volume and stop your computer from using RAM properly. In a sense slow it down by preventing it from using free space.Here is how: 1. Quit Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other web browser 2. Click Start, click "Control Panel", and then double-click "Internet Options". 3. On the General tab, click "Delete Files" under Temporary Internet Files. 4. In the Delete Files dialog box, click to select the "Delete all offline content" check box , and then click OK. 5. Click OK. 3. Manage your startups. Your excess CPU usage is due to too many programs running in the background. You can cut these to barebones by alter your msconfig. Here is how: 1. Open your Start menu. 2. Click Run 3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe" 4. In the "system configuration utility",click either "service" or "startup" tab 5. Uncheck all programs that your are no longer using. 6. Click "OK"
8. Hard drive space is deep storage memory. RAM is what I like to call "right now memory". When you open a program, it takes it from the deep storage hard drive and loads it to the RAM memory and works with it in real time. If you don't have enough RAM, the processor has to keep juggling the running programs between the hard drive and RAM to keep them running, slowing down your system. Get CCleaner, and run it. Then get Antimalwarebytes and run that. If still slow, add RAM.
9. OK, Whats going on here is that your OS has way too many background tasks. Go to start > run > type in "msconfig" > hit enter. go to the startup tab and go thru the list. type everything you see in the name list into google (one by one obvsly) if its something like adobe update or w/e untick it because you do not need this running. People who are telling you your computer is outdated are wrong. It is only out dated if YOU cannot do what YOU want it to do. You will be able to play Sims and Word on a pentium 4. Note RAM and hard drive space are different. RAM is like the computers short term memory. It uses it to open and run programs/games etc. Hard drive is its long term memory. It is where you save files and program data etc.
10. Slow computer syndrome could be caused by a whole bunch of different reasons. Here is the list that you should consider checking through. This contains both the problem and suggested resolutions. The site Speed Up Your Slow Computer gives you more detail on this. Problem : Hard Drive Is Too Full And You Need To Free Up Disk Space Solution 1 : Purchase a new hard drive and transfer your files Solution 2 : Uninstall programs and applications you don't need Solution 3 : Search for and delete files that you don’t need Solution 4 : Search for and delete duplicate files Solution 5 : Backup outlook files and save to another storage device Solution 6 : Run the disk cleanup utility tool Solution 7 : Move large files that you seldom access to another hard drive Solution 8 : Clean up Service Pack and Windows Fix/Patch installations Solution 9 : Delete temporary files Solution 10 : Delete temporary internet files Solution 11 : Remove system restore points Solution 12 : Compress files Solution 13 : Delete the memory.dmp file in C:WINDOWS or C:WINNT Solution 14 : Run the "compact pst" feature in MS Outlook Problem : Hard drive is fragmented Solution 1 : Purchase a defragmenter to defragment your hard drive Solution 2 : Use the windows defragmenter to defragment your hard drive Problem : Registry is corrupt or has errors Solution 1 : Purchase a registry cleaner to identify and resolve errors Problem : Memory is overloaded Solution 1 : Stop background programs from running Solution 2 : Upgrade your computer memory Problem : Computer is infected with adware/malware Solution : Use a scanner to find and remove adware/malware Problem : Computer is infected with viruses Solution 1 : Scan for and remove viruses Solution 2 : Block viruses from coming in Problem : Your operating system settings are suboptimal Solution 1 : Change memory.dmp settings Solution 2 : Switch off hibernate function Problem : Your hardware drivers are out of date Solution : Update your hardware drivers Best of luck. Ben