Really Slow PC

My desktop personal computer is really slow. I know it’s difficult to say how slow but compared to my laptop it’s really, really sluggish.

First thoughts are: is it infected? No, it’s not. Please trust me on this. If it is then it’s beyond my capabilities to find any infections and beyond the methods recommended on Major Geeks. I’ve run the checks and it’s clean! That didn’t surprise me as I’m careful.

I’ve also run the procedures recommended on Major Geeks to clean up and tune up my PC; so, any ideas where I go from here?:confused

Some details you might need about my PC:

O/S: Windows XP Home Edition SP3*
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz*
Usable memory: 1280 Megabytes*

*Information obtained using Belarc Advisor (ver. 8.1k)

In advising me it may be worth you knowing my IT skills level is on the cusp of basic/intermediate.

Thanks

mark59

 

And when was your last GOOD defrag?

 

• Is boot up slow? Yes, main aspect of its slowness.
• Is shutdown slow? Yes, but not exceptionally slow; slower than my laptop but then that's a much newer machine.
• Is browsing/surfing slow? At first, but once PC is up and running not noticeably.
• Is downloading slow? No, I would say it's "normal".
• Is running any application? No, I haven't noticed any particular application slowing it down.
• Is it also slow in safe boot mode? No.
• Also are any process showing in Task Manager to be using a lot of CPU time? I know how to check that but I don't know what would be regarded as a lot of CPU time so I can't really answer that without a bit of insight into what you'd call 'a lot of CPU time'.
• Anything else slow? No

 

I defragmented it yesterday. I used IObit Smart Defrag ver. 1.50. Not sure what you mean by "good". Do you mean thorough, successful, ...?

 

By good, I meant anything BUT the Windows version.
IOBit is a good one.
What all is listed in Startup?
Everything listed has to load before Windows becomes active.
I only have my firewall, WinPatrol, and SpywareBlaster.

 

How do I get a list of what's running at Startup?

 

Downloaded and installed but I'm not sure what's essential to allow system to run and what are not. Some are not named in a way you can know what they are. For example, I've used Startup_CPL to stop Adobe ARM running at startup. Sounds unimportant is probably not required to run at startup. I haven't touched something called nwiz because I've no idea what that is and for all I know it might be important.

 

I just use the Startup list from WinPatrol.
Not that I couldn't get mine going faster by following Tims advice, since he is one of the best. (less than 1 minute from pressing the button to working)
Just that I don't require mine any faster.
Go along with Tim and you will be OK.

 

I’ve down 2 screen prints (aatached), for Startup (user) and HKLM / Run. There’s nothing listed in Startup (common), HKCU / Run, Run Once and Deleted.

 

Shot in the dark. What version of OutPost are you on. The latest free version (security suite) has a bundled antivirus. This would not start up in safe mode, but would clash with Avast5 in normal mode.

Cheers..

 

Version 6.5.1, is that the latest?

 

Hi

This is part 1/2 because of the limit on uploads per post.

I would be grateful if anyone can advise on any further entries that can be unchecked. PC is still starting-up slowly.

As you will see Deleted, HKCU / Run, Run Once, and Startup (common) have no entries.

Thanks

mark59:confused

Continued/...

 

.../Continued

This part 2/2 of my previous post.

 

Yup chas, total garbage. :-D