PC problems.... bad memory?

Lately I have been having some problems with my computer including:

-Slow startup/shutdown
-Lag in system resource-intensive games
-Slow loading times
-Slow program startup times


It has been going on for over a month now and I originally posted this problem in the spyware section (thought I might have a bunch of malware bogging down my system) but after going through the spyware removal guide (recommended before you post your problem), I went through the three initial steps recommended by the anti-spyware specialist, in all I did the following things
-Ran my subscription Norton AV
-Ran an online virus scan
-Ad-aware
-Spybot
-Microsof anti-spyware
-Spy sweeper
-CCleaner

and a few more that I cannot remember at the moment. I also ran Hot CPU tester.

Some things were found, but nothing major and no big improvements made. I am wondering if instead this may be an issue of a bad stick of memory or something along those lines since alot of my problems appear to point to not enough memory, or problems that more ram would appear to fix. Although, I am no expert so...

Thoughts?

Opinions?

Prognostications?

Any help would be VERY appreciated.





Oh and my comp specs as I remember them:

P4 3.0Ghz prescott
Biostar Intel P4 mobo w/ 800mhz FSB 2x PCI-e
Powercolor ATI radeon X700 256mb PCI-e
1 GB Corsair ValueSelect
and an HD from an old comp, 20GB IDE probably 5400 rpm

 

try this for testing the memory
http://www.majorgeeks.com/MemTest_d350.html

 

Best that I can tell, you didn't finish your session in Spyware Specific with BJ Garrick. I was going to mention trying the Ewido Security Suite and decided to read all your posts to see what had been done. If it were me, I would go back and finish, as previously unseen things have been known to pop up!

That aside, you could download MemTest86+ from this site and run it. Allow it to complete at least 4 passes before making any judgement. Memory testers such as this aren't infalliable, but will inform you of most problems.

A 7200 rpm hard drive would give a noticable increase in speed of loading programs. A P4 3.0 mhz processor with a gig of ram shouldn't be slow at doing anything that you mentioned having problems with.

Saw in one of your previous posts about a Norton app hanging and being nonresponsive. Norton is good at what it does, only the last versions have become resource hogs, and have been known to cause issues. That being said, if you have your installation CD for Norton as well as your subscription information concerning it, I would recommend uninstalling it and using one of the freeware antivirus apps on MG's ( both Avast and AVG work well ) to see if this helps your problems. If not, you can always reinstall Norton. The above is only my opinion and hope that it helps!

 

Thanks for the replies. I will try that MemTest when I get home.

Yeah I know I should finish up with the spyware diagnostics, its just that I have pretty much lost confidence that those scans are going to find/fix my problem and had been suspicious that it was a memory problem for awhile.

Aside from that, one quick question just for future knowledge:

Is it worth it to get premium memory, or is value just as good?

 

In answer to the memory question, I use value ram on all my systems and haven't encountered any problems, but there are others that swear by the quality ram. This is one that you will have to decide for yourself, and getting the new ram may or may not increase your system performance. Should you decide to go this route, benchmark your system using the value ram and then do so using the quality ram. This will remove any physcological value associated with the new ram!

Back to your system slowness! I've found that any sudden decrease in system performance generally comes from applications or installed software ( spyware ), hence the suggestions that I made. Hope this helps in some way and have a Happy New Year!