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Slow Computer - What Can I Do?

15 years ago

I have a Compaq computer with Windows XP, which I guess is 4 or 5 years old. Under "tools" I delete cookies, delete files and clear history...I have done a disc defrag and disc cleanup; but already 4 times today my computer has frozen/hung/locked up (whatever the correct term is) and the only way out is to shut the tower off then start over. Then even at that, it can take anywhere up to 15 minutes now before it is ready and can be used...today especially, I'm getting nowhere fast! Someone told me a while back that I need to remove unnecessary files...I'm so computer illiterate, I have no idea how to do this (how much would someone charge me to do it?). Any help or advice please (other than chunking my obsolete machine and purchasing a new one, because if I had the cash that's what I'd do)! Thanks :)

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Comments (3)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
this is a very good article with suggestions by Miekie MVP, as she and most MVP's agree do not try using a registry cleaner they are not for novice users. The outline she presents is a very good one.
Help! My computer is slow!

You did not mention how much memory you have on that pc, can you tell us that please. If you do not know much about your pc and would like a good tool that will tell you everything about your pc get the free belarc tool.
Belarc'

and to make sure you do not have a malware infection you can get the free malwarebytes antimalware, install it update it then run full scan and allow it to remove all infections it finds.
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
beanwabr
Original Author
15 years ago
248 MB RAM

Does that sound about right? I seriously should know more about this than I do!

Thanks for the help and links.
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The main thing you can do is exercise good judgment. What was sent to you was spam, not malware, and there is no program that is going to intercept all spam, especially when it comes from a friend. Now, if it had included an attachment that was some form of malware, and you opened or downloaded it, hopefully your antivirus would have caught it...or it might not have. There are no absolute guarantees with this kind of stuff. Keep your Avast up-to-date and run Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware regularly.
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Compress Old Files doesn't delete any files from the drive. It compresses files that Windows hasn't accessed for a specified period of time. I have 2,597,426. You can check everything in disk cleanup, won't hurt anything. You've got more serious problems with the "No IDE fixed drive present" It means the computer is not seeing a hard drive. If you can ever get it to boot again, open My Computer, right click Local Disk (C:) / Properties, click the Tools Tab, under error checking/check now, put a check in both boxes and start. Hopefully that might fix something. To me it sounds like the hard drive has died or the ide ribbon has come loose from the hd.
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Did you run an updated malwarebytes scan? That would be my first choice. Windows 10 really doesn't require a lot of Defrag and registry cleaning like the older versions of Windows, it's all taken care of internally. Are you on wireless connection? If so you can try running an ethernet cable directly from the router to the computer and see what kind of difference in speed you are. With a wireless connection it will fluctuate with movement around the house. What speed test are you using? I like speedtest.Net
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bpgreen
15 years ago
248 MB could be possible if it's actually 256 and it's sharing with the video (pretty common, especially on lower end PCs).

That's very low for XP and you'd see a big improvement if you can upgrade your RAM, even if you can only bump it to 512 MB. If possible, go to at least a GB.

To find out what you have and how much you can get (and what type you need), check out the Belarc link Ravencajun posted above. There are also some sites that sell RAM that have tools, but Belarc gives a lot more information (the RAM sites are only interested in the memory you have and can add).

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