Computer troubles - just started lagging one day
06-20-2004, 06:01 PM
#1
OK, don't get me wrong, i realize my computer is not a super machine. But i've done a thing or two to it and it's worked well for me.
The other day though, it became noticably slower! Things that never lagged before now lag. For instance switching windows lags, and when i switch msn windows or open an msn chat with someone i'll type whatever i want as soon as i double click on their name. Used to catch up with no problem, now the first half of the sentence is missing most of the time.
I've ran a full spyware (ad-aware 6.0 up to date) scan in safemode to remove that crap. My Antivirus (AVG by grisoft) updates daily at 4am and scans at 5am, there've been no virus's lately that weren't silly and removed without a prob. I degragged my C: drive the other day to no avail. I dunno what else could cause such an instant change.
I have not add'd any crazy resource stealing programs to my knowledge. The programs i generally run, are MSN messenger, Kazaa Lite, Zone Alarm, Roboform, AVG, and Winamp.
The pc, which i stole from my parents business after it closed down was purchased in 1995. It's a solid Celeron 400. Now has 288mb SD100 ram (had for a couple years). Apart from that it has an alright 32MB video card, dvd-rom and cd-writer. All of which it's had for at least a year, there've been no hardware changes to the machine (unless some piece gave out which i have yet to find) There've been no software changes that i can remember.
I thought maybe somehow a piece of my memory went bad and just stopped working, but on bootup it still shows me working with 288mb ram as does sisoft when it looks at my pc.
Sorry for the long post, but what else can i or should i check here? This is no blazing super fast machine, but it was almost and instant drop in performance and it's ticking me off!!!
[ June 20, 2004, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Hardcore Rock Superstar ]
The other day though, it became noticably slower! Things that never lagged before now lag. For instance switching windows lags, and when i switch msn windows or open an msn chat with someone i'll type whatever i want as soon as i double click on their name. Used to catch up with no problem, now the first half of the sentence is missing most of the time.
I've ran a full spyware (ad-aware 6.0 up to date) scan in safemode to remove that crap. My Antivirus (AVG by grisoft) updates daily at 4am and scans at 5am, there've been no virus's lately that weren't silly and removed without a prob. I degragged my C: drive the other day to no avail. I dunno what else could cause such an instant change.
I have not add'd any crazy resource stealing programs to my knowledge. The programs i generally run, are MSN messenger, Kazaa Lite, Zone Alarm, Roboform, AVG, and Winamp.
The pc, which i stole from my parents business after it closed down was purchased in 1995. It's a solid Celeron 400. Now has 288mb SD100 ram (had for a couple years). Apart from that it has an alright 32MB video card, dvd-rom and cd-writer. All of which it's had for at least a year, there've been no hardware changes to the machine (unless some piece gave out which i have yet to find) There've been no software changes that i can remember.
I thought maybe somehow a piece of my memory went bad and just stopped working, but on bootup it still shows me working with 288mb ram as does sisoft when it looks at my pc.
Sorry for the long post, but what else can i or should i check here? This is no blazing super fast machine, but it was almost and instant drop in performance and it's ticking me off!!!
[ June 20, 2004, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: Hardcore Rock Superstar ]
06-20-2004, 06:14 PM
#3
it's worth ago....i think the pc is pretty clean, but i'm willing to try pretty well anything at the moment - i'll do it now
ok scan done, removed a couple things performance hasn't dramatically improved but i'm playing around try'n to make sure it's still not up to speed
for now any other idea's or suggestions?
[ June 20, 2004, 08:29 PM: Message edited by: Hardcore Rock Superstar ]
ok scan done, removed a couple things performance hasn't dramatically improved but i'm playing around try'n to make sure it's still not up to speed
for now any other idea's or suggestions?
[ June 20, 2004, 08:29 PM: Message edited by: Hardcore Rock Superstar ]
06-20-2004, 07:59 PM
#5
last time i reinstalled windows was about a year ago - i've been contemplating and have always prepared for it, by putting most of my install files and music and what i can fit of the **** collection on a seperate drive - but i'd prefer not to have to go thru the reinstalling of the 9 million updates and the hassle of formatting.
06-20-2004, 08:29 PM
#6
i dunno why....but i think zone alarm is the cause. I shut it down and it's like a dream now. I'll try reinstalling it...see if that fix's things as i don't wanna be without it.
Or can anyone else name another decent firewall program? Free of course what do you think i am? I know these programs like to eat up resources, but i don't remember it ever eating up that much of the resources.
Or can anyone else name another decent firewall program? Free of course what do you think i am? I know these programs like to eat up resources, but i don't remember it ever eating up that much of the resources.
