My 8 month old Dell PC is running very slow all of a sudden. Done all the Dell hardware diagnostics, all is fine.

I have AVG anti virus running, and Webroot SpySweeper anti spy/adaware running. Have also done full scans with both.

I have around 12Gb left on the HD, so plenty of room.

I have only the basics in the Start Up list - AVG, Webroot, Peerguardian, Skype and MSM, have been into msconfig and stopped all the rest.

Have deleted all old programs etc and generally given the PC a bit of a clean up. But no change at all, it still runs very slow, especially when a few programs are open.

Any thoughts computer people???

Have a look in task manager and see if there are any progs which are hogging cpu time

Tried that - and the CPU usage stays relatively low, around 30%, even when it's slowing right down.....

That's actually quite high if you are not running a major app - what is the process that is using 30%?

How much total memory do you have and how much is free memory (when it starts slowing down), how much page file usage, try sorting your processes by memory usage - is anything over using memory?

Alex

What is the state of the Windows Registry?

Try stopping the AV and see if it runs faster.

It was fast there for a while, but has slowed again.

So, looking in task manager the CPU usage is actually around 3-8% most of the time, and the PF usgae around 400MB.

Total Physical memory is 522220, available 35600.... seems low....

And here's whats (if it looks high) using what in processes:

firefox 52k
Winword 113k
outlook 93k
msm 36k
Skype 59k
iTunes 84k
Explorer 60k
6 x SVCHOST things - up to 40k each
Though there is loads of other stuff....

The total physical memory available looks poor to me, but I've not changed anything on my PC lately....


Windows Reg - don't know where to look

Jasper, it's those avaters of yours, they have freaked your PC out like they have the rest of us

Woooooaaahhhhh

Yeh, memory is a bit low, it may be causing disk paging which will make the PC feel like it is sending data via the royal mail

Between MSN, Skype and Itunes you have lost over 200Mb of memory and word is using too much (100+Mb!) as well.

Try removing some of the above and see how it runs, if it improves you know what the cause is, and more memory required

Alex
PS
512mb aint much these days, aim for 1Gb

Ok, so I have a Dell Dimension, is it a case of just buying another 'stick' of RAM for it and slotting it in?

If so, what type, were's best to get it? I've messed around inside PC's before with video cards, HD's and disk drives, so I'm sure I can manage to slot a little more in......

Just gone and bought another 512Mb from Dell for £50 delivered and the warranty is unaffected, so that should sort it.....

Thanks chaps

[Edited on 7/8/06 by Jasper]

You have probably done the obvious and made sure it isn't something simple, like your heatsink isn't clogging up with dust, haven't you?

have you tried Crap Cleaner to get rid of, errr, crap? Might help

www.ccleaner.com

If its a Intel processor it'll slow down as not to over heat - check for dusty cooler. D/L speed fan and check your cpu temp. If its an AMD it'll keep running at max till it burns.

Don't think it's running too hot - gave it a hoover out about 2 months ago..... but I'll do it again.

It's a Pentium.....

I'll also try the crap cleaner - cheers

Ok, so I've run carp cleaner, I've got the essentials in start-up running, AV and anti spy software and peer guardian, and I'm only running Outlook, Firefox and Windows Explorer, my memory usage is just under 50% (310MB of 512) and it's still running slow.

I've hoovered out the inside which was quite clean anyway, and my shop is airconditioned so it's not too hot in here.

I used to be able to run a loads of programs at the same time with no slowdown at all ....

Any more thoughts chaps?

My last resort (every couple of years anyway) is to reformat and re-install. That way you know everything is minty fresh again