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So for the last couple days my computer has been very glitchy. It's been slow, very slow, and getting slower. At first I thought it was my net connection, but that is fine now.
When I got home from school tonight it was frozen, and I had to restart it several times before it got me back to the welcome screen. When I finally got back into Windows, it told me there was a fatal windows error that had been corrected. But it is still working extremely slow.
Any ideas? Is it probably a virus?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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When it's running slow, Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del to open the task manager and click on the processes tab. Click the CPU column header to sort by CPU descending (you may have to click it twice). See which processes are consuming resources.
That may give us something to go on.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Okay, I did that, I assume I should tell you the things with the highest numbers. They are fluctuating regularly, but the highest is System Idle Process (SYSTEM), it's around 90 or so.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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The System Idle Process is the amount of unused processor time. If it's running at 90%, you're only using 10% of your CPU. What's your memory usage like?
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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I have like 30 Gigs on the computer, maybe 10 of that is used.
So is it probably a virus or something then? I ran a buttload of spyware checks from different programs and got rid of like 50 spyware programs. Still slow.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
OK. That only works some of the time, but when it does, it puts you on the solution quickly. Sorry.
Try an overnight defrag in safe mode, and check your memory usage. Sometimes sudden slowdowns are caused by tipping memory usage over into a new pagefile sector (or segment - I can't keep it straight). Have you installed anything that stays resident recently?
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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installed anything that stays recent....you mean installed a new program?
No I haven't installed anything new. But I WILL try that overnight defrag. I can't believe I didn't try that first, I feel like an idiot. Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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It could also be the case that your RAM may be on the fritz/dying.
If you have access to more RAM of the same kind, preferably from a friend or relative that will let you borrow it for a second and try it on your computer, I'd advise you to remove the RAM you have (or ask somebody to do it for you if you don't know how) and try the borrowed stick on your computer. If you're still getting slowdowns it could be a myriad of different things but at least we could narrow it down a bit.
What it could be:
- Virus - Spyware - Defective RAM - Scheduled system tasks or bad Windows configuration - Fragmented hard drive - Corrupted windows installation (probably cause by virus or spyware in the past).
Not to worry though, there are many things you can do to fix your system and in the worst case you can format your drive and start with a clean windows installation. However, I'd reserve that possibility for last seeing as it may be a hassle to reinstall everything.
I'm going to defrag it tonight, run my spyware programs again, and then see how it runs. If it is still slow, I'll have to assume it's a hardware issue, or a software issue that I'm just not able to detect through diagnostic software.
Plus, for as smart as I like to pretend I am, I'm really rather stupid when it comes to actual hardware issues, or software issues more complicated than running McAfee or Norton.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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The amount of storage space you have -- 30 GB, in this case -- is not your memory usage. Memory = RAM. *grin* You can see your memory usage in the column next to CPU usage in Task Manager.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Is there a way to know which processes are needed? I have like 39 - 41 processes running, and I know that a year ago, it was only around 33. How do you know which ones you actually want on and which you don't. I can bring up the task manager, but can't figure out how to cut and paste all of the ones running. Is there a way to do that? Maybe if you see them, you could tell me if I need them. (I just wondered if there was an easier way than to type them all in.)
I have a 1200 MHz processor 256 L2 cache 126 MB memory (RAM?) and 89% of it is being used.
When I pull up the task manager, my CPU usage is usually very low (5% or so) but when you can hear the computer working, it goes to 100%. On the Performance tab, it shows the Physical Memory (K). Total is 129008, available is 33100 and system cache is 41000ish. Under totals, it has 9442 handles, 443 threads and right now, 41 processes.
I have no idea what any of this means. I just know that a bout a year ago, my computer slowed down and it sucks. I want to play Neverwinter and Warcraft but everything is so slow it totally blows!
Anyone have any ideas?
Posts: 171 | Registered: Jun 2001
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If you indeed have only 126MB of RAM and are running Windows XP (or even 2000), you need more RAM. Seriously. I don't think you can even install Warcraft III in 126MB of RAM.
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Yes. I rechecked in a different place. It is 128MB RAM.
So, do you think just adding more RAM will increase the computer speed? It takes forever to do anything. Just opening a new browser window. Turning on the computer, alone, takes 15 minutes.
Posts: 171 | Registered: Jun 2001
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RAM has always improved a machine's response for me more than any other upgrade, and I notice improvements even up to 1 GB (I haven't gone beyond that yet).
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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It didn't use to be. (How would you say that correctly?)
::clearsthroat::
My computer used to run fine. (Is that better?)
It only recently began running agonizingly slow. So, theoretically, it should run fine. And it's agonizingly slow during things like opening a browser window, when there isn't any other program running. At least none that I know of. It's not like my major problem is that games are unbearably slow. It takes 15 minutes to turn the computer on!
Posts: 171 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Yes, that's a very small amount of RAM. Ideally the minimum you should have on a PC these days is 256 MB of DDR ram, my suggestion would be to add a bit more RAM and see if that solves your problems.
Posts: 459 | Registered: Mar 2005
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If it's running at 90%, you're only using 10% of your CPU. What's your memory usage like?
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