What is it that is making my computer slow?

-2

My computer loads programs so slow! not mention my internet. Everything is slow, and I can't figure out what it is. By looking at the specs, I see no reason why this pc couldnt be running at an 'OK' speed. I only use it for web surfing and things like that - nothing like gaming or anything. But the computer is just so slow! HEre is my specs:

Operating System
Microsoft Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3

CPU
Intel Pentium 4 Northwood 0.13um Technology

RAM
1.00 GB DDR @ 132MHz (2-3-3-6)

Motherboard
IBM IBM (WMT478/NWD) 50 °C

Graphics
VA1926wSERIES (1440x900@60Hz) Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller

Hard Drives
37.3GB IC35L060AVV207-0 (PATA) 44 °C

Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4480B

Audio
SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio

Donavon Decker

Posted 2013-06-23T03:36:01.227

Reputation: 11

Could you be a little more specific than "My computer loads programs so slow!"? Something like: my screen freezes up, etc. ? I might already have an idea why your computer might be slow, nothing precise though! ;D – user151324 – 2013-06-23T03:45:32.523

You have an old system, 1 gig of RAM isn't very much by todays standards. I would try shutting down startup programs that you don't use anymore with something like autoruns (download here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx). To be honest, this isn't a very good question. What do your performance logs say?

– Ben Plont – 2013-06-23T03:46:17.227

Literally, it's just my computer is 'slow'. Way beyond slow. Slow in every way! loading pages, opening documents, opening anything, accessing anything. its way beyond what it shouuld be – Donavon Decker – 2013-06-23T03:52:05.260

Might be background processes that has accumulated over the years. – doubleDown – 2013-06-23T04:13:02.453

Nuke it to the bedrock and start again. Reinstall Windows to clear out crufty programs that could be using up RAM. Buy a new HDD as a 500GB drive will be faster than a 40GB drive. – Mokubai – 2013-06-23T14:24:31.733

I'm wondering if he even has sata ports, or sata power connectors on a system that old - getting a new PATA drive would be pretty hard – Journeyman Geek – 2013-06-23T15:03:17.343

Note that system requirements of the software you're using might have changed between when you started using the machine and now. So if you use today's software on yesterday's hardware, it'll feel slower. – Daniel Beck – 2013-06-23T15:05:18.527

Pentium 4? No-one should be using a pentium 4 any more. – tombull89 – 2013-06-25T08:26:04.273

Answers

There's the simple possibility its old and crappy. More specifically, old hard drives do tend to slow down with age often before dying ingloriously. A detailed answer would involve using xperf to collect performance data on windows xp, and using a newer system to interpret it.

In many cases I find that defragging the disk does wonders, and often squeezes a bit more performance out of the system - I favour the old jkdefrag (the newer version, mydefrag is less minimalist but might work), if you can find it, or ultradefrag. Even a simple defragmentation, using the built in software can do wonders.

In this specific scenario, I'd probably test the disk first - hdtune is what I'd use here since it does both performance benchmarking, and SMART tests to work out if your disk is a bottleneck.

Windows also tends to pick up stuff you don't need, registry messups and general crud. You might want to consider a fresh install of windows and just installing a minimal set of applications.

Considering the age of the system replacing parts of it may not be a good option should the HDD be the issue - I'm guessing from the age of the parts, it dosen't support sata (which modern drives are) and if your drive is dying and you don't want to replace the whole system,I'd seriously consider picking a lightweight linux distribution, and booting it off USB to bypass the hard drive.

And of course, replacing with a nice, new, cheap system that will probably be faster, cooler (the PIVs are notorious for heat generation), and will probably consume much less power is probably the simplest option.

Journeyman Geek

Posted 2013-06-23T03:36:01.227

Reputation: 119 122

It's debatable if that can even boot off USB. And keep in mind that most flash drives are very slow. – Bob – 2013-06-23T10:55:43.997

For PATA there is always the option of a PATA to compaqt flash

– Hennes – 2013-06-23T11:31:45.663

Simply put, your computer is ancient. Even the cheapest new computer will be leaps and bounds faster than what you have (even if it was working perfectly). Alternatively, a used computer from Craigslist or similar site would be a cheap, yet significant improvement.

You could attempt to "clean the cobwebs" but I think you would be better off spending a few dollars to get something significantly better.

Keltari

Posted 2013-06-23T03:36:01.227

Reputation: 57 019

Those specs are horrible so you really have to manage expectations here. With that said if you haven't done so..

Clear out startup programs - Start---->Run---->msconfig (Look for the startup tab)

Clean out yo cookies and temps - http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

Remove toolbars and un needed ad ons from your browsers - Hijack this is a good program for this. Look for BHO's, toolbars etc.

Run chkdsk on the hard drive.

and lastly, physically blow out the cobwebs, dust etc. <------Probably do this first

Scandalist

Posted 2013-06-23T03:36:01.227

Reputation: 2 767