Windows 7: Computer Running Slow

My father's computer has began running real slow out of the blue a couple of months ago. I have spent time on and off trying to pin point what exactly caused the problem, but have had no success yet. He uses the computer sparingly at home, however, he does leave it running all the time. He doesn't really browse the web or do anything on the computer that would bring viruses or spyware on it. He is a CPA and mainly uses it to work at home.



So far I have checked for viruses with AVG which is always running and I have also run Ad-Aware to check for Spyware, so far nothing. I downloaded Core Temp to check the processor temps and they are running around 30c. The bios only offered a hard disk check which passed. I also used cCleaner to clean up the computer - registry, temp, the whole nine. Lastly, I also defragged the hard drive.

The computer starts up normal, however, once it opens the desktop it takes a while to load and when you click on applications like firefox or itunes they take forever to load. I check the RAM and CPU usage and they are very low, about 5-10% cpu usage and about 30% ram usage (1GB RAM). Its a dual core pentium processor, Dell computer that is about 3-4 years old running windows xp 64 bit. I told him that he should just reinstall Windows but he wanted me to check the rest of the hardware components first to see if there were any errors. I did a lot of research trying to find a hardware diagnostic software that tests everything on the computer from the CPU, RAM, motherboard, hard drive, PSU and graphic card if possible - but cannot find anything. My Dell has PC Doctor loaded on my computer from the factory and runs all these diagnostics for me but that is not really available to the public. Can anyone recommend a good diagnostic software, preferably free? Or any other ideas on what I can check.

Sorry for the long post, thanks

jetablack,

With a very high degree of probability, his problems are software and not hardware.

Since he has a dead-end version of windows installed, XP, my first recommendation would be to buy and install Win 7.

You should run the UpgradeAdvisor to make sure that the system is Win 7 compatible.

XP to Win 7 is not an upgrade. There is no upgrade option. You must install Win 7. The migration software from microsoft for xp to win 7 can be problematic. End result is: Backup all data dear to his heart on an external drive, clean install of Win 7, update Win 7, restore data.

Between the backup, the install, and the update, you are, as joe normal computer user, looking at 8 to 16 hours. I know some will chime in and say they did it one hour.

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

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Now with that said, let's assume you are going to stay with you good old faithful Model A.

Download, install and run CCleaner which is free (link in my sig).

After doing that, then carry out following:
LIST OF STARTUP PROGRAMS USING CCLEANER


CCleaner | Tools icon | Startup tab | click on Save to text file button (bottom right side)

Using the PAPER CLIP icon in the top panel of a Message Reply window, attach the .txt file generated by CCleaner.
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I strongly recommend using the least interfering and best free antivirus software available, namely, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). Link is in my sig. MSE is the only av that I use, install and recommend.

You said he has 1GB ram right? Is it in 1 stick or a kit?
Pull out the ram sticks clean them with something dry then put them back in a reversed setup. like it was no.1-2 now 2-1
The Cpu usage seems too low for me, but ive never had a pentium so it could be ok.
Ask him to uninstall all the recent softwares or unneeded apps.
um listen to the other user.

I advise you to upgrade to Windows 7, it is a very reliable Operating System, but I Don't think the 1GB of RAM will cut it since it is the bare minimum, I have run an 1GB RAM system on Windows 7 and it may not be as fast as you would like. But if you want to, go ahead and go Windows 7.

But if you insist on keeping Windows XP on it, I advise:
Download, install, and run a Malwarebytes scan, it will pick up any malware that the other scans didn't find, slow speeds can be due to malware which I have gone through before.
Download and install Memtest x86 (if the laptop is running 32-bit) or x64 (if it is running 64-bit), RAM faults can also cause slow speeds.

I agree that it is software based. Generally a computer can only run 1 anti virus program and running 2 will slow down a system considerably. With AVG slow downs are usually connected with scans and with AVG they can take forever so look to this as your problem. Uninstall AVG if it is the free version and do a scan with Combofix. Install either Avast Free or Comodo Free.

Do NOT use combofix unless the people of the Security forum so advise.

ComboFix can be destructive.

The two malware killers that we can safely recommend are:
MalwareBytes or
Microsoft's Safety Scanner or the standalone version thereof SystemSweeper.

I will try running another virus scan with a different program - can anyone recommend one, or is Microsoft Security Essentials available for XP ? And I will use MalwareBytes as well. Has anyone heard of Comodo Cleaning Essentials - its a virus, spyware and rootkit detect/remove software? I am thinking of using that as well.

I have heard of Memtest x86, seems like it get a lot of recommendations, so I will try that to test the RAM - I guess there is not really any comprehensive hardware diagnostics tools around. If none of the above work I will suggest to my father that we install some more RAM and install Windows 7.

Microsoft Security Essentials does work with Win XP. I have it on my other PC - as well as my Win 7 PC & it has kept me protected for over a year. It also uses very little resources.

MSE works marvelously well with XP.

Between MalwareBytes and MSE your need nothing more.

Anything more will possibly produce problems and should be avoided.