Blatant n00b question, don't judge me.

Got myself into a predicament with the wonder known as 'parents computer' mixed with 'paranoid parents'

Basically the computer 3ish GHz Vaio desktop. Was moderately responsive, about 1min from boot to idling on desktop. Since I got back from uni its now taking that long I logged in, sat waiting for IE to become responsive, got bored, turned my laptop on, logged in, did what I wanted to do and logged out and IE was still not quite working. To call it slow is an understatement. Its free of viruses, spyware and adware as far as the respective scanners are concerned and has 9Gb of C drive left so its not an issue with that.

Im really stuck as to whats going off. My dad runs all the usual maintenance programs weekly, its just as if all of a sudden its 3000MHz has become 300MHz.

Formating it is really not an option as its not mine and my dad thinks Im Satan when it comes to computers. Despite being blatantly more computer literate

Any ideas?

 

Un-install McAfee.

 

Thats quite an assumption to make. It has Norton of which I have no quarrel with.

 

Norton / McAfee (home versions) use a lot of ram each (normally in excess of 140MB). they are both OK - nothing amazing tho.

Which symantec app is it? Norton 360, Norton Internet Security, etc

What has been done to check for spyware (symantec say norton does anti-spyware, but it doesn't do it very well - like any other anti virus program)?

When was it last de-fragmented and with which de-fragmentation program?

what's the spec on the machine - including what CPU (make/model), RAM, HDD (capacity, make and model if poss) and OS?

Is it just IE slow, or the entire PC? If just IE have you tried IE safe mode (which turns off all the BHO's and etcs)?

Sorry about all the questions, just trying to build up a better picture of what's being dealt with.

 

Easiest way to double the required specification of a PC: install Norton.

I'd say Norton's resource requirements outstrip XP's, easy.

 

Yeah I guess I was a little brief,

-Norton IS.
-Adaware for the spyware.
-Monthly and Windows XP defragmenter.
-P4 3Ghz HT, 512Mb ram (DXdiag reports it as 510!?), WDC (Wester Digital Caviar?) 200Gb split into 50 (C) and 150 (D) came like that, bit stupid but its dads computer not mine and he wont let me change it, XP Home SP2.

Its everything but after a while it speeds up.... Im talking 5 - 10mins after logon though. Its mainly a problem from boot, if its left on all day and switched users it doesn't affect the other users, just the first few mins of running. IE is more noticeable as its all I really use it for, anything more time consuming than checking bits of the web I just use my laptop.

I would put 2gb of RAM in it but Im not forking out for it if its not my computer and my dad wont because he's like that. Anyway, it ran fine a while back, its like something changed and all of a sudden its died.

 

First of all, you get less reported RAM because the computer probably have a built in GFX which runs shared memory.

If the problem suddenly occurred, I would try to run memtest and disk test.

If you start the task manager as soon as possible, try to see if any processes use excessive amounts of CPU or RAM. Could point you in the right direction.

 

If that's the case it's only uses 2MB, go into the bios and up it to 32 or 64MB.

Ow and just format it

 

The gpu has 128 of its own as far as I can tell, its a 5000 series GeForce Go, I doubt its making do with 2Mb

Smilodon: I shall give them tests a shot as soon as its finished a virus scan.

LeMaltor: Formating is not an option. Im trying to fix it without causing its owners any inconvenience.

 

Run a hard drive performance test. I know this may sound crazy but check to see if its performance follows a normal trend, if you have sudden dips (I mean like losing 10Mb/s) and then it recovers as it reads further away from the centre then the hard disk has got bad sectors and is on its way out. Everybody thinks I am Satan when it comes to electronics but yet they still call me when they need stuff fixed.

 

clean out everything you have at start-up, except the necessities, by running msconfig. im geusing there is a lot of stuff you won't need to be running, but if this isn't the case... definitely run the hard drive performance test, might be on its way out

 

accidental reformat. he'll only be pissed for a couple days. i do it to my dad all the time.

 

Hehe very accident prone

 

Sounds like a build up of software and possible virus/ad ware etc that's not being detected by your anti-virus. I'd also second the MSconfig to reduce the number of applications that are loaded with the OS and look into getting another 512 of ram if you can.

 

More memory would be a help, but is not your main issue.

I'd suggest running some more anti-spyware apps, as not one gets everything (eg Spybot Search and Destroy, AVG Anti-Spyware, Super Anti-spyware, a-squared). 4-6 is a good number. Check here - http://andymanchesta.com/ - for a fairly decent selection (tho personally i'd not bother with Windows Defender).

Check this list - http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - for any fake anti-spyware apps.

If you want to check for virus' with another app jic, use one of the hosts of free on-line scanners (eg http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/ ).

9GB free is ok, just don't let it drop below 7.5GB (eg 15% of the partition size).

Having 2 Partitions (3 if you include the normal sony recovery partition) is a fine thing, good if fact, if you use it. I'd take all personal stuff from the system partition and move them to the other (you can relocate My documents by right hand clicking on it, and changing the location, this normally moves the folders content at the same time) which has more than one advantage.

I'd turn off system restore, clear out the prefetch folder and use either "disk clean up" or something like "Ace Utilities" ( http://www.acelogix.com ) to clean up temp files / old files. Also remove any not used apps.

Check the start up entries (either manually, or use an app like Ace Utilities (free 30 trail)) to remove anything un-nessicry. if you see something loading with the system which is unkown to you, tap the file/exe name into google.

You can use bootvis ( http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/BootVis.shtml ) - see guide: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-6346_11-5034622.html - to help optimise boot time.

Once positive the system is clean, run windows defrag, then download a trail of either disk keeper or O&O defrag (my preference) and run a full defrag with either (and also an off-line defrag to tidy up those pesky system files).

 

You really don't want 4-6 anti spyware programs running at the same time, it will only make the problem worse

 

you shuld also run a disk scanning tool such as spin right to check for any errors that windows msses. Also if the hard drive is doing a lot of "thrashing" when loading an app then it is probably a memory issue. You could try increasing the pagefile. Other than that an "Accidental" format could be the rememdy as well.

 

I didn't mean at the same time. Just run them on after the other.

 

Also check what's saved to desktop, if he's suddenly been using that as a dumping ground for large files that slows down boot time.

 

512 isn't a lot of RAM. Ctrl-Alt-Del and see how many processes are running. I've got 4 GB of RAM in my current computer, so I don't worry about it much and usually have 70ish processes running, but back when I had my old Compaq the only way I could keep it usable was to remove any and all junk processes. I trimmed it to a little under 30.
The easy way really is to upgrade the RAM (provided it's not something bizarre like rambus). And yes, GET RID OF NORTON. It eats system resources and does absolutely nothing. Not to mention Norton apps border on rootkits--depending on the program, it can be almost impossible to remove completely. AVG, Avast! and Lavasoft all make good, free scanners that will do absolutely everything Norton does without bothering you to renew your subscription and using questionable installation methods.