Why is my computer so slow?

Recon

I've got a p4 2.8GHz, 512 ram and when I start my pc it takes ages to get going. I've used friends pcs and there's start in a quarter the time mine does. I'm using up-to-date norton for checking viruses.

Any ideas why it couls be so slow?

Karoma

Start-up items, etc. What spec. is your friends machine? What OS? etc.
Does s/he use Norton software too?

Ruu_Old

Norton would be part of the problem there, chuck it and get one of the free anti-virus scanners, they are much better and use less resources. What have you got running at startup? Have you tried an anti-spyware check also?

Recon

I've got windows XP. My buddy's pc is slightly lower spec, around 2.5 GHz.

I've got nothing in the startup menu in the start menu, I got rid of the one or two things that were there.

There's five things in my task bar menu (the one near the clock) two are for norton, one volume control, one for nokia pc suite and one for my external hard-drive (the icon with the green arrow on it to say something's connected).

It's been slow since before I got norton.

Karoma

Start-up items:
Start -> run -> msconfig -6 -> OK
(Tick = auto-starts)

Recon

Ok...I didn't know there was THAT much crap going at startup.

Lazarus2.0

As Ruu says , Norton could be a big culprit here - it will use up massive resources ( not only during start-up , i might add ) . You could also check what is actually loading on to your system at startup by doing the following ..

Click Start
Click Run
Type in msconfig in the dialogue box that opens , then click OK .
Click on the Startup tab ( it's usually the last tab ) and uncheck the boxes next to any application you dont need to have running on startup e.g. any messenger programs , etc . All you really need to run on startup is your antivirus and firewall (and systray if you are using older Windows system than XP ) so uncheck any others that are currently checked . Anything else you want to run you can just run it when you choose . Click Apply to confirm the changes then restart your PC .

Recon

What would be things that I shouldn't stop at startup? I've a good idea of some of the ones I can stop

Recon

Well my subscription with norton ran out a few days ago so I won't be losing anything bu ditching it, but are the free anti-virus programs any good?

Thanks for all the help so far.

Ruu_Old

Yep Anti-Vir, AVG or avast! are all pretty good free anti-virus software available on the webby and are updated fairly regularly.

BadCharlie

Could download Stinger and run that. Its not great but it can pick up somestuff and you dont need to install it.

Also if all fails just do a format and start again.
Also another half a gig of ram would speed things up.

Recon

Yea I was thinking about getting another 512 ram and a 256 graphics card (I've a 128 at the moment), I was quoted €170 including fitting for them. But I don't have the money at the moment.

demanufactured

You could fit them yourself , they are easy as pie to put in

Garth Farley

I find that disabling many of the unnecessary Services that are running in the background can give your computer a speed boost. It's also handy to get rid of Windows Messenger, the Security Console and those Remote Access things that just *can't* be secure anyway. Have a look at this guide:

http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/article.jsp?article_id=70112&cat_id=584

-GF

Recon

Thanks for all the replies.

PogMoThoin

Recon wrote:

Well my subscription with norton ran out a few days ago so I won't be losing anything bu ditching it, but are the free anti-virus programs any good?

Thanks for all the help so far.

Free ones are much better than Northon. I'd recommend the following:
Anti virus: AVG free
Firewall: Kerio
Spyware: Adaware, Windows defender & Spybot search & destroy