Computer problems diagnosed here!

Simply post what's wrong with your computer, I'll ask you anything else I need to know, or I might tell you to do something, and then, you'll know what's wrong and possibly how to fix it.

Ok, i used to be a pretty big PC gamer, but my computer has slowly turned to the suck. I don't have enough money to buy a new comp, and this one runs so slow, you would think it had a couple thousand viruses (which it doesn't, i checked with McCafe). It takes well over 15 minutes to boot, which is completely unreasonable, and little things, like opening the start menu take 15 seconds! what's up with my computer? is there any cheap way i can delete some crap off my comp automatically? I tried a program called CCleaner, and that killed 6 gb (!?!?) of cookies... any suggestions to get her running faster?

have you got thr factory back up cd's?? one way is to reboot your system and restore it to an eailer date.

Yeah, i thought about doing that, but don't you lose all the data then? i have a 1 TB external hard drive, but im afraid it's gonna take years to put everything on there. Any fast ways to get it cruising quicker without losing data or a large part of my life....

Get a maintenance program, it might smooth things out. There is one in the software thread.

Haha. Yeah, he's right, Tune up utilities is great stuff. Also, could you post the specs on your pc?
Some tips for tune up utilities, be sure to check out the start up manager, and clean up some stuff in your start up menu. Crap cleaner has one too, but it misses a few things.
You can get some cheap upgrades too, like some extra ram, and overclocking your cpu (google that, its complex).
Oh, and what os are you using?
If worst comes to worst, reformat!

I'm not totally sure on what all my specific specs are, but it's a Dell Dimension 5100 running Windows XP. Its a family comp, so i don't think that my parents would want me overclocking it (ive heard about that). They freaked out when i deleted AOL as our default browser and replaced it with the much better Google Chrome

T0x1x wrote:I'm not totally sure on what all my specific specs are, but it's a Dell Dimension 5100 running Windows XP. Its a family comp, so i don't think that my parents would want me overclocking it (ive heard about that). They freaked out when i deleted AOL as our default browser and replaced it with the much better Google Chrome

Go the Chrome, anyway if its a family computer there is probably no point in overclocking it as it would not cause much of a performance difference.

You know, this is a big problem with windows, that the computer inexplicably just slows down over time. I recommend you back everything up and reformat. If it takes too long, just leave it to back up overnight.
Now, instructions for reformatting. I'm sure you already know how, but there's a better way. Download a thingo called parted magic, it's a partition editor. Now, reformat the partion, or whole hard drive if you like. It'll take about a minute. Put the xp disc in, and when it asks you if you'd like to reformat the partition, say no and just install, because you just formatted it much more quickly. Install as usual. Once you're done, go back to parted magic, and use the backup utility to clone the partition you just installed windows on. This means that in future, if the computer screws up again, you can just restore to the cloned image easily.
Also, I've noted your pc is extremely low in ram and hd space. You can get some cheap ddr2 stickks for about 50 buck aus, and a new 500gb western digital caviar green hdd for 90 bucks aus.
If you need help installing them, just ask.

Have you ever leave on at night?
I had two computers and they were really fast, but when i left the computer on, for long period( overnight) it tends to go slower.

Ah hah. That is an unfortunate problem with windows. It's called memory leaking, where programs start draining more and more memory the longer you leave on windows. For tasks like serverness, or downloading, I recommend you use ubuntu, as linux systems can run for a whole year and more without downtime. Otherwise, let your comp run for a night, open task manager, and see what's hogging all your ram.
More ram won't solve anything, as xp can only take 3 gbs of ram, and vista 32 bit and windows 7 32 bit can only take 4 gb of ram.

yeah just tell him to take linux mate, i dont think its a good solution, because pretty much you telling him to convert all of his computers to linux and tadah! there are no problems with our computer

Purgertheevil i know this is unrelated to the topic however would you please talk PROPERLY in this forum? "pretty much you telling him". Typing a couple of extra words ain't hard and it makes a pretty big difference to what you're trying to say.

tiny_plaid_ninjas, essentially you are saying that Linux is much better and for him to get Linux.

Anyhow, all hard drives will gradually slow down no matter what Operating system you are using. All 32 bit systems can only recognise 4gb of memory (which also includes things like video memory).

64 bit systems can address 16 exabytes of memory (1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes). In terms of getting rid of crap, you can simply reformat or you can use the programs in the posts above. System restore generally will help little because it mainly focuses on restoring changes to the memory, so the majority of files will not change or be removed, mainly only system files.

Yes, but xp memory leaks. I'm not saying he should just change to linux all out, but linux is better at tasks like serverness. And plus, if you like, you can just as easily dual boot it.
Plus, you need to convert only, 1, as linux is compatible with windows (duh!)
The best solution is probably the simplest one, let the comp run over night, find the memory leaking process, and terminate them.
Or better yet, if you dont trust me, google xp memory leaking.

Most of the time it is programs that are responsible for memory leak and not the operating system.