Computer running really slow and not sure why .

[babyface4life]

my computer is running a little slower then normal and I'm thinking maybe theres a software conflict some where . I have both kaspersky anti- virus 2010 and the free version of zone alarm firewall , as well as the mcafee site advisor and malware bytes. I only have 16 gigs of free space left so I dont know if this can have anything to do with it . I have a dell demention E- 10 thats almost 4 years old with microsoft windows xp home edition service pack 3 with 2.79 GHz , 504 MB of ram . Ive heard of conflicting issues with kaspersky and zone alarm , but everything was fine up till the past week or so . I scan for viruses and nothing found .

 

[jalsmiley]

my computer is running a little slower then normal and I'm thinking maybe theres a software conflict some where . I have both kaspersky anti- virus 2010 and the free version of zone alarm firewall , as well as the mcafee site advisor and malware bytes. I only have 16 gigs of free space left so I dont know if this can have anything to do with it . I have a dell demention E- 10 thats almost 4 years old with microsoft windows xp home edition service pack 3 with 2.79 GHz , 504 MB of ram . Ive heard of conflicting issues with kaspersky and zone alarm , but everything was fine up till the past week or so . I scan for viruses and nothing found .

512mb ram is not really enough to run just windows xp alone...so as soon as you boot your pc up you are dipping into page file to compensate, so basically you are running too much stuff with too little ram...get more ram, min 2gb, and get one suite for your internet security, or get a new computer.

 

[gutsandblood]

Some guys on here told me about Advanced System Care. It has alot of differnet features including registry cleaner, and spyware. It improved my computer quite a bit, and a friends also, and its free. I also use Avast for antivirus, which is also free. If you think you are having a conflict with your current programs and want to try new stuff without paying for, try these. I am no expert with computers though. Good luck.

 

[microcentillion]

Optimizing the software won't have much effect until you fix the hardware bottleneck. Computers (like everything else, really) only run as fast as the slowest part. The amount of memory in your system is certainly a major issue.

Invest $50 in some more RAM, bribe a computer savvy friend with a beer to drop it in for you and clean stuff up, and as jalsmiley said, limit the security suite to one vendor. Until you resolve the memory issue, software improvements will have a negligible effect.

- OR -

Heed jalsmiley's alternative, and get a new machine.

 

[Nssca]

virus/malware

 

[liquid]

Get CCleaner, and run it.

When they ask you to back up the Registry before deleting it, do it.

 

[KTY]

First off get rid of Kaspersky (massive resource hog) and Zone Alarm (garbage)!

Run AVG (free anti-virus) and then get Malwarebytes, Ad-aware or Spy bot search and destroyer. Keep them up to date and do regular scans.

Next upgrade your RAM. Get at least 1GB. RAM is cheap and will make a huge difference. Depending on your board you can probably run more then a GB, check the specs. RAM is easy to change out, no need to pay someone to install it, but if your uncomfortable pay a tech. There are different types a RAM, easiest is to shut down the computer and unplug the power. Buy an anti-static wrist strap or make sure you are grounded and don't give off a static charge as it can damage your components (highly unlikely) Locate the RAM and depress the two tabs and pull the RAM out carefully. The RAM will be marked and will tell you what RAM you need (ie. PC2700 333mhz DDR).
Swapping it out is done the same way, drop the RAM in, secure it and power it on. If you get a blue screen its installed improperly or you didn't buy the proper RAM. Remove it and either install it correctly or get the proper RAM.

Hope this helps...

 

[babyface4life]

First off get rid of Kaspersky (massive resource hog) and Zone Alarm (garbage)!

Run AVG (free anti-virus) and then get Malwarebytes, Ad-aware or Spy bot search and destroyer. Keep them up to date and do regular scans.

Next upgrade your RAM. Get at least 1GB. RAM is cheap and will make a huge difference. Depending on your board you can probably run more then a GB, check the specs. RAM is easy to change out, no need to pay someone to install it, but if your uncomfortable pay a tech. There are different types a RAM, easiest is to shut down the computer and unplug the power. Buy an anti-static wrist strap or make sure you are grounded and don't give off a static charge as it can damage your components (highly unlikely) Locate the RAM and depress the two tabs and pull the RAM out carefully. The RAM will be marked and will tell you what RAM you need (ie. PC2700 333mhz DDR).
Swapping it out is done the same way, drop the RAM in, secure it and power it on. If you get a blue screen its installed improperly or you didn't buy the proper RAM. Remove it and either install it correctly or get the proper RAM.

Hope this helps...

I plan on going to a computer shop to get their opinion and see how much for extra ram . I use the paid version of kaspersky because I look at it and zone alarm as a unbeatable combo from what ive heard from people who use either of them , especially a friend who is a computer programmer that swears zone alarm is the best for firewall , virus protection because he tells im a programmer , I know . I usually go by user reviews on download.com , but thanks for the info .

 

[KTY]

Right on bro. Merely my opinion. I am no "computer programmer" but I do hold a degree in computer science and worked as a computer tech for a few years before today.

All those fancy "paid" anti-viruses jam too much "extras" into their software which are rarely used or beneficial and only hamper the performance of your computer by bogging down resources. I have used and installed AVG's free anti-virus on numerous PC's for a years and never had a problem or a virus to date. It's simple, compact and tough to beat!

I can't speak too much about Zone Alarm, although I have tried it but ditched it quite quickly as it was quite frankly annoying as hell. As an advanced user I am aware of other methods of protecting my info. A quality software firewall is arguably more than enough for most of us. If you are running Windows XP, you already have a basic firewall installed in your computer. If you installed Service Pack 2, this Windows Firewall was turned on by default, and should be protecting your computer right now, unless you opted to disable it. The Windows Firewall acts like a hardware firewall, that is, it controls inbound traffic.

No need to go to a shop to see what they think. At minimum you should be running 1GB of RAM. Although it is pretty cheap to upgrade to 4GB if your hardware is compatible. RAM is dirt cheap. The cheapest upgrade you can do to better performance of your system. To give you an example of RAM prices. Corsair or OCZ make in my opinion the best RAM. 4GB's will cost you between $100 - $120 online (newegg.com) with $2.99 shipping and they ship fast and have an outstanding return policy.

P.S. Take the reviews you read online like DOWNLOAD.com CNET and PC World with a grain of salt. Keep in mind people pay these top sites money to give ummm biased reviews of products. Which in turn gets them more sales and more publicity. Not all sites are like this and not all reviews are a sham but just don't take it all as gospel cause it all ain't true brotha

Anyways good luck trying to speed your system up. A slow sluggish system must be painfully maddening. Cheers!

 

[xman78]

boh

 

[Kaiser]

First off get rid of Kaspersky (massive resource hog) and Zone Alarm (garbage)!

And you get this information where? Kaspersky has one of the best scan engines available and ZoneAlarm is far from trash, as it is one of the best firewalls in exsitence. Yes, you can certainly turn some of Kasperky's extra stuff off, espectially if you have the firewall running. As for 4GB of RAM, dont waste his time. It will not read more than 3GB anyway post SP1 of XP on 32 bit operating systems, even with the /3GB and /PAE switches.

All in all, you should only have 1 firewall running at a time, which means you should turn off Windows Firewall as well, if you are running ZoneAlarm. You can hang the network stack if you have more than one running. Next select an Antivirus, and stick with it. Uninstall ALL others as more than one will cause kernel file handle timeouts, which could definitely be causing your problems. If you only have 16-18GB left, consider grabbing a larger drive and having it installed. With NTFS file system, you need at least 30% breathing room for the performance to be up to par. My guess things like your pagefile, etc are so heavily fragmented due to expanding and contracting and not having a contiguous space large enough on your drive. While you are at it, add RAM to your computer, as mentioned, just dont waste your money on 4GB as it won't be able to utilize it.