Why is this computer so slow?

[NintendoTogepi]

It's from Christmas 2001. It has 1GB of RAM and an alright processor. It was very high end when we got it.

It takes about 10 minutes to become fully start up, programs are very slow to start up and it lags doing every little thing.

Is it because of Windows XP?

[kahlil88]

It's from Christmas 2001. It has 1GB of RAM and an alright processor. It was very high end when we got it.

It takes about 10 minutes to become fully start up, programs are very slow to start up and it lags doing every little thing.

Is it because of Windows XP?
Are you running Ubuntu or Windows XP? I would definitely expect a computer that old to be slow unless it has a recent clean install of *******. It could also be that the hard drive is going bad.

[christian8807]

You could always try a full scan\defragment to see if it'll help.

[NintendoTogepi]

Are you running Ubuntu or Windows XP? I would definitely expect a computer that old to be slow unless it has a recent clean install of *******. It could also be that the hard drive is going bad.

Windows XP. I thought I remembered hearing that Windows get really slow if it is installed for a while - it has never been reinstalled btw, so it's a 7 year old installation of Windows.

I think I'm gonna try and get my parents to allow me to install Ubuntu on it - they don't use it that much since they got a new laptop with Vista this Christmas.

[Exershio]

Windows XP. I thought I remembered hearing that Windows get really slow if it is installed for a while - it has never been reinstalled btw, so it's a 7 year old installation of Windows.

I think I'm gonna try and get my parents to allow me to install Ubuntu on it - they don't use it that much since they got a new laptop with Vista this Christmas.

oh jesus that's why it's so slow. The registry is probably crammed to death with broken and useless entries, it's most likely littered with malware, millions of useless services and programs running at startup, horrible fragmentation of the filesystem and registry, etc. A lot can happen in 7 years. Let's face it, Windows isn't very good at 1 year. 7 years is overkill. EXTREME overkill.

I think it's time for a fresh start. :P

[HavocXphere]

Windows XP. I thought I remembered hearing that Windows get really slow if it is installed for a while - it has never been reinstalled btw, so it's a 7 year old installation of Windows.
:shock: 7 years? If I'm using XP full time I usually reinstall every ~6 months.

Most of the slowness comes from programs and services set to auto-run. But fixing that requires a bit of know-how because you can break the system completely if you mess up (esp. with services).

You can use msconfig to check what is auto-starting. You can also disable auto-starting programs there...but technically its not the right way to disable them.

I'd suggest dual-booting. Parents don't react well to having an OS forced upon them.

[insane_alien]

I'd suggest dual-booting. Parents don't react well to having an OS forced upon them.

only if you don't set it up right.

there are a few XP themes that are really good. the minor UI differences can all be explained by a 'microsoft update' and some big jargonny words thrown in for good measure.

[Vince4Amy]

only if you don't set it up right.

there are a few XP themes that are really good. the minor UI differences can all be explained by a 'microsoft update' and some big jargonny words thrown in for good measure.

Or you could just set it up so it runs almost perfectly but keep whatever theme on the distro you are using. For example when I upgraded the family Laptop I put Fedora on and said Windows XP is old so I upgraded the OS to something more recent and that was it no questions since.

[insane_alien]

Or you could just set it up so it runs almost perfectly but keep whatever theme on the distro you are using. For example when I upgraded the family Laptop I put Fedora on and said Windows XP is old so I upgraded the OS to something more recent and that was it no questions since.

well, whatever works for you, i tried that but it dodn't work.

so now i have something the looks like windows XP (unless i swap over to my user account) and to some extent acts like windows XP but with none of the slowing down with age and viruses and the like.

[NintendoTogepi]

My Mom says "absolutely not, you cannot ruin this computer as well" :confused:

I guess she thinks that since I pretty much destroyed the 'test' computer with Linux and 20+ partitions, I will ruin this one as well. No amount of explaining that it was a test computer will work.

Oh well, her loss.

I'd install it while she slept and give her the option to dual boot, but the computer can't be shut off because then it won't start up. Windows freezes and you'll have to keep turning it off till you get lucky and it starts up...it's been on for over 2 weeks now...would be around a month but the power went out...

[overdrank]

My Mom says "absolutely not, you cannot ruin this computer as well" :confused:

I guess she thinks that since I pretty much destroyed the 'test' computer with Linux and 20+ partitions, I will ruin this one as well. No amount of explaining that it was a test computer will work.

Oh well, her loss.

I install it while she slept and give her the option to dual boot, but the computer can't be shut off because then it won't start up. Windows freezes and you'll have to keep turning it off till you get lucky and it starts up...it's been on for over 2 weeks now...would be around a month but the power went out...

I would not advise doing the install if your mother said no. :)
I would suggest trying to clean up xp by removing some of the items from startup. I believe you can use msconfig by the start, run. Also scan for malware and others.

[Ripose]

Well although this is a Ubuntu forum,,,



Virus Remover
Spyware Remover
Remove ALL Trial software
Remove Unused Programs
Delete Temp/Cache files
Registry Cleaner
Defrag


You can find free Apps for all of the steps, for any version of Windows. Just Google them.

[burnetbj]

I would suggest (Ccleaner) for the registry cleaner and (Ad-aware) for spyware remover. Both free of charge and effective

http://www.ccleaner.com/download/downloading
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

[Polygon]

i dont like the new version of adaware, it adds a startup process that really does not need to be there

i prefer spybot search and destroy, does a great job and it has teatimer which is a great settings protector (as it warns if something is adding itself to the registry or is changing options)

do the obvious stuff, virus scan, malware scan, also, go to start > run > msconfig

and go to startup and services tab, (for the services tab, click the box that says hide all microsoft services) and google every entry that is listed and checked, and make sure its not anything that is not essential. Stuff like itunes, quicktime, java, all install startup entries that do not need to be enabled. The only things that need to start up with the computer are drivers (wireless, video card entries etc), virus scanner stuff (usually accounts for 4-6 of them) and a few random microsoft ones that are obscure.

Just google and use your own common sense on what needs to start up with the computer. This can shorten the time dramatically between the point where you login to the point where you can actually use the computer.

[swoll1980]

Make sure it's very clean inside. Dust build up in the vent, fan,shroud, and heat sink, can really slow a computer down.

[airjaw]

I'm here to help you. Read and take my advice.
I had a 2002 computer. I played Counter-strike on it just fine for several years. After a while CS started getting laggier and slower until in 08, 09 CS was crawling. I never figured out exactly why it got slower. I did numerous reinstalls, formats, you name it.

Computers are not supposed to get slower. The reasons could include: bloated software, having OS installed for too long, bad hard drive, and OVERHEATING IN YOUR COMPUTER.

I cleaned my computer out a few times but I did not clean the processor. This was slowing my co mputer down for several years! To clean the processor you have to take the case off in my Dell and really use a vaccuum or something to get the dust off. I never did this cuz I didn't open up the processor case, i just cleaned the rest of the dust.

My old desktop now runs like she did before. Ubuntu is slow on it but that's just how it is. its an old computer. WinXP runs fine.

[blackened]

If you have an installation disk for WinXP, then, if I were you, I would just save myself some time and hassle. Back up all meaningful data and do a clean install. Make note of all the important hardware first, as we all know how bad XP is at reporting proper hardware info in the device manager.

[kevin11951]

the computer can't be shut off because then it won't start up. Windows freezes and you'll have to keep turning it off till you get lucky and it starts up...it's been on for over 2 weeks now...would be around a month but the power went out...

thats sound ALOT like a power supply issue (i think)... :P

[ubuntu27]

Well, everyone told you what I would have told you except what to use to defragment.

To defragment use JkDefrag (http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/) or UltraDefrag (http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/)

[NintendoTogepi]

thats sound ALOT like a power supply issue (i think)... :P

Nah, it's not a power supply issue. It's Windows glitching up.

[sharon.gmc]

Is it really recommendable to re-install OS every 6 months? I have my Ubuntu for 5 months already.

[sofasurfer]

I would start a new thread titled, "How do I get mom to let me install Linux". Then let her read it.

Many people will give reasons why it is a good idea. She can also browse the forum and be assurred that you will receive all the help you need.

There is no way that installing an operating system of any kind will "ruin" a computer. Left in the state that it is now in, it is already ruined. It is slow, undependable and there is hardly any new software that will run on it very well. A new Ubuntu installation will probably bring this currently comatose computer back to a useful state of existance. As it is, this computer has no real value.

The most important thing is to first convince mom that you can't harm a computer that is mostly useless. And mom, if you are reading this, rest assured that you will not regret letting him do this. You will get a working computer and he will get a foot into the computer repair field. Eventually you will need someone to help you with a urgent computer problem. Wouldn't it be great if the repair man lived in your house?

You may have to buy a couple parts but the experience and result will be worth every penny.

[Ozor Mox]

Is it really recommendable to re-install OS every 6 months? I have my Ubuntu for 5 months already.

It is recommended to reinstall Windows every 6 months! That's certainly what I used to do as no matter what I did, the speed always deteriorated and a format and reinstall of Windows was a lot quicker than trying to figure out what pointless startup services, garbage registry entries, remaining bits of uninstalled junk, fragmented hard drive sectors and so on were causing it.

Ubuntu I install and leave on for as long as I want. Occasionally I use a new release as an opportunity to do a clean install, but generally I just leave it and it keeps going and going. One of my installations of Ubuntu has been through an upgrade, many, many updates, had tons of stuff installed on it, been broken on one or two occasions and it's practically as fast as a new install! I'd imagine you'd get even better results with something like Debian.

[Npl]

It is recommended to reinstall Windows every 6 months! That's certainly what I used to do as no matter what I did, the speed always deteriorated and a format and reinstall of Windows was a lot quicker than trying to figure out what pointless startup services, garbage registry entries, remaining bits of uninstalled junk, fragmented hard drive sectors and so on were causing it.Hmm I have Windows installed since 3+ years, no antivirus or firewall programm and it still outruns a freshly installed Ubuntu every day of the week.

Simply dont use IE and Outlook, dont open sex-letters from Paris Hilton and you`re good to go. And easier to learn tons of unecessary complicated and unimaginative Linux stuff to boot. :P


But to get back on topic, yeah seems like you need a reinstall.

[scratman]

I would love to see the results of an antivirus scan on that machine! And did you say that it's been turned on for 2 weeks? How long was it turned on before that? When you say you leave it on, do you put it into standby, or just leave it alone. Do you turn off the monitor, or leave that turned on too? It might be worth working out the cost in electricity of keeping this grumpy old bear on the go.

Please bear in mind that I live in the UK, so costs are quoted in Pounds. You can easily work it out for yourself and see whether it makes and financial sense. I pay £0.10 per kilowatt-hour, if your PC averages 250w, then it's about £220 per year. You can buy a cheap PC for that kind of money, or not much more. I'd not think twice about paying £300 for a PC, but think about that. It would be an extra £80, but that's £80 for a PC that works! Come on, you'd take a working PC for £80, and the spec would be 10 times better than what you're living with.

It costs next to nothing to buy a SCSI adaptor for a PCI-E slot, so you might be better buying a cheap new PC and installing the old hard drive as a second drive to keep the data. That way, if you're booting from a new O/S install on the new PC, you could start killing the old XP install, but keep your documents.

Work it out for yourself and see. Remember to convert the usage of your PC from watts to Kw/H

[cost per kilowatt hour] multiplied by [energy consumption of PC] multiplied by 168 hours = cost per week which for me was
£0.10 * 0.25kwh * 168 = £4.20 per week

[Ozor Mox]

dont open sex-letters from Paris Hilton

Ohh, THAT'S where I've been going wrong! :P

Seriously though, I'm amazed. When I used XP, the first thing I'd install after the OS was anti-virus. In fact, on at least two occasions, I got malware on my computer before I could even install the anti-virus software after a clean install, and I had to wipe it again! This is going through a router, not directly to the internet.

I used Firefox and not IE, did not use Outlook, and of course did not open random attachments! I did install and test a fair bit of software, but what's the point of having a computer if you can't install anything?! :KS

[Npl]

I would love to see the results of an antivirus scan on that machine!You`re welcome... bring some beers


Ohh, THAT'S where I've been going wrong! :PGlad to be of help


Seriously though, I'm amazed. When I used XP, the first thing I'd install after the OS was anti-virus. In fact, on at least two occasions, I got malware on my computer before I could even install the anti-virus software after a clean install, and I had to wipe it again! This is going through a router, not directly to the internet.
Windows XP itself is pretty secure if its patched, most widespread infections use holes that have been known for months or years and been patched already.


I used Firefox and not IE, did not use Outlook, and of course did not open random attachments! I did install and test a fair bit of software, but what's the point of having a computer if you can't install anything?! :KS
The weakspot are the programms, most notably IE and Outlook, which I dont use in favor of Opera (http://www.opera.com/). Dont use them and you`re set.

The rest are viruses in form of programs the user executed himself. Not anything different to telling someone to do a "sudo -rf /", if they fall for it, they are screwed. Or giving them a (Linux-)executable that deletes anything with the right priviledges.

Its simply a matter of not installing bogus Programs... I dont see how Linux is different in that matter. Especially since you have to know a fair bit if you need to fix anything. With significantly less effort you can learn enough about Windows to avoid catching viruses.

In a nutshell:
1) Disable unecessary services which could pose risks - XP Antispy (http://www.xp-antispy.org/) helps with that
2) Ditch IE and Outlook. (and WMP aswell)
3) try to rely on reliable sources for programms.
4) Run Software you are uncertain of in Sandboxie (http://www.sandboxie.com/) - if it doesnt do anything funny you can consider running it directly.
5) Figure out the places where viruses add themself so they run each time after bootup, check those once a month. Autoruns (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx) is a GUI for doing that.

[Ozor Mox]

It's good advice Npl, I'm not going to argue with that. I assure you though, I use a computer sensibly and already do everything you have posted (I realise it's probably general advice, but you have quoted me). Despite this, my experiences have shown me that Ubuntu is more robust than Windows. I actually use my computer with slightly less care on Ubuntu, I guess it has made me a little bit lenient. Of course, you might disagree with this and that's fine, I'm talking about my experiences here. Although, it does seem like quite a few people in this thread share my experiences! :)

I should also point out that I consider the best version of Windows to be Windows 2000. I found it far more stable and robust than XP, it got less malware, and I had to reinstall it less often.

[orethrius]

The part that always bothered me about XP was that it dumped you straight into an Administrator account post-install. That'd be all fine and good, were ActiveX not turned on and essentially looking for a good drive-by download site the instant you took IE anywhere. Running as root full-time is a bad idea; having a browser that allows on-demand downloads while running under root is worse.

[scratman]

You`re welcome... bring some beers

Will do, PM me your addy :-P

Seriously though, you've just been given good advice by Npl, and an option your parents might prefer. At the end of the day though, I stand by what I said. Why keep paying good money for life support of something that you can't use. If it was a dog, you'd put it to sleep, tell the kids he'd gone to live on a farm, and get a nice, new, friendly puppy. Don't make the old dog suffer.

Go on, get the puppy! If you don't want to spend much money, go to the rescue kennels (second hand ads in the local paper, end of line/refurbished distributor)

Where do you live by the way, someone might be able to give you some more tailored advice.

[iRoNMaSTeR]

7 Years with M$ without format and reinstal. :o
I think you are most important(or patient) desktop user for M$ :D
they must give a gift that. for ex. Sourche code M$ may be :P

[scratman]

7 Years with M$ without format and reinstall. :o
I think you are most important(or patient) desktop user for M$ :D
they must give a gift that. for ex. Source code M$ may be :P

Would you want it? That's like hankering after a girl for 7 years, getting to spend a night with her, and waking up with VD!

[quanumphaze]

Wow.... 8 years

And I thought our family PC was a record breaker at 4.5 years without a format (I performed the great mercy last year).

Well I say you should nuke it from orbit, It's the only way to be sure. I'm sure you can convince your parents that it had to be done. If you can't, just start deleting random files :P

When it has been running that long the only way is to format and start again. (Also give it a good cleaning with an air compressor).

[ArtF10]

:shock: 7 years? If I'm using XP full time I usually reinstall every ~6 months......

I think that an 8-10 month period between XP reinstalls is suggested for peak performance. That's what I do with XP systems. Keeps things very snappy.....

[Mohamedzv2]

I'd suggest Avast, SuperAntiSpyware, Spybot search and destroy, malwarebytes, and ccleaner.

Everything except ccleaner will handle malware, and will barely add any workload. I have that set up on my XP (1 year XP setup I believe) and the only time it got slower was when I installed Ubuntu for a dual boot

[ArtF10]

...the only time it got slower was when I installed Ubuntu for a dual boot

Excuse me? Dual booting slowed down XP???

[TWO]

I think that an 8-10 month period between XP reinstalls is suggested for peak performance. That's what I do with XP systems. Keeps things very snappy.....

Honestly? :confused: What do you do with Windows XP that would warrant having to reinstall it so frequently??

If you're smart about how you use your computer, there really shouldn't be much need for reinstalling the OS.

Anyway, to the original poster: a 7 year old computer is bound to get slow over time. You can try the anti-virus programs like everyone else has suggested- you shouldn't really need more than one program; I suggest giving Avast a try:http://www.avast.com/ - And like others have suggested, use Google and search for how to disable certain services and startup programs.

I suggest changing your internet browser too: Opt for Firefox over Internet Explorer, and consider installing add-ons to Firefox to make you web browsing safer. (I'm pretty much set with using just Adblock Plus, but consider using NoScript and Cookiesafe too, however, do bare in mind that you will initially be faced with the labourious task of whitelisting various sites, with the latter two add-ons.)

If all of the above fails- including running a defragmentation program and scan disk- then the slowness is most probably due to hardware wear and tear, and you should think about upgrading parts, or just treating yourself to a new computer. The problem is not simply the fault of your operating system.

Edit: Oh, and most importantly, before you go ahead running registry cleaning programs and/or disabling services, I highly recommend that you back up your personal data before proceeding. Accidents can happen!

[Jhun Phil]

I have never defrag my computer, do you think that this is the reason why my computer is also slow? Or is it a virus or something?

[djsephiroth]

If this is the case:

It's from Christmas 2001.
then this is not the case:

It has... an alright processor.
If it's from 2001, you are looking at something like a Pentium III or an older Athlon.


It was very high end when we got it.
It takes about 10 minutes to become fully start up, programs are very slow to start up and it lags doing every little thing.
Is it because of Windows XP?
It's not so much that it's "because of Windows" as it is "because of the user(s)". Multiple people installing programs and changing settings over the better part of a decade creates a lot of cruft.

That said, the fact of the matter is that the hardware is dated. Adding more RAM will often speed things up noticeably. However, the system as a whole is going to hold you back. Thankfully, hardware is cheap these days and putting together an entire viable system can be done on a surprisingly low budget. This may be an opportunity to ask for a new computer this Christmas :D

What brand of hard drive are you using? That thing has to be an exemplar of human engineering to last over seven years (assuming it's constantly used).


:shock: 7 years? If I'm using XP full time I usually reinstall every ~6 months.

If you need to reinstall Windows that often, frankly, one of the users is doing something wrong.


Most of the slowness comes from programs and services set to auto-run. But fixing that requires a bit of know-how because you can break the system completely if you mess up (esp. with services).
Not really these days. Reg hacking is old stuff, and today there is a slew of apps that automate all or part of the process.

Old way:


You can use msconfig


New way:
http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/



I'd suggest dual-booting. Parents don't react well to having an OS forced upon them.
This is the truth. Dual-booting keeps everyone happy.



i prefer spybot search and destroy, does a great job and it has teatimer which is a great settings protector (as it warns if something is adding itself to the registry or is changing options)

Aww yeah, Spybot! Spybot + AVG = excellence.


Is it really recommendable to re-install OS every 6 months? I have my Ubuntu for 5 months already.
Short answer: no.


Hmm I have Windows installed since 3+ years, no antivirus or firewall programm and it still outruns a freshly installed Ubuntu every day of the week.

Simply dont use IE and Outlook, dont open sex-letters from Paris Hilton and you`re good to go. And easier to learn tons of unecessary complicated and unimaginative Linux stuff to boot. :P

Word. Moral of the story: it's the user(s), not the OS.



Windows XP itself is pretty secure if its patched, most widespread infections use holes that have been known for months or years and been patched already.
<snip>
Its simply a matter of not installing bogus Programs... I dont see how Linux is different in that matter. Especially since you have to know a fair bit if you need to fix anything. With significantly less effort you can learn enough about Windows to avoid catching viruses.

Very on point and quite true.

[Edit]


Honestly? :confused: What do you do with Windows XP that would warrant having to reinstall it so frequently??

If you're smart about how you use your computer, there really shouldn't be much need for reinstalling the OS.

<snip even more great advice>
If you had posted a few minutes earlier, I wouldn't have even posted anything myself. 100% correct.

Defragging doesn't help much, especially on NTFS. However, it doesn't hurt either. I do it all the time, but then again I'm a bit wacky about optimizing my OS.

[ArtF10]

Honestly? :confused: What do you do with Windows XP that would warrant having to reinstall it so frequently??....

If you've done it before, it barely takes any time.

[TWO]

If you've done it before, it barely takes any time.

I know that, I've done it before myself on multiple occasions, but whether it is easy when you know how or not, it still doesn't really justify having to go through the whole process of reinstalling Windows XP, then all of the drivers and then all of your favourite programs every 10 months or whatever.

The only way I can see it being necessary is if someone isn't looking after their box properly/ doesn't know how to look after their box properly... :-k