Posted by Gaz on 11/20/07 01:06

Gary wrote:
> OK I believe there is some knowledge out there . Can you help me.
>
> My computer is slowing down. (real slow)
> Is there any windows repair, service, speed restoring software that
> actually works.
>
> I know I could do a new install but this computer has huge programs
> and enormous data files and lots of them, so it would take a full
> week to reinstall at least.
>
> What are my realistic options?
>
> TIA
>
> Gary

Well, uninstall rogue anti-spyware software.....

Seriously however, you do need to assess the type of security software you
have. Some internet security suites can cause a h uge impact on the speed of
a machine. Products such as NortonSecurity, Mcafee, Panda and F-secure have
a massive footprint.

Consider a product such as avg, avast, nod32 for your antivirus.

Use superantispyware or avg anti spyware to scan for spyware (make sure you
update both, and disable the active scan built into avg anti spyware).

If you ahve time and patience, get hijackthis, run it, and work your way
through the options to disable programs starting up. Please be very very
careful with this product, it is probably the most powerful product out
there for this kind of thing, and it doesnt take prisoners.

By removing viruses and spyware, and by cleaning up your startup programs
and services you should have improved the performance of your machine
hugely.

For XP a few other tricks that can massively improve speed, one, if you only
have 256mb of memory, double it, it will cost less then �20 and add up to 5x
to the speed, also, remove the graphical overhang that xp has. Right click
my computer, go to properties, go to advanced and choose performance
settings, go to custom and make sure only the bottom four are ticked.

For an extra boost, if you can face the visual downgrade, is follow the last
instuctions, but untick everything except 'use common tasks', your windows
will be uglier but *much* more responsive....

Gaz

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