Curse

Yanman.be · Feb 01, 2007, 11:58 AM // 11:58

I heard that Windows ( I'm using XP ) gets slower and slower by the month. I beleive this is happening with mine right now. Some people suggest formatting every 6 months.

Right now my pc is getting pretty slow, taskbar takes a split second more to load than it used to be, starting up FF takes 5 seconds, explorer.exe crashes ( especially when I'm browsing my HDD's. ) alot.

I defrag when XP says it's necessary. Should I use a different defrag tool maybe?

Any ideas/solutions/explanations?

Lonesamurai · Feb 01, 2007, 01:44 PM // 13:44

yes, technically it does as updates come out and supercede old ones it all stacks up, thus slowing down your system...

I actually reinstall every three months, this way it keeps my installation the most upto date it can get and cleans out any crap (including any pesky spyware/virus' that AVG may have missed

Yanman.be · Feb 01, 2007, 02:04 PM // 14:04

Problem is my shop probably kept the installation discs as I never found them in the package. I'm gonna buy a new pc ( built by a friend ) soon anyways, and I'm studying IT now so I'll be able to keep clean house within my pc.

Lonesamurai · Feb 01, 2007, 02:50 PM // 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yanman.be

Problem is my shop probably kept the installation discs as I never found them in the package. I'm gonna buy a new pc ( built by a friend ) soon anyways, and I'm studying IT now so I'll be able to keep clean house within my pc.

If your getting a new PC, go for Vista now (32bit to save problems)... It may be big, but its quite clean at the moment

heh, on that note, i cleaned a freinds PC the other day and his c: was recording windows taking up well over 40gig (and considering he took my advice and installs games, etc to his d: and his My Documents are on his D: aswell, i was quite worried about the bloat... I then formatted the c:, reinstalled XP Pro SP2 and reset all his setting and only took up 8gig of space including drivers, etc

ElinoraNeSangre · Feb 01, 2007, 06:06 PM // 18:06

Vista's also a little less likely to get crowded up with stuff.

I've ran some of my XP installs for years on end, and haven't had too many problems. Defrag, spyware, virus protection, and cleaning out old apps often helps. I find that machines, particularly OEM ones, tend to end up with too much stuff.

You may also want to run disk cleanup, and msconfig.exe. Often machines will end up with a number of processes started due to software being installed on them, and so every time you boot up you have piles of junk starting. Msconfig will let you pick out what you want to start when the machine starts. Turning off some of the services and programs should help your machine a lot. As a rule leaving the MS ones checked is a reasonably safe bet. It's really only a lot of poking around that will get you good at figuring out what you need/don't need, and if you don't know what it is, google it. Chances are, someone else has already figured it out, and there's a lot out there about what stuff is.

Also check task manager to see what's running that might not need to be.

Yanman.be · Feb 01, 2007, 06:23 PM // 18:23

I don't have much processes. 37 are running right now. Nothing that should not be running.

MegaMouse · Feb 01, 2007, 08:40 PM // 20:40

Here is something that the others missed. Run Disc Cleanup. This will get rid of most of the unessary junk on your main hard drive. To find it click start, all programs, accessories, system tools, then disc cleanup. Depending on the amount of useless junk on your hard drive this might take some time. It is alright to put a heck mark in all the options the first time you run it to clear out the clutter. After doing this then defrag your hard drive.

Mega Mouse

Yanman.be · Feb 02, 2007, 02:47 PM // 14:47

I do that regularly.

Dex · Feb 02, 2007, 10:26 PM // 22:26

Config files and the system registry do get bloated, as well as your temp and other folders. It's really not necessary to re-format your system drive all that often if you're doing a good job maintaining your system. The problem is that most people don't -- either because they don't know how to or they just don't want to take the time. Try not to install every little application under the sun. If you don't need it, don't install it. Many applications leave behind configuration data in your registry even after they're uninstalled, and many also dump junk into your temp folders. Some even leave garbage behind in your Program Files folder after they're uninstalled. Registry cleaners are nice, although they can't get everything and can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Also take a look at your Windows startup information and see if there's a bunch of junk running at startup that you don't need. Registry bloat is pretty much inevitable (one of the larger downfalls of Windows that Microsoft is thankfully moving away from), but you can keep it to a minimum. I can pretty much get away with one yearly "spring cleaning" reinstall.

As far as explorer.exe crashing -- well, that just shouldn't happen at all no matter how cluttered your system is. I'd say you have an application or device driver causing it to crash. Apps that mount disc images (Daemon Tools and the like), packet writers, etc. are often culprits of this type of behavior. It's also possible that you have a hardware problem. If you're going to reinstall anyway I suppose you might as well wait to see if it's still there afterward.

moriz · Feb 02, 2007, 10:30 PM // 22:30

i wonder if the same happens with win2k. i remember first installing it, and the system runs lightning fast. after the updates, it slows down noticeably....

Dex · Feb 02, 2007, 10:42 PM // 22:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by moriz

i wonder if the same happens with win2k. i remember first installing it, and the system runs lightning fast. after the updates, it slows down noticeably....

Yup. Every version of Windows since Windows '95 does it.