Vista being sluggish

MotherMayI · 30 Jan 2008 at 12:54

I made a new system about a month or two ago now, and its been running pretty much fine.

However, recently it has become rather sluggish.. Not multitasking so well, taking a while to load even simple programs (firefox etc.), and simply not running as well as it should given the spec's.

The spec's are:
q6600 g0 not overclocked
ip35-e
2gb ram
8800gt 512mb
vista pro 64bit

I have tried various things to speed the PC up:
defragged the hard drive using an app suggested in the stickied thread,
virus scanned,
adware scanned,
spyware scanned,
deleted unwanted programs,
refined the programs launched at computer boot.

Is there anything else I can try? Or some kind of tool that could analyze the problem? Or even a program that would tell me if the computer really is being slow, or its just how its meant to be.

Would Vista sp1 speed anything up at all? Would going back to XP 64bit be worth it

Apologies for the bizarre text layout and punctuation, just hit a random button on the keyboard and I don't seem to be able to reverse it :lol:?

prescott28 · 30 Jan 2008 at 15:21

Ok, well I have very similar spec to you and I don't have this problem. If you have checked the obvious for viruses etc then I wonder how you are off for disk space - if the disk is fair full it could slow you down.

Next, indexing. If you let this service run too much you will fins things slowing down too. I have index only 1 of my 5 partions and it is oK.

If you can get to the Task Manager (Control - alt - del) you could check the services running and make sure there is nothing there that ought not o be there. Sometimes programs in the icon tray sit using memory so reducing the items in the tray may help.

tj86 · 30 Jan 2008 at 15:44

As the previous user stated go to Task Manager and check the Performance tab... check your CPU usage... if its high or u can see it being used when its not... then something is wrong...

To find out what... go to Applications tab... and click CPU to sort by CPU usage... if something is using your CPU when it shouldn't... end the process.

tripitaka · 30 Jan 2008 at 16:04

Haven't installed either 4OD or BBC iPlayer have you?

These are dogs.

tj86 · 30 Jan 2008 at 16:18

I've installed iPlayer... its great for watching Eastenders lol

Oops did I say Eastenders... I meant ...

MotherMayI · 30 Jan 2008 at 16:25

Thanks guys, but I have done all of that

CPU sits idle (well, not idle - im currently ftping, using dreamweaver and on msn, but not gaming basicly) between 5-11%. However, every now and then the computer will suddenly go really sluggish again.

I have about 23gb free of space.

Ill look up about indexing, but just in case I dont find anything - Wtf is it?

Thanks a lot.

Albo · 30 Jan 2008 at 16:37

I put my money on indexing. When it's sluggish, can you hear the hard drive thrashing?

v0n · 30 Jan 2008 at 16:43

Download HDtach or similar and check the speed of your C drive.

tj86 · 30 Jan 2008 at 17:05

Yeah if you go to Control panel then Administrative Tools and then Services... you can turn off Indexing and see if that solves it.

MotherMayI · 30 Jan 2008 at 17:08

Albo said:
I put my money on indexing. When it's sluggish, can you hear the hard drive thrashing?

Indeed, most of the time.

However, I can see no service called index, or anything similar, at all? Sorry for being a retard

m_cozzy · 30 Jan 2008 at 18:39

MotherMayI said:
Would going back to XP 64bit be worth it

If xp64bit worked for you then yes, go back!
This has plagued every vista install I have ever done, a brief honeymoon period when its great then after a week or so it all ........... just............. starts................... to......................... slow........................ down

Every single time on every machine I have tried it on.

RumbleBee · 30 Jan 2008 at 19:19

I think the service you need to disable is called Windows Search, as apposed to Indexing

Final8y · 30 Jan 2008 at 19:47

m_cozzy said:
If xp64bit worked for you then yes, go back!
This has plagued every vista install I have ever done, a brief honeymoon period when its great then after a week or so it all ........... just............. starts................... to......................... slow........................ down

Every single time on every machine I have tried it on.

I find that hard to believe.

Burnsy2023 · 30 Jan 2008 at 21:02

m_cozzy said:
If xp64bit worked for you then yes, go back!
This has plagued every vista install I have ever done, a brief honeymoon period when its great then after a week or so it all ........... just............. starts................... to......................... slow........................ down

Every single time on every machine I have tried it on.

I've never had that.

Burnsy

AWPC · 30 Jan 2008 at 21:51

Also look at the programs in the Task Scheduler as some like auto disk defrag or whatever its called also cause Vista to slow down. Have a play and disable but not delete them.