Dads PC running really slow - totally stumped

Running Windows 7 instead of Vista will make a massive difference since the system will be stable for start off! W7 is what Vista should have been.

@ OP - I strongly advise against Vista, spend the money and get Windows 7 it is far superior in every way.

Stoner81.

op has a slow system not an unstable one...

i though general consensus was vista + sp2 + updates = almost w7 anyway?
 
Every person I know has had some sort of issue with Vista, imho it is not even in the same game let alone league as Windows 7.

My comment was referring to Vista vs Windows 7 and not at the OP :)

Stoner81.
 
Ignore HDtune's scan, doesn't really mean much.

Check Eventvwr for hard drive errors. I reckon a new hard drive will fix this.

Also, run the diagnostic tools from the drive manufacturer
 
This is yet another anomoly. That screenshot indeed states the drive has damaged sectors, but when the full Error scan was run on HDTune, none were reported.
The SMART data (as per the screenshot) is probably more reliable - SMART isn't foolproof, and it quite often fails to warn of an imminently failing HDD, but it rarely gives false positives, and one or more critical SMART failures usually means the drive is not long for this world. You might have got away with the single reallocated sector count warning (assuming it didn't get any worse), but in combination with the spin retry count warning, and the problems you've been experiencing, it all points to a very unhappy drive.

I wouldn't bother upgrading to Win7 at this stage, by the way, if you already have a Vista licence - Vista when properly maintained is nowhere near as bad as some people make out, and you might as well soldier on with it until Windows 8 comes out sometime this year. You can use any Vista disc to reinstall with your existing product key, they're all the same. :)
 
I wouldn't bother upgrading to Win7 at this stage, by the way, if you already have a Vista licence - Vista when properly maintained is nowhere near as bad as some people make out, and you might as well soldier on with it until Windows 8 comes out sometime this year. You can use any Vista disc to reinstall with your existing product key, they're all the same. :)

Agreed, I run it on my laptop and have no issues whatsoever with it.
 
*Update*

Well my Dad decided to buy both Win7 (64 OEM) and Norton 2012 without telling me. We tested the drive again and it seemed perfectly ok, so both programmes have been installed. The problems have now totally been eradicated, though I am still trying to persuade him to change to Chrome from IE. A friend of ours who works for Macafee has admitted that the version that he was using, that came free with BT boradband, is pretty rubbish and he is aware that it can interfere with IE which may have been causing a problem.

Must say that I am quite impressed with Norton 2012, though I did have to do a system restore (due to me mucking something up) and it stopped Norton working. Had to reinstall it. Known issue, Norton 2012 will fail to work after a system restore. :rolleyes:

Let's see how it pans out over the next few weeks. Thanks for all the responses. :)
 
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