[help] PC grinding to a halt!

buffalobill · 4 Apr 2006 at 10:20

Hi all - I'm new to the forum.

I have a question regarding my works PC. It is running really slow these days (5 seconds to display the explorer window after pressing win+E and anything from 10-20 seconds to display the shutdown prompt!)

It is a P4 2.4GHz box with 512Mb ram. I have done all spyware and virus checks which gives it a clean bill of health, so I was wondering whether there was any free diagnostic software I could use to check the hard disk and memory.

Thanks in advance for your help

Havana_UK · 4 Apr 2006 at 10:23

Welcome to the forums.

How old is it, and has it had a load of stuff installed and uninstalled, and reinstalled etc etc?

Normally the cause of a PC slowing down over time is that the Windows registry gets chockablock full.

Hav

buffalobill · 4 Apr 2006 at 10:35

Thanks Havana,

Its just over 3 years old and has had quite a bit installed and uninstalled. Is there anything I can do do clear the registry or would you recommend a fresh installation?

Havana_UK · 4 Apr 2006 at 10:55

You could try a registry cleaner of some sort, but I personally think a fresh install is a better way since it's doing more than just cleaning the registry.

Hav

buffalobill · 4 Apr 2006 at 11:22

Well I've just tried Registry Mechanic and the first signs are good - I'll see how it performs for the rest of the day to see if I need a fresh install.

Cheers Hav