Slow, slow, quick, slow slow

[Leftie]

Numpty question I am afraid.


I have a PC under my desk which I stopped using a fewmonths ago when the new PC was installed and only keep it because there are some odd bepsoke programs on there I use once in a blue moon. It really slowed up towards the end and that is one reason I got a new PC because they do take a hammering and I couldn't afford the slowness to be a symptom of a motherboard about to die and leaving me without a PC as it is living critical: so I bought a new one.

Anyway, now that I no longer have need for it and have moved all the files I need across I was thinking now of stripping of all the software that is on there that had accumulated over 2 or 3 years of use and seeing if I can speed it back up enough to be of use to a friends kids for school work.

I think the main problem may be the expired Norton firewall, anti-virus etc. but how do I see what is running in the background and turn it off/delete it?

Someone told me there is a screen via windows where I can see what is running in the background and at start up amd turn ot off???

[victormeldrew]

Depends on the version of windows. msconfig is probably the one you are thinking of.

[Leftie]

victormeldrew said:

Depends on the version of windows. msconfig is probably the one you are thinking of.

Sound familar.. We have Windows XP Profesional.

Do I just do a 'find' on msconfig or is it a DOS prompt access?

Edited by Leftie on Tuesday 30th January 20:42

[ThePassenger]

Kill off Norton, google for removal guides for when it's own uninstaller goes bang...
AdAware, SpyBot scans (both normal & safe mode).
Defrag the drive.
Chkdsk the drive.
Uninstall any utilities or 'goodies' that fire up (Google desktop, et al).
System should be a bit perkier.
Crack open side panel, remove all dust from fans... it helps the system run quiet.

Of course, nothing feels spunky like a clean install of Windows & the initial driver load.

if you only use the system for some bespoke apps. You could move them to a VMWare virutal machine on your new big bugger and just junk the old desktop unit.

[Volvogeek]

Hi if you have everything off your pc that you need, have you concidered doing a software rebuild. Did you get any recovery discs with the pc when you bought it? if so you could use these to restore the system to the state of when you took it out of the box. If you are intrested in doing this and need more help just say and ill give you a more step to step guide of doing it.

Volvogeek

[GreenV8S]

I would start from scratch and reinstall the whole thing, it can make a huge difference to the performance and stability - far more than you'd get from just uninstalling or disabling installed products.