Why does my Windows wear off over time?

[test84]

Hi,
Whats with windows? i'm not that noob at windows and i know they decay over time but its getting so bad since i dont install more programs and my system shows that i have free RAM still, my HDD works a ton and its obvious that my performance decreases alot.

why is that? tested with spyware and viruses already.

and it was same softwares that i installed on first day and performance was great, but now, its like shit.

its a Centrino Core Duo 1.6, 512mg ram, win xp sp2 (it was SP1, i updated to SP2)

 

[.::5pYd3r::.]

that used to happen to me a lot, but now i have ubuntu and i dont get that at all

 

[delta123]

you need to defrag your computer to keep it running up to speed. even if you are keeping similar programs to when you first install. what happens is that when you add deltete files off the computer. you start creating blocks of empty space ever where, so when you write new data on the computer instead of having a block that fits the whole program on, it writes it everywhere it can find empty space. what defragging the computer does is put the blocks in order to allow a faster read time. (it might save you some extra space if your lucky)

 

[.::5pYd3r::.]

if only windows used ext3, then there would be hardly need to defrag

 

[enigmaindex]

Yah like everyone said defrag. I use Diskeeper 2008.

Every computer suffers from file fragmentation. Slow computer performance and computer reliability problems are tell tale signs of fragmentation. Using Diskeeper 2008’s revolutionary InvisiTasking, automatic defragmentation operations now take place "on the fly", in real time, as fragmentation occurs.

Now you can defragment hard drive files without clumsy or long maintenance processes.

This means no performance lapses are ever caused by fragmentation related build-ups. Diskeeper gives the user maximum system performance, speed and reliability at all times. Computer reliability fragmentation is never an issue.

The innovative design allows Diskeeper 2008 to pinpoint frequently used files and speed access to them. Other features include a file protection so you don’t need to defrag disk corrosion on critical files in the future. Slow computer fragmentation of necessary files is completely stopped.

Diskeeper 2008 introduces the most powerful disk defragmentation engines ever developed. Even on systems with as little as 1% free space available, Diskeeper can restore performance and reliability. New engines handle crippling levels of file fragmentation, numbering in the millions. The program can enhance the file system performance on large enterprise sites with massive server traffic.

Diskeeper 2008 is the most intelligent real time defragmenter ever built. Automatic file system performance soars once this ground-breaking defragment software is installed.

It's awesome, whenever i analyze my hdd's i never see any red bars (fragmented files). My computers speed and performance has increased so much. Google for more details and stuff.

 

[jtroye32]

defrag and make sure you don't have a bunch of unnecessary background processes running. they will be set in your registry to run when you boot up windows and can slow the boot process and your computer down to a crawl. bring up your task manager and sort through the processes and google the ones you are unsure about to see what they do. if you don't need them end the process and use a Registry cleaner like Hijack this to remove them from starting up.

 

[Hitto]

If you want a freeware, WORKING defragmenter, get power defragmenter GUI and contig.exe
Works like a charm on five-year-old computers!
EDIT : of course, reinstalling, or switching isn't an option, huh?

 

[ZeWarrior]

Defrag and use CCleaner. Great program, it clears unnedded data and gives you more space.

 

[test84]

thnx for replies.
got CCleaner and used it, used widndow's defrag on drive C.
but still when i want to open a file from C partition, it takes alot of time.
and i dont feel any performance improvement.

i can re install windows, but i'm after a way to prevent it or fix this situation to a stable degree to postpone re installing it. (and linux is not an option)

 

[kellyan95]

Bi yearly clean installs keep the doctor away

 

[smallkidd]

get 1gb and it will be better, adding a 512 is only like 30 bucks

 

[sekhu]

do a fresh install of your os, add all the progs you want, then make an image of your system and back that up - then all you have to do is apply that image everytime you need to start a fresh

 

[Infinitus]

I have a ME laptop whose hard drive did not want to work, gave it some "Physical Therapy" (letting the drive settle into a low-use state (gradual biological-like healing? I dunno....)) and was one of my best servers until my dad needed it for work. Ah, well.

 

[enigmaindex]

The windows defragging they have is shit, it deosnt really do anything that increases performance. As i said above google for a different program that defrags. Or maybe you could have some sort of trojan/virus thats chewing up your CPU/RAM. I find XP runs a lot better with 1GB of ram aswell and you can upgrade for fairly cheap aswell well depends on your ram whether its DR, SD, DDR 1,2 or 3.

 

[Banger]

Viruses/spyware and also the more you install the more that has to be loaded at the start of windows and that will over all slow the machine, to fix make sure you do not have a bunch of unneeded junk at start up or the best option is reformat after backing everything up. I usually do a fresh install of windows every few months to keep it clean and running fresh.

 

[noamkot]

As others have said here, 512mb is not enough RAM for a normal installation of XP with some modern software.
The result is that XP uses HD space regularly as virtual memory and that's why the HD seems to work extra time, drastically slowing performance.
You might have a defrag problem as well but the amount of performance increase gained from defrag is not as significant as buying more RAM.

 

[test84]

already done 'em as posted earlier.
there is nothing running on my PC, as a proof if i install windows again and use same utilities, its performance will go up so much.
buying ram is not an option for me.

diskeeper is 25mg and i cant download it.

any other options?

the problem is excessive usage of hard disk, my hard disk is constantly working when i want open a JPG or XLS file.

 

[Banger]

If you really want a more stable system (with the amount of ram you have) I suggest windows 2000. But then there are a few programs that will not work. If I think of something else that could be of use I will let you know.


My mind isnt working right now as im watching Dexter.

 

[test84]

thnx but i'm after fixing this XP.

 

[ackers]

My laptop was running extremely poorly and I got tons of blue scrrens of death. I bought it a new HDD and reinstalled XP. It ran like a dream! For a week or two that was... I wanted to upgrade from 256mb ram to 512mb more but the stupid ram I bought from Crucial slowed down my laptop big time! So I'm still running on 256mb and am gonna upgrade with real ram soon. Hopefully I'll be able to run Windows Live and my anti-virus w/o slowdowns.