my coputer is getting slower

open the event log.
look to the system log
see if you are getting DISK events.
If you are, backup your data, and know that it is time for an RMA for a free replacement hard drive.

-HTH
Steven Yarnot
http://yarnosg.home.insightbb.com

What has changed in that time fram?  Have you installed any software in the past month?  You could go to regedt32 and browse to HKEY_LOcal_MAchine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Every thing appearing in the right pane of the registry editor is srating when you boot.  This could be slowing things down for you.  Let us know what you see running there.

Programs start from several places.

First the start menu.  Just browse there and delete what you don't want

Second from the registry keys
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Run Regedit and browse to this key and then look at what is loading up.  Delete anything you don;t want to run.  Insert std registry use warning here :)

Third they can be services which you can stop by runnng Service MMC from START, Control Panel, Administrative tools, Services.

Another way if you have a freind with Windows XP you can get the following file from his PC and run it on yours.
C:\WINDOWS\PCHEALTH\HELPCTR\Binaries\msconfig.exe

Its small enough to email or fit on a floppy.  It will give you a nice graphical interface with all the places to start and stop stuff from.

Hope this helps

AnT

this is one of those 'there could be a million answers' things....basically, everyone's computer is always getting slower the longer they use it (or so it seems, right?)

Here's a checklist:

1. how much free space on your drive?
2. have you done recent virusscans?
3. do you scandisk and defrag your drives?
4. go into Event logs and look for errors or warnings
5. do you have lots of programs running in the background at startup?
6. go into Task Manager  - Performance - what's your MEM usage/commit charge total? Is it > the amount of RAM you have?
7.  If you want to learn how to use performance monitor, that will help you pinpoint what's going on (ie what's causing the bottleneck)

here's some very basic counters to watch
%CPU Utilization
% Disk usage
Memory: Pages/sec

Is any of these seems excessive for sustained periods(pages > 20, CPU > 70, disk > 50 , let's say for the sake of argument), that will point you to your problem (CPU bottleneck, disk bottleneck, memory bottleneck).

I'm sure you can find tons of tweaking and monitoring info on the Microsoft website.

HTH,
JP

Hi AnT

I found 2 "current" one folder with  subfolders and many lines the 1st is CommonFielsDir:REG_SZ:C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\

and the other without sub folders with one line CommonFielsDir:REG_SZ:C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\ .

As far as run there  is Optional Component and 3 sub foders  IMAL MAPI  MSFS


DO u need more information

> As far as run there  is Optional Component and 3 sub foders  IMAL MAPI  MSFS

Those subfolders are normal, What is in the right (data pane) of the run key?

You only have to worry about the REG_SZ in the RUN folder's  Each REG_SZ (String Value) will load one program.  I have about 10 in my registry.  they load up all sorts of things ranging from your anti virus to QuickTime and Real Player plugins.  If your PC is a DELL you probably have an entry for that as well.  Befor you delete anything from there make sure you know what it does and be happy that you don't want it to load at start up.  For example real player loads some stuff at start up and if you remove it it will still play real media files.

All I have in HKLM is the DELL thing, iPod Driver, Anti Virus, and something to do with my sound card.  and in hte HKCU I have my MSN and another anti virus entry.

Things that are in HKLM will load no matter who logs in and HKCU will only load if you log in.

Don;t worry about the OPTIONALCOMPONETS FOlder the only thing that runs is in the actual RUN directory.

If you like give me a list of all the String Vlaues in the RUN folders and we can sort out what they all do.

For example

msnmsgr    REG_SZ   "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe" /background

This is MSN Messanger

NAV Agent   REG_SZ   C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\navapw32.exe

This is Norton Anti Virus

AnT

You should also try and get a copy of msconfig.exe from a Windows XP machine.  It will really make it easy for you to try out different things by just unchecking tick boxes.

If you want to try that I can post a copy to a website.

AnT

You should also try and get a copy of msconfig.exe from a Windows XP machine.  It will really make it easy for you to try out different things by just unchecking tick boxes.

If you want to try that I can post a copy to a website.

AnT

As already mentioned it could be a multitude of things:

Two things not already mentioned

1. Sometimes due to certain programs running the CSRSS.EXE process balloons in memory usage slowing down the PC in the process.

2. Another killer situation (especially combined with fragmentation) is a pagefile of varying size rather than manually set. This tends to slow computers down markedly due to the processing involved.

Hi every one

I am sticking to AnT  way i think is easier and JammyPak

1.I am using 7GB out of 27GB
2. on a regular baisis
3.yes

The XP file was a great help, how ever by mistake I selected Diagnostic Startup

And I almost had a hart attack because every thing was different, so I remembered and switched it to Selective Startup and deselected some of the apparent non essentials suck MS messenger, but I did not find any of my printers so I tried to install them and an error massage
 
PRINTER OPREATION CANNOT CONTINUE DUE TO LACK OF RESOURCES. THE PRINT SUSYSTEM IS UNAVALIABLE.


So any suggestion
Thanks 4 all of u

Run a full virus scan from safe mode of all files, you may also wamt to download Stinger from McAfee and run that as well.

Don't disable the Spool service.  Spool service is the printer service.

But thats the beauty of msconfig and selective mode is that you can just check and un check stuff to see what happens.  

AnT

Autoruns from SysInternals (http://www.sysinternals.com) will help you audit more of the startup stuff than even msconfig;  and it is FREEWARE.

-HTH

-Steven Yarnot
http://yarnosg.home.insightbb.com

How can I turn the Print spool On?, becuse its disabled now

Start - Programs - Administrative Tools - Services, find the spooler service and double click on it.  Set it to start Automatically.  Also try clicking on Start.

Thank You All

What finally solved your issue here? MSGeek.