Wading in treacle

[stevewilliams]

Don't know how this has happened - have not installed or downloaded anything new but my PC has suddenly slowed down so that opening programs, clicking on tools, closing programs etc takes an age. It's like I'm wading in treacle.

Could this be a software or hardware problem?


Any help greatly appreciated

Steve

 

[kedsy]

Have you done a full virus scan on it?

 

[big-all]

if your on windows xp try restoring to just before this started to happen
could be the day before or a few days before that

big all

 

[stevewilliams]

Tried a virus scan - 5 hours later still only done 14%! Then seemed to get stuck.

Strangely enough it seems a bit more like its old self today - the grinding whirr you get from the cpu when something is being processed sounds a bit faster today - it had been intermittent and painfully slow (a kind of chunking sound). Will try the virus scan again.

I'm using Windows 98

Cheers

Steve

 

[2scoops0406]

Try Ctrl alt delete, click on the processes tab, this may tell you what process is hogging the CPU. You can also run a defrag as this may help a bit.

 

[Igorian]

To follow on from Eddie, also delete temporary internet files as these can build up over time. I guess you have plenty of disk space left?

 

[pipme]

In Win98se .. do not know about XP etc.
Try the old style file manager named 'Winfile.exe' in the 'windows' folder .. Do 'file' 'search' for index.dat on C:\ .. These 'index' files hold info on the web sites visited .... Not always cleared as one might imagine and as shown via explorer... look inside them with a hex editor and maybe, be shocked .... particularly in the 'Temporary Internet Files' folder where the file size can grow alarmingly.

Can even 'see' the actual files listed in the 'Downloaded Program Files' folder using winfile.

P

 

[Igorian]

I missed this comment first time through...

the grinding whirr you get from the cpu when something is being processed sounds a bit faster today - it had been intermittent and painfully slow (a kind of chunking sound). Will try the virus scan again.

Processors don't make any sound as they have no moving parts. I would suspect that the hard drive is coming to the end of it's life and you should consider backing up or cloning the drive asap.

 

[stevewilliams]

Thanks experts for all your advice - I will try the various suggestions and it might be that Igorian is right and my machine is about to pass away - but what is that noise that the CPU makes when something is being asked of it?

Cheers

Steve

 

[bignairy]

Its the hard disk.

 

[pipme]

If you have extremely important data on the disc, back it up.

How much free disk space have you ?
Read up about the 'swapfile' and make sure you have that set up sensibly.
For disc health if you have a SMART drive :-
Check this
Then this

Check out the disc manufacturers site .. They usually have free tool downloads available.

Run 'Defrag' to defragment data on the drive, look under settings and uncheck Rearrange program files .......... (can take long time if checked). Badly 'fragmented' data can lead to thrashing of the hard drive. (data becomes fragmented through deleting and writing files by yourself and the system over time)
Some defrag stuff

If you try the above, and it could be a lengthy process, let us know the result.

You may wish to 'google' or whatever search engine you use on 'defrag' and 'scandisk' (which exist in Win 98se ... probably in the other Wins too).

I guess overall ... RTM... soonest !!
p