cleanup without reformat/reinstall?

kunar · Jun 12, 2009

well my computer's been gradually getting slower and slower, and i've been having browser crashes fairly frequently as well (firefox and chrome both) so i was hoping somebody could recommend some sort of cleanup utility or similar that might be worth giving a shot. i'm running windows xp, and don't have another copy of an OS to use (disc got scratched beyond repair) so a reformat isn't really an option unless i decide to use linux, or win98 (lol) btw, i'm running AVG free and spybot both. anybody recommend any utilities for me?

DRIFTGOD187 · Jun 12, 2009

when was the last time you ran a defrag or error checking tool ??? also disk cleanup will speed things up.

kunar · Jun 12, 2009

i just did a defrag and an error check, it had been a while since the last time i've done either. the disk cleanup is part of another utility that i've been trying, but nothing has seemed to make much difference.

Nhaz · Jun 12, 2009

how much hard drive space do you have left? Machines that are low on hard drive space will get slower and slower.

also. whens the last time you told chrome and firefox to dump its caches?

kunar · Jun 12, 2009

Nhaz said:
how much hard drive space do you have left? Machines that are low on hard drive space will get slower and slower.

also. whens the last time you told chrome and firefox to dump its caches?

used space is ~20GB, free space is ~55GB, total ~75GB

all of firefox and chrome's stored info was cleared today, but it's done on a fairly regular basis.

it does seem slightly better since i've done a few things to it today, i would be willing to bet that some more ram would help things considerably, maybe thats what i'll do. i've got a 2.8 GHz processor and only 256 MB ram

Nhaz · Jun 13, 2009

rams a tad low. 2 gigs is the average amount of ram in a computer nowadays

schmoo · Jun 13, 2009

a new install is the only good way to clean
up. you don't need your original disk,
the numbers aren't on it. use any
xp disk that has the service pack
you want (you don't want sp3) and your numbers.
you can use nlite to strip features from xp
and to make an iso image to burn your
own copy.
you can use bart pe to boot up and make
a restore folder or recover from one.

kunar · Jun 15, 2009

alright, this is a noob question, but how do i know what ram to buy?

BlackBII · Jun 15, 2009

Find out what motherboard you have, then look it up.

Jaymz9350 · Jun 15, 2009

schmoo said:
use any
xp disk that has the service pack
you want (you don't want sp3) and your numbers.

I believe (because i've had this very issue before) you have to use an install disk with the same service pack as your original. If your key is for SP1 you need a SP1 key.

schmoo · Jun 16, 2009

Jaymz9350 said:
I believe (because i've had this very issue before) you have to use an install disk with the same service pack as your original. If your key is for SP1 you need a SP1 key.

may be true for sp2, my computer is a home theatre so
i use sp1. but my key is sp 0.
there is also a problem with generated keys
and later sp's. i have never had a problem
with legit keys.

User Name missing · Jun 16, 2009

what brand of PC do you have? what processor? whats the current memory configuration? do you have 2x128 chips or 1x 256? have you tried running virus and adaware scans? how many processes do you have running after a fresh reboot? normal is up to 50~, all of mine usually hover around 44-48 processes.

Jay FX4 · Jun 16, 2009

Upgrade the RAM!!!!! That is the single biggest and most important upgrade you can do. Memory has more of an effect on everyday performance than a fast processor. And a fragmented and or/full hard disk will have little, if any, noticeable impact on performance. Slap in 2 or more GB of RAM and it will be a whole new machine.

superdave1984 · Jun 16, 2009

kunar said:
alright, this is a noob question, but how do i know what ram to buy?

Go to http://www.crucial.com and run their memory scan tool. It will tell you what you have and what you can get. Reasonably priced too.
For cleanup, go here. Follow the directions. It works.
http://www.osiris-spywareguide.com/

kunar · Jun 16, 2009

the crucial memory scanner says it couldnt figure out what's compatible with my computer... but here's the spec sheet on the mobo. at startup, theres somewhere around 35 processes running.

newegg has memory i could use, but i was surprised at the price. looks like it's gonna be $60-70 for 2GB, which is the max that this mobo will support.

cleanup without reformat/reinstall?

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