I have a suggestion "DON'T",  You need to find out what is actually wrong and fix it.  Did you do a virus scan, are you virus definition up to date.  Although I am not a fan of disk cleanup or defragment, do you do that.  Another interesting test, if you have a broadband connection see what happens when you physically disconnect from the Internet.  Did you try and "tweaks" or disable any programs at startup?  Put them back.  Final note I have three PC none of which have had their O/Ss reinstalled.  By age, (oldest first) Inspiron 5000, Windows 2000 2 1/2 years, Windows XP Pro 8 months, PWS 530  Windows 2000 1 1/2 years Windows XP Pro 6 months,  PE 1600SC server Windows 2003 Advanced Server 8 months.   

Sorry, I'm an idiot

Message Edited by bshell2 on 11-14-2003 12:37 PM

Note that these directions will not work on an XP computer. There is no DOS in Win XP. You have to boot to the Win XP cd to do the reinstallation/reformat.

Two reasons

It is the most drastic solution

You will never find the cause of your problem, therefore I may come back in the future.

 

To Bshell2,  This is a Windows XP form.  Post only Windows XP Solutions.  Please do not recommend/suggest/direct users to do what can not be done.  As Mary G said those directions are not for Windows XP.  To me they sound like Windows 9x or Windows 3.X.  I am being hard, people actually read these forms and attempt the solutions recommended, and your solution will only further confuser the original poster.

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I do have an up to date virus scanner.  I am running Norton 2004 and it does automatic updates and scans weekly. 

Why do you suggest not doing a re-install?  What does it do?

 

Caren

J Rosenfeld plans is a good one,  why not try it.

I agree with msgale, there are several less drastic or difficult steps you should try first. Apart from using diskcleaner and disk defragmenter as advised above, here are some more suggestions.

1. HighCPU usage, slow running could be malware. Go to ChrisRLG (forum regular)'s site, read about it, download Spybot. After updating it, close/reopen for the updates to take effect, then scan. If it finds aything it shows in red, let it fix (there is a backup of its fixes in Recovery, so you can undo any fix if needs be, but that would be unlikely). Also download , update and run AdAware. Both free/donation.

http://www.cjwd.demon.co.uk/compsafetyonline.html

2. Look in Task manager, see what is using up the CPU. That might point to a specific problem.

3. Use msconfig to systematically stop various things from starting up at boot, see if any particular one is causing the problem. Whilst there, see if there is anything you don't need at all and uncheck it. For information about what the items in startup relate to. see

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.php

scroll down to the alphabet and click the relevant letter or use the search.

4. You might disable some services that you don't need that XP starts by defaullt. Look at

http://blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

and

http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

for info on what services do (so you can decide whether you need them or not, depending on how you are set up), how to change their settings and what are the default and safe settings.

5. You did not specify how much RAM you have. If less than 256MB, I would suggest buying some more. In fact you'd notice improvements up to 512MB.

If you need detailed help on any of these, please post and it will be readily available.

 

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 11-14-2003 07:41 PM

What version of Adobe reader do you have?

right now I don't have any.  I have removed them from my computer.  I had 5. something and downloaded 6. something.  When the 6 gave me problems, I removed it and tried the old 5 again.  It was telling me that I didn't have something that I needed and when I looked in the program, the file it told me I needed was there.  (sorry this is from memory, which I am not beting my paycheck on any more :-)

 

Caren