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I know my computer is old however; I only use it for internet stuff at home. the past 2 days I cant get it to log on to anything. It takes about an hour to get on internet. Other computers in the house have no problem. It seems like its just spooling no matter what i try. Any suggestions?
first thing to do would be to scan for malware Malwarebytes.org
Download, install, update, and run a quick scan and post back with the results, along with system specs, CPU, RAM, free hard drive space, OS.
If you don't have any malware, then I'd guess the hard drive might be ready to die. Bad sectors and other physical problems with a drive can slow the throughput down to a crawl which in turn makes Windows so agonizingly slow you wish it would just crash and get it over with. Take the side cover off the PC and listen very carefully to the hard drive. Is it making any repeating sounds? Hard drive seeking (sounds like ticking) is normally pretty random sounding but if you hear any rhythm or repeating, it's most likely on it's way out.
If you don't have any malware, then I'd guess the hard drive might be ready to die. Bad sectors and other physical problems with a drive can slow the throughput down to a crawl which in turn makes Windows so agonizingly slow you wish it would just crash and get it over with. Take the side cover off the PC and listen very carefully to the hard drive. Is it making any repeating sounds? Hard drive seeking (sounds like ticking) is normally pretty random sounding but if you hear any rhythm or repeating, it's most likely on it's way out.
And usually along with this you'll see a bunch of disk errors in the event log; Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer, select system in the left pane.
Also a lesser known fact, if XP detects 3 read or write errors on the disk it will throw the drivers into PIO mode, further slowing things down.
It could always be your modem as well. Ive had to replace 2 modems in 3 years. If you are running cable or dsl your local internet company should replace it for free.
It could always be your modem as well. Ive had to replace 2 modems in 3 years. If you are running cable or dsl your local internet company should replace it for free.
Quote from the OP "Other computers in the house have no problem"
rules out any problem with modem.
In Windows go to My Computer and right-click the drive C:icon. In the drop down menu click on Properties.
In the Properties dialog box click on the Tools tab. In the Tools tab click on Check Now. Fill both check boxes and click on Start. You will receive a message that the programs cannot run while in Windows and that they will run the next time you restart the computer. Click on Yes. Restart the computer and go to lunch.
Do this when you have some time to let the PC run. It is likely that these tests will take a while.
1)How much free harddrive space do you have available AND how large is your hard drive?
2)How much RAM does your PC have?
3)Does your PC manage your virtual memory (if you have this feature turned on)?
4)When was the last time you performed a system defrag? Some people says it's useless, others say it works.
5)When you say you have an older computer, how many times (that you can think of) have you uninstalled/reinstalled programs? You could have invalid registry entires that will also slow down your PC.
This will do a great job of getting rid of junk. I would use it before doing my previous post if you haven't already.
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