Grinding to a halt

[Vagabond]

Over the last three weeks, I have noticed that while server reponse may be rapid when I first connect with the internet, it gradually gets slower and slower and slower....until after a couple of hours, it is unworkable, and eventually I get a message "the programme is not responding". This seems to happen whether I am using the computer or not - like, if I am into AN, then go and have breakfast, by the time I come back the screen is frozen up and "not responding"

 

Running C-cleaner removes cookies, temp files, etc, but seems to make no appreciable difference.

 

I have been driven to having to do a crash switchoff, then reboot - and things improve - for a while.....

 

Is this a symptom of an overloaded hard drive, or something more sinister ?

[poledark]

Dave, have you done a defrag ? Just might help a bit.

 

Den

[Vagabond]

Dave, have you done a defrag ? Just might help a bit.

WTF is a defrag?

[lutra]

WTF is a defrag?

It re-sacks all the info on your hard drive so it can find it quicker. You should be able to find it in your control panel somewhere, try a search for defragmenter. If you have never done it, it will take sometime to do, but worth doing.

[corydoras]

Over the last three weeks, I have noticed that while server reponse may be rapid when I first connect with the internet, it gradually gets slower and slower and slower....until after a couple of hours, it is unworkable, and eventually I get a message "the programme is not responding". This seems to happen whether I am using the computer or not - like, if I am into AN, then go and have breakfast, by the time I come back the screen is frozen up and "not responding"

 

Running C-cleaner removes cookies, temp files, etc, but seems to make no appreciable difference.

 

I have been driven to having to do a crash switchoff, then reboot - and things improve - for a while.....

 

Is this a symptom of an overloaded hard drive, or something more sinister ?

Vagabond

I doubt that this is caused by disk fragmentation, but it is worth doing. The built in defragmenter is really slow. I suggest that you go and download either the Auslogics defragger or the Piriform offering (Piriform are the same company that do CCleaner).

 

In the mean time, can you tell me which OS you have (including service packs) and what browser you are using.

[ColinW]

If you have never done it, it will take sometime to do, but worth doing.

 

I've defragged a few times and never actually noticed any change in performance.

When a computer really slows down it is often due to lack of memory. Once it has to start paging stuff onto disk and back, with access times a thousand times slower than memory, then things really get sslloooooowwww.

Whenever my computer grinds to a halt it seems to be the anti virus program deciding that its needs are more important than mine are!

[jeepster]

I always defrag for peace of mind rather than any actual improvement, well that's what it seems like anyway.

 

How much RAM do you have Dave? As Colin says, RAM or lack of it is a possible cause.

[Vagabond]

When a computer really slows down it is often due to lack of memory.

 

Spot on Colin ! Since my last post I have had a "low on virtual memory" warning.

 

So I need to do some spring cleaning of all the hundreds of photos I have got stored, and burn about 80% of them onto a CD, then free up the potential space.

 

...and not just computers

 

...and thanks to the rest of you, I will keep your solutions in mind, and the new word I have learnt today!

 

Defragmentation - sounds like an explosion in reverse.......

Edited March 13, 2009 by Vagabond

[corydoras]

Dave

 

It's RAM your running out of, not disk space. By all means clean up your disk space (run the defrag after you have done that) but you really need to buy some more RAM for your PC.

Edited March 13, 2009 by corydoras

[Andy_1984]

cutting down on the amount of startup items there is should help a lot with regards to virtual memory.

 

go to Start> Run> type 'msconfig'

 

select start up from the tabs and uncheck the ones you think you dont need, just be sure not to disable any programs you actualy require like anti virus, check the file path next to each item this will help identify what each item is. so get rid of things like adobe auto update, real player, real player scheduler, winamp, etc etc