PC slow down Windows XP

PC slow down Windows XP

Hello Miles,

I understand that you have almost all the possible troubleshooting steps, like updating drivers, defragment hard drive, virus scans etc., but are still facing the same issue.

May I know, if you are facing frequent power outage or bad weather? If your answer is yes, then the chances are that your system may have errors on Hard Disk Drive. Frequent power outage or bad weather may be the cause for the system's slow performance issue. I would recommend a few steps to check if the issue gets resolved:

• First and foremost, I would recommend you to run diagnostic tests on System hard Drive. You can run diagnostic test getting into “One Time Boot Menu” by start taping F12 key immediately after pressing the power button >> select the last option for Diagnostic. Check for error code if any. Error Code – 0142 and 0146 are related to Hard drive.

• Replace Hard drive if Error Code is 0142. Try to Debug Hard Drive and reinstall the OS, if error Code is 0146. You may use Drivers disk, to debug from the command prompt or can perform Disk Part form Windows OS Disk.

• If no error found then you can perform disk checks. Here are the steps to perform check disk > Click on Start > Select Run > Type CMD in empty box > A black command prompt window gets opened up > type chkdsk. This will perform Check Disk of Hard Drive. Alternatively you may also > click on start > select My Computer > locate C: and right click > select properties > select Tools from popup window > select check now from the error checking option. You will get a small pop up window Check Disk Local Disk C: > check mark all the option > select start. This will check for any errors on Hard drive.

• You can also try deleting temporary files and prefetch files. To do this > Click on Start > Run > Type temp on the empty space > Temp folder will open up > Select all > Press Shift + Delete > close the folder. Now Click again on Start > Run > Type “%temp% in the empty space > Temp folder will open up > Select all > Press Shift + Delete > close the folder. Now to delete prefetch files > Click on Start > Run > Type prefetch in the empty space > prefetch folder will open up > Select all > Press Shift + Delete > close the folder.

• Perform disk clean up > click on start > My Computer > Right Click C: > Properties > select Disk Cleanup. When you click on Disk Clean up then this will start calculating space which can get freed up by removing these files from your computer.

• You may also try disabling startup and services by performing msconfig. Click on Start > Run > Type MSCONFIG in the empty box > press enter > you will see System Configuration Utility window > Click on Services tab on top > put a check In Hide all Microsoft Services > Disable All > Click on Startup from Top > Select the items you do not want to run on window startup > Disable All > Apply > OK. This will reboot your system and will speed up the Windows booting.

• You may also activate automatic windows update by clicking on Start > Control Panel > Click on Automatic Updates > Select the option Automatic Recommended > OK.