Most of the time, but not always, my Dell Dimension runs stunningly slowly: - mouse cursor freezes or moves very jerkily, making it impossible to click where I want for 15 to 90 seconds at a time; - system clock loses time after booting, sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes it will lose two hours within five hours after booting; - many programs take from two to 18 (really!!) minutes to load, then may run normally or jerkily. The above occur with virus scan disabled or enabled. I have the latest McAfee virus scan updates; I've defragged; I've run Ad-Aware, etc., and I recognize all background programs; I've run various diagnostic programs (Sandra, Mijenix, etc.) and they report everything is working. I've also checked and defragged the Registry. I've read several threads here and still can't find an answer. I suspect it could be hardware-related. Could my CPU be overheating or wearing out? Any ideas much appreciated! You'll understand my frustration if you ever have to wait 18 minutes to load Word or whatever! Wo

Make sure your cpu fan is running. Do a ctrl-alt-del and close everything except Explorer.

Does it run slow in safe mode?

Read here

I suspect you had better look at the power supply. You are not getting the correct voltage to some place on the motherboard, and the CPU is having to redirect in order to handle commands. Simple to open up the case, mark and pull all the leads coming from the power supply, and measure with a V.O.M. and compare to what is noted. Wm.

My Dimension acted that way when the drive was on the way out. I also lost a mobo in my Dimension within 2 yrs of purchase. Jimi_l

maybe check and change the motherboard battery...hope that helps