My PC is really old and was slow anyway... But a while ago it stopped working and I sent it to get repaired. A new operating system was installed but when I got the computer back it was really slow. One of the RAM sticks had been removed as it was broken so I got a new one giving me 768MB of RAM. Everything else is as it was, yet the PC is much slower. It is taking ages to simply open an application. I'm suspecting my hard drive to maybe be a problem. Explorer.exe is constantly hogging the memory and it seems as if the only way I can use the PC is to have one proccess at a time on above normal priority. I ran a hard drive repair program and it did speed the computer up a bit, but it's still really slow. Also, some of the svchosts are taking up loads more memory than usual. It's as if all the processes are trying to take up all of the memory. Hopefully you can help, I'll post more info about the PC if needed... It'll just take some time.

Deji, there're several things you need to do in order to be sure one of the common things isn't the cause of things. First, rule out a Trojan/worm by scanning. Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean, other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, Superantispyware can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.superantispyware.com/ among other places. They have a Vista compatible version if needed. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running and disable 'restore' (restart after cleaning) so it doesn't get put back. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. The restore thing is critical. May not be your deal at all, but won't hurt anything to try. Next is to empty your 'temp' files. Simply reboot, that'll do it. Next comes your 'index.dat' file. A common ailment is a file called 'index.dat'. It gets read every time and can take quite a while if it’s too bloated. It's like a log file and keeps a record of every site you visit on the web. Empty, it's 32K, but it can grow HUGE. It's a protected file and can't be deleted by normal methods. CCleaner (free @: http://www.ccleaner.com/) can get rid of it (not to worry, it gets rebuilt EMPTY on the next boot.). Those may/may not solve your problem, but they're an essential starting place. If you still have trouble, post again for help. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention I did the basic things. CCleaned, defragged, disk cleaned, registry cleaned, registry defragged, virus scanned and I deleted previous restore points and disabled some unneeded services. I'll try that program you posted in case it can find something else. If my PC was fast enough to even visit a file uploading site, I'd post a picture I have of the task manager. Basically though, it's evening out the memory between about 6 proccesses which all take up different large amounts and the amount of memory changes alot ect.

Hmm... Just noticed something interesting. It seems that the proccesses are taking up loads of CPU, but hardly any RAM. I have 756(or so)MB of RAM consisting of 3 256MB ram sticks (my motherboard is old and only has 3). They are really old fashioned DDR's (simms). But I used to have this amount and my PC was fine, but I cannot understand why it isn't using very much RAM. It'll take up all the CPU and (according to TuneUps Memory Optimizer) the RAM isn't decreased. I changed the setting making the CPU be used for the background services instead of programs hoping for it to not struggle so much but so far nothing is different. Is there something wrong with my CPU?

"according to TuneUps Memory Optimizer)" try getting rid of all 'memory Optimizers, there crap. they decrease memory at the expense of cpu. larry

Well it's not on constantly... It just makes the memory move to page file so I use it when memory clogs up, and it does help. But that's not the problem... How do I get the RAM to handle the proccesses?

I'm guessing that all the original trial software is being booted at start up since you had the PC reinstalled with the O.S. By simply closing startup programs and stopping unnecessary tasks, you can free up RAM. This is a simple procedure. But, make sure you don't prevent essential programs from loading 1.Click Start button and load the Control Panel. 2. Under the Control Panel menu, click Programs. 3. Under the Windows Defender heading choose View currently running programs. 4. Choose Startup Programs from the Category option. 5. Remove Programs that you feel unnecessary for startup. Here are some more memory tweaks http://www.delete-computer-history.... none