This is my daughters pc. She has been using it for the internet mostly but it the past few weeks it has slowed way down, It takes 45 minutes just to boot to the start screen. It has been running with AVG 7.5 virus protection, I was able to update it and scanned the pc yesterday. It took almost 13 hours to do the scan,it found & removed 2 trojian hourse virus's. This scan has made no change with the speed, it takes several minutes just to open a folder. I have tryed to run Ad-Aware but I keep getting an error put up stating, Error: 1814 has occured. could not login to service. Are you runnig this aplication as another user? I am wondering if it the hard drive that going or if its somthing else? any help on this would be great, Thanks

How large is the HDD and how much free space is there on it? Look in the Windows folder and delete any of the uninstall files for the Windows updates, etc. They may show in Blue. Then run Disk Cleanup, empty the Recycle Bin and then a defrag. That should help. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

Try running the anti-virus and spyware scans in safe mode.

HARDDRIVE: Possible that the harddrive is not running at its normal speed, freezing up or slowing down. Or has quit. My computer took 20 min. to boot the other day. I was watching the HDD activity indicator light, and it would remain on, and not rapidly blinking. Mechanical devices do have problems. Harddrive manufacturers have software for download for testing HDD.

AVG is now version 8 CCLeaner and Malwarebytes will clean out any temp. files and nasties... "Athlon 805 MHZ, 256mb" 256MB is barely reasonable to run XP, more memory would help, run the memory Scanner at http://www.crucial.com to find the right memory. To be honest the HP is past its best, in the UK P4 2000mhz Towers can be had for £40.00.

It might be a good idea to checkout which programs are automatically starting when you power up the system. Use the following sites to cleanup your system. Using msconfig http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/ Checking tasks http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/sta... http://www.answersthatwork.com/Task... http://www.processlibrary.com/ TWIMC NTVDM = NT, Win2K and WinXP Virtual DOS Manager http://kb.iu.edu/data/acxn.html

If your virus/spyware free, there are a couple things you can do get your computer working faster. If you using your computer for normal stuff and not gaming. You don't always need more RAM you just need to perform a few maintenance task. First, if you haven't cleaned your registry in a while. This is necessary. Your registry holds all the information regarding updates, installs, un-installs etc. Each one of those events produces a key. That key needs your PC's resources and free space. So, if you clean your registry, you make more resources available for speed. Do a registry scan if you got more than 20 errors you should clean it. 2. Clear your Windows cache files, this is your temporary file. It can grow up to a large volume and stop your computer from using RAM properly. In a sense slow it down by preventing it from using free space.Here is how: 1. Quit Internet Explorer, Firefox, or any other web browser 2. Click Start, click "Control Panel", and then double-click "Internet Options". 3. On the General tab, click "Delete Files" under Temporary Internet Files. 4. In the Delete Files dialog box, click to select the "Delete all offline content" check box , and then click OK. 5. Click OK. 3. Manage your startups. Your excess CPU usage is due to too many programs running in the background. You can cut these to barebones by alter your msconfig. Here is how: 1. Open your Start menu. 2. Click Run 3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe" 4. In the "system configuration utility",click either "service" or "startup" tab 5. Uncheck all programs that your are no longer using. 6. Click "OK" Other great tip is increasing your virtual memory to simulate more RAM. This will give you a bit more resources for multiple program use or CPU heavy programs. Hope this link helps. Shows you how to do everything step by step. You should get a least 60-120% more resources and speed if you follow the tips. Hope this helps! http://www.delete-computer-history.... none