[Paradox]

My usual response to this is to save all my data to CDROM, then doing a total reformat/install of Windows XP. The reinstall your programs.

[MikefromOhio]

I can give you my answer.....



I'll ping others and maybe they can give you a better one :)

[Perdogg]

You could delete your restore points, that would free up about 1 Gb.

What for others to respond.

[GaltMeister]

Try uninstalling Norton. I have seen it slow systems down to the point they become unuseable.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Speed and performance generally won't be affected by the amount of data you have stored on your hard drive. What slows things down is the number of programs that are actually loaded into memory, taking up memory space and processor time. This is what you need to clean up in order to get better performance from your system.

[Republicain]

Buy a Mac...

[Izzy Dunne]

Take it to one of those places that have the "Computer Spin Balance" sign out front.

Take it in and ask them to spin balance it for you.

[AbeKrieger]

Some simple things to check:

Are you exceeding 85% of disk utilization?

Have you recently defragmented your disk?

[MAD-AS-HELL]

save yourself the trouble by buying a new copy of Win XP service pack 2 edition and reinstalling windows. You probably have so much junk on your pc that stand alone programs most likely won't fix it. A fresh install will take care of any problems you have now.

[newgeezer]

I suspect the problem is simply too much extraneous crap in it.

Not unlike the News/Activism forum, eh? ;O)

[TommyDale]

My laptop did the same thing. The problem cleared up when I dropped it and bought a new one. LOL!

[frogjerk]

How much memory do you have and what is it's utilization? You probably have a ton of processes running that are competing for available memory.

[domenad]

I recommend the free utility RegClean, which will clean out your registry of old and unused registry entries. Norton Tools has an even better utility, but it costs money and RegClean works pretty well. You can get it at Cnet.com and going to their downloads section.

[N3WBI3]

There is a list of things you can do, defrag, install some of the crap that comes up, clean up the registry but the easiest thing to do is save off all the data and reinstall..

[Liberty Valance]

[capt. norm]

There is a set of utility programs called "Tuneup Utilities" that have done wonders for me.

It has a special one-click tuneup that identifies problems. Some of the programs in the set address the registry, spyware, and a series of optimizations. My problem was very similar to yours before I found this utility set.

[don-o]

YOu have cleared yer cache and defragged?

Run Spybot and AdAware (updated)?

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26

YOu can go here and get some help. They will have you un a "Hijack This" and take a look at what is going on. Good luck!

[IndyTiger]

Agree with the comment about uninstalling Norton. Take a good look at AVG anti-virus software instead. It's free from www.grisoft.com. Been using it for three years with no problems at all.

[contemplator]

Is there a product that can clean-up Windows and my files to get it up to speed again?

Short answer - no.

Longer answer - Assuming you're correct and the problem is not malware/spyware (I would not make that assumption, your symptoms point in that direction) then you will need to make conscious decisions to uninstall various pieces of software. There is nothing on the market that can read your mind for you and make those types of decisions. Check for software which came bundled on the system that you may never use such as MS Works etc.. Another option is to use the System Tools to clean up and defrag which may buy you aliitle speed. I would suggest downloading and running both Spybot and AdAware just to be on the safe side.

[discostu]

Check the tray by your clock, what kind of stuff is in there? Lots of programs these days have "quick launchers" that basically pre-load the program so that when you want to use one of their things they load up quicker. If you've got a lot of stuff like AIM, Quicken and Real Player you've probably got a boat load of those quick launchers sucking memory. Unless it's an app you use multiple times a day quick launch is a waste of resources, go into the configuration on all of them and tell them not to do a quick launch.