CPU problem

[Tinkerpuss]

My elderly Aunt has a computer with a very small RAM (under 1gig), is using XP and the whole thing has almost come to a standstill. It takes about 15 minutes to get on to her Google home page. She only uses her PC for e-mail and looking up crossword answers.
I am no techie but I opened the task manager and her CPU is running constantly at 100%. There are loads of processes running and I know that this is the problem but how can I figure out which ones to shut down safely without causing some other major problem? If I run msconfig and shut down some of the start-up programmes, will this help? She cannot afford professional help and is looking to me to come up with an answer by tomorrow! HELP!!

[MarkRae]

If I were you (and still had the original XP CD), I'd just trash the whole thing and rebuild it. It will take less than 30 minutes, almost certainly much less than fiddling about trying to work out what should and shouldn't be running, etc.

Make sure you back up everything first, though... :-)

[Tinkerpuss]

Thanks for that idea but her computer came with XP installed so there is no CD.

[SlackAlice]

msconfig is quite useful and provided you err on the side of caution can certainly help.

http://netsquirrel.co...nfig/msconfig_xp.html

Some programs have a mind of their own and insist on put an entry back in the startup folder every time start them up (hotmail and windows mail come to mind). Start the programs your Aunt uses and look through the options and 'untick' any applicable boxes to start at next boot, then click apply and okay, then close the programs down.

Obviously you need to let anti virus and firewall enabled in msconfig.

Another item to consider is when was the lat time a 'defrag' was carried out? I you do need to carry out a 'defrag' in might take quite a while. You can speed it up a bit by running the pc in 'safe' mode but it can take hours dependant on the defragmentation.

[Tinkerpuss]

Thanks SlackAlice. I had something like this in mind but just needed a bit of guidance :)

[deggers316]

download the free"cc cleaner" run the cleaner part and then run the registry part,as the name suggests it gets rid off all the crap

[TTG]

Search on the net about using msconfig. Its a good tool. In task manager, you can sort the running processes by memory usage and cpu usage. This would give a good idea of whats hogging the cpu. Might be worth running a full virus and spyware scan as well.

[trish432]

I would take MarkRae`s advice, borrow an xp disc, must be the same as original either home media or pro, and she`ll need her windows serial key.
If you can manage to borrow a disc, download drivermax (free) and copy all her drivers to cd, in case there are any missing after reinstall.
It might take a bit of trouble, but in the long run it will be worth it too have a computer running like new.
I don`t thing the ram is her problem, I run XP very well with 512 MB.

[trish432]

You say your aunt has no cd, but unless she has a restore partition, she should have received a disc,even though it was already installed.
If she has a restore partition you would be able to restore factory setings by tapping one of the F keys at startup, much easier than a format and reinstall from disc, and no loss of drivers.
What`s the make and model number of computer?

[galeck1947]

Hi Tinkerpuss,
Firstly I would increase the RAM to at least 2gb . Secondlly down load and run Glary Utilities which will clean up a lot of un wanted files and repair the registry . There is a startup manager in this program which will list all of your start up programs and ones that are not needed you can delete those. Thirdly download and run Auslogics Disk Defrag which will make a big difference.Both of these programs are free and I can highly recommend them. Reloading Windows is a last resort I would aviod this at all costs. Do you have a good antivirus in stalled Avast free is a good one. I would also download and run Malware Bytes to make sure that you have not got a virus as this will also slow it down. this program is also free

[P_Lactophobe]

If the PC had XP installed, then there should be a way to build a recovery disk or to to recover the machine back to new condition using information put into a hidden partition area on the hard disk. I'd check the stuff that came with the PC.
Most people only look for the recovery stuff when the hard disk isn't usable anymere - then you have to get a recovery CD from the PC maker - usual charge is about £30 for this.