pc running slow!

[romko]

PC has recently got very sluggish.
Am using win2000, have Zone alarm and spywae guard running. Processor AMD 1.8ghz

Here is what i see running in the task manager: I would appreciate any tips on what to try and remove (or deselect e.g in msconfig??) to get things up to their previous speed.

System
smss.exe
crss.exe
winlogon.exe
services.exe
lsass.exe
svchost.exe
vsmon.exe
Scannign Process
taskmgr.exe
svchost.exe
inCDServ.exe
regsvc.exe
MStask.exe
stisvc.exe
WinMgmt.exe
Exporer.EXE
sglohb.exe
mantispm.exe
sgmain.exe
ScanningProcess
Zl client.exe
monitor.exe

[fo3nix]

In task manager click the processes tab, and click the 'CPU' column title a few times to get the high numbers in order at the top -- which processes are using the most CPU?

[OBonio]

They all look like valid processes. Do what fo3nix said and see which process is hogging your CPU.

[Bob A Job]

It could just be you need to run a defrag of your hard drive.
but recently Zonealarm was sold to a different company, its no longer Zone labs, but checkpoint. since the change i have noticed a few anomalys in how its running. Using win 2000 may also be conflicting newer software. if any updates for your programs have been designed to run on XP or Vista, they may be system hogs on an older setup.

[romko]

thanks for the answers. fo3nix/obonio: there's no one process really hogging the cpu.

the main problem was slow startup, it took several minutes before the pc became usable. problems seem to have got worse after a recent update of zonealarm. this correlates with what bob a job mentions.

one thing which has improved things somewhat is that i deactivated spyware guard. What with zone alarm being quite a complete program, i didnt think 2 progs continually running were necessary. since then, system seems better, will keep you up to date.

PS did a defrag only a week ago.

[fo3nix]

Defrag won't make a difference.

Try taking off zonealarm and using kerio personal firewall instead. I use that on my home PC because it starts up faster than zonealarm and is just as good (but the interface can be a bit more advanced). It's free anyway, so that's one route.

What's your antivirus?