I need computer help. My machine started freezing and running slow

[alwayzbroken]

The computer is a 3 year old HP that was top of the line at the time but I am sure it is a complete piece of junk now. I loaded about 1 hour of video footage from my digital video camera into the machine today and it almost instantly started freezing and running slow. It seemed like the computer was all of a sudden working way to hard to do simple things. The harddrive still has 80GB of free memory. Does anyone have any tips on how to clean this thing up or any tips to make a computer run faster or stop freezing? The main problem is when I open WINDVD to play or edit the video I added, the computer takes forever and freezes. I also noticed the computer getting hotter than normal and the fan was turning on when it hardly ever turns on. If I leave the computer on for long periods of time without use it just freezes. I know some of you are excellent with computers so hopefully you can help me speed this baby back up. Thanks  8)

[NT-OUTBACK]

When was the last time you removed the cover to blow out all the dust?

[Shamb]

Hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE and pull up your task manager.

up top you'll see a Process tab, those are all the things that are running in the background taking up your RAM.

Also look at performance, there will be a graph.. do you see the CPU pegged at 100% or the RAM going up alot?

You will also see in the performance tab where it says "Total Ram / Available Ram"    is there a big difference there?  is alot of your RAM being used up?

Sounds like your low on resources and that WINVID or whatever is a resource hog is bogging the comptuer down significantly.


EDIT:

Run a scan disk and close out all the programs in the lower right and run a Disk Defragment (this will take awhile)

This will get the files in order. I'd also go into the Control Panel and go to Add/Remove programs. If there's anything in there that you do not use then delete it (I.E Multiple IM programs, AOL crap, Anti Virus programs, ect ect)   Anything that you do not use, get rid off to free up space.

[alwayzbroken]

Hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE and pull up your task manager.

up top you'll see a Process tab, those are all the things that are running in the background taking up your RAM.

Also look at performance, there will be a graph.. do you see the CPU pegged at 100% or the RAM going up alot?

You will also see in the performance tab where it says "Total Ram / Available Ram"    is there a big difference there?  is alot of your RAM being used up?

Sounds like your low on resources and that WINVID or whatever is a resource hog is bogging the comptuer down significantly.


EDIT:

Run a scan disk and close out all the programs in the lower right and run a Disk Defragment (this will take awhile)

This will get the files in order. I'd also go into the Control Panel and go to Add/Remove programs. If there's anything in there that you do not use then delete it (I.E Multiple IM programs, AOL crap, Anti Virus programs, ect ect)   Anything that you do not use, get rid off to free up space.

When I open up WINDVD the CPU instantly pegs to 100%. What is the scan disk? Did that come with the computer, if so I have it all in a bag. What do I do with the scandisk and how do I defragment the machine. I am more familiar with trucks than computers. The help is greatly appreciated.

[alwayzbroken]

The Total Physical Memory is 1048048 and the available is 518948. Is that bad or good? The system cache is 622584

[jimbo74]

sounds liek you got spyware..... run a cleaner like spybot or adaware or both.. run them in safe mode..... lots of running processes you cant see run hidden eve nfrom task manager.... also run scan disk and disk defragmenter... i always run my scandisk from dos

[Shamb]

The Total Physical Memory is 1048048 and the available is 518948. Is that bad or good? The system cache is 622584

Not bad, basically means that roughly half of your memory is being used up.

Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools.  This is were you will find the Disk Defragmentor.

Like I said, before you run a Disk Defrag make sure you close out any open programs (like the ones down in the bottom right corner)  because when Disk Defrag starts to orgranize the files for those programs it will see that some are running and don't have permission to move so the Disk Defrag will freeze and start over again.

Sounds to me like more of a CPU issue rather than a RAM issue though, what kind of Processor does that computer have?

(Right click My Computer and go to Properties)  click on the General tab and that's were all your computer information is such as memory, processor ect....

I'm going to guess its something like a Pentium Centrino/Celeron or similar.

[alwayzbroken]

Not bad, basically means that roughly half of your memory is being used up.

Go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools.  This is were you will find the Disk Defragmentor.

Like I said, before you run a Disk Defrag make sure you close out any open programs (like the ones down in the bottom right corner)  because when Disk Defrag starts to orgranize the files for those programs it will see that some are running and don't have permission to move so the Disk Defrag will freeze and start over again.

Sounds to me like more of a CPU issue rather than a RAM issue though, what kind of Processor does that computer have?

(Right click My Computer and go to Properties)  click on the General tab and that's were all your computer information is such as memory, processor ect....

I'm going to guess its something like a Pentium Centrino/Celeron or similar.

I have an AMD athlon 64 processor. It was the baddest one HP had at the time. It is 2.41GHZ, 1GB of RAM. I ran spyware and updated everything I could find to update. I notice a bit of a difference now. I am gonna try the Disk Deframentor.

What is a Scandisk and would it help?

[MiniSimp]

Also delete all cookies, temporary internet file, and all the files in the TEMP folder.
Do you have multiple hard drives? If so dump all media on to the other drive and let drive C be as empty as possible.
Run Adaware, Spybot, Spyblaster, Defrag, Scandisc, install panicware, run any virus software.
Restart any time you do something, and disconnect your network cable during all of this.
Have you downloaded Service Pack 2? It takes up a ton of memory...

[abnormaltoy]

Scandisk is a utility that checks your hard drive(s) for bad sectors, etc.

Do you have an aftermarket utility suite?

How often do you run a de-frag utility?

Another good spyware program is at www.trendmicro.com is called Housecall. It's an online, free service. I have the best luck with Housecall and SpyBot S&D.

Do you have a firewall?

As said earlier...do you have 3 yrs of dust and goo inside your case? If so, get some canned air and blow everything out.

[alwayzbroken]

Also delete all files in the TEMP folder.
Do you have multiple hard drives? If so dump all media on to the other drive and let drive C be as empty as possible.
Run Adaware, Spybot, Spyblaster, Defrag, Scandisc, install panicware, run any virus software.
Restart any time you do something, and disconnect your network cable during all of this.
Have you downloaded Service Pack 2? It takes up a ton of memory...

The files in the temp folder that is in the C drive? I am nervous about deleting stuff. I have learned that lesson before. I have adaware and spybot.  The computer had service pack 2 on it.

The machine runs faster now but still freezes while I am uploading stuff to my photobucket account. It is uploading very slow also. The CPU usage is around 0-25 and fluctuates up and down. The sooner I can get this thing to stop freezing mid way through uploads the sooner I can post more video.

[alwayzbroken]

Scandisk is a utility that checks your hard drive(s) for bad sectors, etc.

Do you have an aftermarket utility suite?

How often do you run a de-frag utility?

Another good spyware program is at www.trendmicro.com is called Housecall. It's an online, free service. I have the best luck with Housecall and SpyBot S&D.

Do you have a firewall?

As said earlier...do you have 3 yrs of dust and goo inside your case? If so, get some canned air and blow everything out.

I still don't really understand scandisk. Is it something that is already on my computer or can it be downloaded? Where do I go to use it or how? I don't know what a utility suite is. I de fragged it last night and that helped. I ran spyware last night. I needed to give the inside a good blow job too 

[MiniSimp]

The files in the temp folder that is in the C drive?

Should be in C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USER NAME\Local Settings\Temp
Safe to delete all.

[abnormaltoy]

I still don't really understand scandisk. Is it something that is already on my computer or can it be downloaded? Where do I go to use it or how? I don't know what a utility suite is. I de fragged it last night and that helped. I ran spyware last night. I needed to give the inside a good blow job too 

Scandisk is a Windows utility, it's already on your computer.

Go to "My Computer"

Right click a drive

Click "Properties" at the bottom of the dialogue box.

Click the "Tools" tab

You have two choices, you want to click the "Check Now" button in the "Error-Checking" area. If you ran the Windows defrag utility last night...it's in the same area. The computer will restart, then scandisk will run in safe mode.

Really though it sounds like something is using your RAM. Next time you turn the PC off for the night, reach around and turn the power switch off too...should be right next to where the power cable attaches to the PC.

[alwayzbroken]

Thanks, I will give it a try. What will turning it off do? Just curious.

[Shamb]

Run Adaware, Spybot, Spyblaster, Defrag, Scandisc, install panicware,

Do not fill your computer full of worthless spyware programs, this will just add more junk to your computer and make the situatoin worse.

You should only need ONE good adware/spyware program not 20.

As previously posted if you go into task manager and your seeing the CPU peg at 100% and not the RAM then your RAM isn't the problem, if it was it would show you on the graph.

One thing you may want to check into is a free downloadable program that scans the CPU temp. Since it is summer now and the weather is much more hot if that CPU isn't staying cool it could cause a major bog in the CPU's performance.

Scandisk should have came on to your computer, it checks for bad sectors and attempts to fix anything wrong w/ the harddrive.

Also try going into your Startup and un-click programs you do not typically use, this will ensure that they're not constantly running in the background and taking up memory.

When you right click on your C drive and go to properties what are the stat's?   how full is the harddrive?

[alwayzbroken]

Do not fill your computer full of worthless spyware programs, this will just add more junk to your computer and make the situatoin worse.

You should only need ONE good adware/spyware program not 20.

As previously posted if you go into task manager and your seeing the CPU peg at 100% and not the RAM then your RAM isn't the problem, if it was it would show you on the graph.

One thing you may want to check into is a free downloadable program that scans the CPU temp. Since it is summer now and the weather is much more hot if that CPU isn't staying cool it could cause a major bog in the CPU's performance.

Scandisk should have came on to your computer, it checks for bad sectors and attempts to fix anything wrong w/ the harddrive.

Also try going into your Startup and un-click programs you do not typically use, this will ensure that they're not constantly running in the background and taking up memory.

When you right click on your C drive and go to properties what are the stat's?   how full is the harddrive?

Where is the startup? I have noticed a few programs that are always running that I would like to turn. This is different than add or remove programs isn't it?

[Wermz84]

Make sure there are no unneccesary programs running in the Task Tray.  "lower right hand corner"

  I am soooo picky about processes running that I specifically didn't tell to run.

You could also use msconfig (depending on your operating system) to keep any programs from running on boot.

[Shamb]

You could also use msconfig (depending on your operating system) to keep any programs from running on boot.

go to Start then to Run and type in msconfig and hit enter, look under the Startup tab and uncheck anything you do not want running in the background.

This is different from add/remove programs because it does not get rid of the program it just disables it from executing when the computer starts.

[alwayzbroken]

go to Start then to Run and type in msconfig and hit enter, look under the Startup tab and uncheck anything you do not want running in the background.

This is different from add/remove programs because it does not get rid of the program it just disables it from executing when the computer starts.

I went in there and unchecked some stuff but it is hard to know what can be unchecked. After running all this stuff I think I am finally getting somewhere.

I did run a scandisk and it froze while performing the procedure. What does that mean? I ran it a second time and it finished. It will still freeze though if I let the machine sit idle.

[Rocksurfer]

The best way to do that is to only uncheck one item at a time and see what it does, that way you don't uncheck a bunch of stuff at once and don't know which one you wanted.

[alwayzbroken]

The best way to do that is to only uncheck one item at a time and see what it does, that way you don't uncheck a bunch of stuff at once and don't know which one you wanted.

good point. I unchecked some ebay thing and some kodak updater. I notice there are some updater programs that run constantly. Are these necessary?