Pc very very slow when I first turn it on?

Coupon_Queen_3

Help-

When I turned on my pc today I tried to click on my icons like itunes, internet etc. none of them worked & in the end the computer just got stuck & wouldnt even turn off. I ended up turning off my pc at the wall (had to do this a few times) then in thre end I just left it for about an 1 1/2 hours and finally the icons I clicked on loaded up & now it is running as normal but I am now worried if I turn it off again , it wont work when I turn it back on.

Please can you help, Im not very technically minded, please be gentle,

Thank you

Zahc

Some questions for you;

Have you installed a program lately?

What Anti Virus do you use?

Did you have a blue screen at any time?

How old is the computer and what operating system do you use (windows xp?)?

Zahc

DanRogl

Could you give a few details about your computer?

What make/Model is it?

Do you keep it upto date with patches/updates?

Do you know if you have Anti-virus Installed?

Coupon_Queen_3

I have BT online protection which includes Norton Antivirus, I scan regularly for virus's & have just doen a scan & no virus found.

The computer is about 1 2/2 years old & Im using xp.

I didnt have a blue screen at anytime,

sorry not sure what make & model it is.

Havent installed any new programmes recently.

Thanks

JonnyThunder

Check your disk space. I've seen issues like this caused by lack of space when the windows pagefile is being used. The less space you have, the more the disk head needs to skip around to store and retrieve data.

Check space by double clicking my computer, then right clicking your C: drive and going to properties. Should show a retro pie chart with details.

Worth looking at!

Zahc

I'd be inclined to run ccleaner for now and see if it happens again.
It wouldn't hurt to check you hard drive out either;

1. Double-click My Computer, and then right-click the local disk that you want to check.

2. Click Properties, and then click Tools.

3. Under Error-checking, click Check Now.

4. Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box.

5. Click Start.

Zahc

And what JT says........

Coupon_Queen_3

hey thanks for all of your replys, I have tried restarting again, & it is still very slow when I first turn my pc on but not as bad as it was.

I have checked my disk space & have loads of free space (17.4gb out of a total capacity of 37.2GB)

I am currently scanning for errors but its taking a while.
And I have deleted some programmes that I dont really use.

albertross_2

If it is slower than yesterday, either scan for malware (see sticky at top of page), or try a system restore.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

pchelpman

A few more thoughts.

Many people complain about the slow starting of their computer. It seems to be a common problem with XP.

If you have many programs loading at start up this could explain the slowness.

If there is a malware infection causing the slowdown the advice from albertross is excellent. Try the "malware removal" thread.

If you don't see any improvement in performance then post a HijackThis log here and someone will review it to see if anything more specific can be done.

Zahc

And, if you've done all that and you're still impatient over the boot up time (like me), you can always set up your on/off button to put your PC into standby when you press it.

Start>control Panel>power options>advanced>"when I press the power button on my computer" select standby.

When you press the button again your PC will burst into life. It's recommended to shut your PC down periodically (I do it once a week) using the normal shut down procedure.

There are power usage penalties I'm told, but I hate waiting for the damn thing to boot up

Chin Chin

Zahc