Just been through this with my Desktop • XP Pro SP3 • Intel Celeron CPU 1.70GHz • 60 GB HDD • 1 GB DDR133 RAM • IE8 • Office 2002.
The system was slow & hanging. Office programs were almost impossible to use. Exiting IE 8 took 5 – 10 minutes to fully close. Once the system restarted & IE 8 was opened there was a message "IE 8 closed unexpectedly, would you like to go to last session?"
I was within an inch to reloading the OS.
1. Close all files – then open System Properties
• Hold the Windows Key & press the Pause/Break Key (to the right of the F12 key)
• Advanced
• Startup & Recovery
• Settings
• System Failure
• Clear the "Automatically Restart" box
2. To check the capacity of the HD
• Start
• My Computer
• Right click C:\
• Properties
• Here you can check the free space on your HD. There should be a minimum of 500 MBs of free space to allow the OS to operate efficiently.
3. If OK, then go to the Control Panel
• Add/Remove Programs
• Delete redundant programs - Be careful what you delete (I deleted eight)
• Restart - If this solves the issues, perform a Disk Cleanup & a Disk Defrag.
• If there are still issues, read on
4. Run Check Disk & fix any System problems
• Hold the Windows Key & r
• RUN
• chkdsk /r
• Reboot & allow to run through the process
5. Perform a "Disk Cleanup"
• Start
• All Programs
• System Tools
• Disk Cleanup
6. Perform a "Disk Defragmenter"
• Start
• All Programs
• System Tools
• Disk Defragmenter
7. To check for problems with the system
• Start
• My Computer
• Right click C:\
• Properties
• Tools
• Error Checking
• Check Now
• Automatically fix file system errors
8. Event Viewer – Check for Errors or Warnings
• Start
• All Programs
• Administrative Tools (if not found right click Start • Customize • Advanced • System Administrative Tools • Display on All Program Menu • OK)
• Administrative Tools
• Event Viewer
• Application
• Check for ERROR message with a red "X"
• Double click the ERROR
• e.g. Hanging application OUTLOOK.EXE, version 10.0.6856.0, hang module hungapp, version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000
• Go to Microsoft Help & Support & search
• Click System & look for ERROR. Repeat the procedures above
9. Download "CCleaner". Close all files & run a full scan. This will clear all redundant registry entries, as well a browsing cookies.
http://www.piriform.com/
10. Download Malwarebytes(free version), Close all files & run a full scan. May take up to 2 hours, depending on programs installed & processor speed.
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
PS – Issues Resolved:
1. Malwarebytes removed several infections
2. The final issue, which solved the sluggishness was, the Internet provider's Gateway Software (installed from CD) was causing conflicts with the OS. Once the Gateway Software was removed (from the Add/Remove Programs) the OS is now functioning flawlessly.
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