Weird slowdowns, no apparent reason

Question

Hey, I have posted this in another forum, and after a while was told to post here to see if I could get better help, so this is my original post...   For the past weeks my lappie has been terrible. It slow downs any game terribly, after a couple of seconds. Even a few other softwares are slowed down for no reason.   I have no viruses (Norton full scan, Norton Internet Security on, both fully updated), and constantly run Spybot, and SpySweeper. But only Norton's proggys are on always, but never before they caused any slow down.   Since I bought my laptop at Dell I have had problems. Be it motherboard, overheating (heatsink), and other things (BIOS...) and after months of struggling to get all fixed, it didn't last long. But, a-ha, original warranty expired , and dell support e-mail was down (for about 2 weeks), so after a couple more weeks of running checks and other things here, I finally signed up to the forum.   My specs are:   Pentium 4, 2.67GHz, 512 mb RAM, 30 Gig HD, Ati Radeon Mobility 7500 (I know, got ripped off on the 3d card ).   I really need help, don't know what else to do . I just hope I find help here, as despite all the problems with Dell, the support was fine most of the time.   Really appreciate,   Gui   ----------------   Just FYI, I have no viruses, no background applications (apparently), ran spyware programs and also hijackthis, and found nothing. I suspect my 3D card is giving up (again...), but I am no expert.   I appreciate the help !

Guimengo · Answer

I find it hard to believe it is dust, but I can open the carcace to check, but only in a week and a half.   My lappie is a Inspiron 5100, WinXP Home Edition. Last reformat was this past Saturday.

andy2434 · Answer

Perhaps, you may have a heat issue. You may have dust and other related material lodged inside your rig. Thus preventing the airflow provided by your fan(s) to insure adequate cooling.

funtoupgrade · Answer

Which Dell model is this?  What version of Windows are you using? When was the last time you did a reformat and clean install of the operating system? funtoupgrade

Leo_s84 · Answer

Definitely overheating, blow some compressed air through the back vent.

Guimengo · Answer

what should I use to do such? I may have to use my imagination for this one.... (I live in the dorms at NIU, in DeKalb IL)

Leo_s84 · Answer

a can of compressed air maybe? Buy it in a hardware store or something

andy2434 · Answer

Any computer/office store will have compressed air. Comp USA, Best Buy, Office Depot, Office Max, etc. Message Edited by andy2434 on 02-26-2005 04:05 PM

Guimengo · Answer

ahh, ok. I didn't understand at first, I'm from Brazil and sometimes get troubled by the language ;).   It will be a while until I can go to Best Buy, so can I just keep blowing as hard as I can into the vents?

Leo_s84 · Answer

well, that might work a little but not much

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