Dear htabzz,

          you would get possibly more advice if you would tell ALL what computer you have, what Operating System, memory and a few other things. 

Viruscan installed?  virus definition updates regularly... or automatically?  Also describe when you feel it's slow....

Remember, you must have at least 1year warranty with DELL and you can get tech support...

With LOVE and JOY,

gabriel

How much space do you have left on your hard drive ??

XP has a built-in disk cleaner. Go to Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> Disk Cleanup.
Open disk Cleanup and check all options you want to clean, probably everything. Click Okay.

There is a program called window washer 5.0 that I use to do all my cleaning. the first time I used this I cleaned out over 500 meg. of my hard drive. I have used this and haved saved over a gig so far.

I have windows xp...dell 4550....what else do you need to know? It's a pentinum 4...not a year old... What type of files do I need to look for to delete...I have norton antivirus protection program, I have scanned for the lastest viruses and none found... I  make sure everyone else is logged off when I'm online... I don't mean not to give more info. I just don't know what else is needed to know...thank you so much for helping Gab.

I have 27.5GB of used space

i have 1.03GB of freee space

I have done disc clean up and defrag plus deleted old files of in my documents...

How do I find out where all that 27.5GB of used space is at on my computer?

1. Hi!

1. Try the following 

1. Disabling in System Configuration

1. Windows 98, Me, and XP have a system configuration tool that can be used to disable tasks, even if they load from the Windows registry.

2. Click Start and then click Run.
3. Type msconfig into the Run line and then click OK.
4. Click the Startup tab (refer to Figure 2). Remove the check next to any task you do not want to start when the computer starts.
5. Check out this website for the names of programs that you can disable http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm
6. The above steps should speed up your computer quite a bit.
7. Also have a look at How do I maintain my Dell computer in the Microsoft Windows XP operating system : http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1065713

Asta

~M~

Message Edited by ChaoticCalm on 10-01-2003 01:08 PM

thanx guys for all your help I still can't figure out why so much space is taken up on my computer but if I don't get it figured out....I'm still under warranty and I'll let dell handle it...thnx

Dear htabzz,

well, you have a wonderful computer there and shouldn't be running slow...  That 27Gig filled is a concerned indeed especially when you clean up with "Washer or whatever".  I know those programs.  Don't believe you have anything to clean ... there's something else.  If you were playing with video editing, photos etc... those files can be big... Suppose you would have copied a few DVD's on your computer... that would take many gigs.  In one year, you can't have filled your harddrive.   If you're still under warranty, do call DELL and see if they would walk you thru somethings over the telephone.   You also have a whole "Resolution assistant from DELL" that was pre-loaded and allows them to connect with you and help you a lot better than all the advise you already got on the Forum.  Since you're new and not too techie... unless you want to learn... I would advise you use DELL support.  The advice you already received gives you nothing really because you have already done everything you should be doing... cleanup ... antivirus... defrag...  and no way you should have 27gig on that hard drive.

with LOVE and JOY.  gabrielseagull

This might be a bit obvisous but make sure you empty your recycle bin.

Right click on your recycle bin and then click empty recycle bin. 

Check disk space now? 

I would also check yout CPU utilisation.  High CPU utilisation is a very common cause of computers being slow.  Right click anywhere on the task bar (except on the start button) and click on task manager.  Click on the performance tab.  This will tell you if your CPU is running high.

If it is then click on the Processes TAB and click on the CPU header this will sort by CPU usage.  Make a note of the Image Name or Process that is running high and post it back onto this forum.

Regards

I think you need to look at you Computer's files and find a LARGE folder that is taking up lots of space.  It may be an image relating to your anti-virus program.  McAfee had that problem recently I know.  Just go to My Computer and as you pass the cursor over Folders in your C drive it should tell you how big they are -- My Documents may contain it.  If you find one folder that is very large, open it and see what is large in it.  Keep going until you find out what is taking up so much of your hard drive.

Try the mentioned app from the lavasoft.com site. Although they do not make it they are nice enough to forward your request, bottom of the page. This is a free and fast scan for spy ware, which you can delete and really speed things along. Lots of things to buy and read,if you so choose, but just start up and run the program in the startup panel. and delete,check the boxes, of the spy and junk!

What about temp files or his file slack space or games ??? I have 37 movies from 44 min. to 1 hr and 30 min. long on my hard drive and it takes up 15 gig. on my hard drive...

A likely reason for slow performance is antivirus running in background keeping a constant watch on file activity. Not something you'd want to give up, I'd think not anyhow.

You might want to try removing spyware and adware, which can clog your system up, to see if that helps any. If you don't have the tools to do that with yet check out Spybot Search and Destroy or Ad-aware.

Then there's Start|Run... msconfig (Windows 98 on up), where you can always use that to disable things running in the background. Just have to figure out what you need and don't need. Problem with that is, the things to disable varies from computer to computer. Just have go through it by trial and error. There's always some list to try which can be found on the internet but check out that link I gave for it.

You've done the right thing to Defrag and Clean, I guess a lot of people don't do those. If you have programs in your Start menu you never use it'd be a good idea to go into Control Panel's Add-Remove Programs list and get rid of them, just be forewarned that if you haven't any installation disk(s) you can't reinstall later. One good place to go in and remove extra stuff is at the same place but it's the Windows Components part. You can go through it (via Details) and deselect Solitaire and Mine Sweeper games among many other things and then add back anytime, as long as you have the Windows setup files.

In general, actually deleting any other files en masse (esp. by delete key) is never a good idea unless you know what they are first. Sometimes you can be worse off by doing so.

I think all of these are good ideas but if this dont help then I suggest you backup the stuff you need then reformat your hard drive. After a year and a lot of use your system might need it. Sometimes its nice to start fresh...