After reading all the posts I come to the conclusion that you need to scan your computer and check if there is any virus in it. It looks like it has got virus. 512MB RAM is strong enough to run your system smoothly. I'm using the same configuration and its quite fast here. Well, hard disk is 160GB that is quite a lot. Mine is three times lesser than yours and still my system is quite fast... you don't need to delete any files since you haven't even used 50% it should be fine too. Finally, I suggest you scan your computer of spywares as well.. Virus and spywares can cause much troubles for our systems. All the best!

may be scan for virus, spyware, adware, reboot ur computer, uninstall unused programs, and if its really slow format ur computer, but it might not help

All excellent possibilities. Another thing to check for is a spyware detection pgm that might be scheduled for a time of day when you don't want it to be. Or other processes, so take a look at your scheduled task list.

I run an older version of Windows (98se) and the path is : start>programs>accessories>system_tools>scheduled_tasks.

Another old flaw with windows is that the msoffice software had a "fast find" utility that would fire up randomly through the day and index all your files. Not just the file names, but the full contents of the files. This caused the processor to slow down at times as well. It never did works too well, anyway. The trick to disabling it was to find the process (I forget where or how) and set the frequency for it to run at some ridiculous number of days. Like 9999 days between runs, so it didn't bother you.

If you are running xp or another (read newer) os, this post won't be much help except to show you that whatever it is can be halted.

Personally, I would do a scandisk, spyware detection, anti-virus, malware search, then a full clean up (uninstall and delete unused software) followed by a de-frag.

If this is a recent phenomenon, have you installed any new software that is keylogging? There is a package available, might be ad-aware by lavasoft that is supposed to be pretty good with those...

Hope this provides some insight...

I've scanned with Norton Antivirus, Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, done a defrag, checked the disk for errors, but no problems/viruses/adwares or other malicious softwares were found. Also, there are no programs using much CPU or RAM.

And to pawitp, I have already told some of the specs:
160GB harddisk
512MB RAM
2.8 GHz Intel Pentium 4

Also, YES, my harddisk works when idle, but only a little. It's mainly when I do something, like going online, chat with people etc.

I don't remember if you said it was XP, but XP will work in the background all the time, it's designed to optimize the system but only when your not using it, as far as the speed, have you tried looking into the system heat?

well just run the os recovery on it, there is also other programs that you can download that can try and fix/recover the data.



This post has been edited by dundun2007: Sep 23 2005, 02:39 PM

well first scan your pc for virusses or adware
also run some programs like startup mechanic
or hitman pro

clean your harddisk and defragment it

check if your ram isnt broken

thats all i can say
also i had the same thing when i installed norton antivir 2004
when i removed it it was finished (the problem)

Well i don't think anybody has said this. Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragment....your computer may be loaded with old junk that you did not remove properly. Disk Defragment sorts your stuff out so everything is together.

get the program called TuneUp Utilities it should clean up your system pretty effectively it help me out alot with memory fixing errors and what not.