What else can I do to renew/refresh the computer?

[AcidicRage]

I've defragmented + chkdisk, windows update to all latest updates, downloaded latest drivers for most of my programs including (video, sound, chipset, etc), deleted/cleared out prefetch, cleared out history/IE, run Ad-Aware/SpyBot, and some virus scanners to clean out any spyware or viruses/trojans. I've also used Registry Mechanic and RegClean to clean out/sort through registries. I've even deleted unncessary programs/files/folders and tweaked some Windows XP settings for faster/better performance. I guess the ONLY thing I haven't done is reformat my whole computer (maybe this is the best solution). Any other programs/suggestions I should do? It seems that my computer is slowed down and not up to it's potential maximum performance when I first bought/build the computer.

 

[chrönik04]

well remember that as you install software, new processes may be added. i.e. cdr-appz, nav2k4, firewall, office..etc. these can drain performance.

aside from searching your hd and removing hoggy applications u dont need, a quick fix would be to increase the size of your paging file.

 

[Inaris]

increaseing the page file is only a temp solution. With XP you can run without a pagefile so if you have 1gb of ram, there isn't really a need for it. Running without a page file will help increase response from the system in most cases.

 

[chrönik04]

regardless if you have 1gig of ram installed or not.. its a bad idea to disable the paging file. however it ultimately depends on just what your using the machine for. in the past i've managed to crash my xp laptop quite effectively w/the page file disabled while encoding a huge divx movie and having a few browser windows open. keeping the page file off and monitoring the commit charge on the performance tab simply does not work if your playing gamez. you will get noticeable increase if you dump the page file on another (unused) partition.

 

[RoyalW]

rhowever it ultimately depends on just what your using the machine for

Good point!

Also, what is slow to you? How slow is it?
What are the specs?...
How old is the PC?

If it was a PC you bought/built 1.5 years ago, with 96MB SDRAM and now trying to play the latest windowed 3D games, watch divx and listen to Kylie Minogue - Slow - Body Language.mp3 at the same time then yea.. it would be slow