Slow PC - Help, it's driving me mad!!!

[Jenonnet]

Please can someone help. My PC has slowed right down. It seems to be having to work hard to open programmes and take ages before it opens them.
I run Spybot regularly and don't have any more than a couple of spyware problems to fix now and then. I have Zone Alarm Pro running and also AVG, along with Windows XP firewall.
My system spec is as follows:
Microsoft Windows XP Pro version 2002 with sevice pack 2.
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+ 1.67 GHz, 480 MB of RAM.
(It says 480 MB of RAM but I had 1GB put in so I don't know why it's not saying that in my computer properties.)
I hope someone can help as I don't know what to do with it and it's driving me crazy, it takes so long to do anything. Any ideas?
Thanks in anticipation.

 

[baronvongogo]

dont run windows firewall if your using zonealarm pro you dont need 2 firewalls it can do more damage than good.

spybot is ok but I find it doesnt clean your comp of all spyware.

first clean your comp using this:
CCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp

Then download and run these:
Ad aware SE:
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE...045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5

Ad Aware VX2 add on (To run this tool once Adaware is updated click on Add-ons in the lefthand column. Select VX2 Cleaner V2.0 and click Run Tool. Click "OK"):
http://www.lavasoft.de/software/addons/vx2cleaner.shtml

Spybot:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Advanced Spyware Remover:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Advanced_...over_d4977.html

Windows Defender Beta 2 (need real copy of windows to work)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...&displaylang=en

CWshredder(removes some browser hijackers):
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html

Blacklight (rootkit remover)
https://europe.f-secure.com/blacklight/

Vundofix
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4954.html

EDIT:

Also you might have too many processes at startup press CTRL+ALT+DEL and when the window appears it says processes in the bottom left how many does it say?

 

[Jenonnet]

Slow Pc

Thanks for the advice baronvongogo, I'll do all your suggestions tomorrow when I've got more time.
When I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del it said I had 60 processes running.

 

[MrCoffee]

its odd that its not reporting your memory size correctly, have you tried running memtest86 to eliminate the possibility of bad ram.

Dos your bios report 1gb ram at startup?

 

[jonny_uk]

60 processes? wow thats an awful lot, id class anything over 45 as alot so you certainly have alot of things running in the background, a fair few ones you dont need.

could you post up a pic of the screen with your processes? maximize the screen so we can see them all

 

[Jenonnet]

Slow PC

How do I post a copy of my processes, it won't let me copy & paste them?

 

[baronvongogo]

maximise the window the one when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL click the tab processes and press the PrtScn button. Then open paint and click edit paste. A picture will appear of when you pressed the print screen button it captures exactly what your computer screen looks like at that moment.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

dude. sounds to me like your ram is bad, or your mobo dont support that much ram. i got a 1.3 ghz p3 that only takes 512, but then again i got a 500 mhz celeron that can take 1 gig, so it depends on what the mobo can support, if it supports 512, stop at 512, or you loose money/memory, or if you do, liek you said, it could report the ram wrong

 

[tanish]

[SPAM deleted]

 

[jonny_uk]

maximise the window the one when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL click the tab processes and press the PrtScn button. Then open paint and click edit paste. A picture will appear of when you pressed the print screen button it captures exactly what your computer screen looks like at that moment.

yep, and i could probably sit here and tell you at least 15 things you dont need straight away!