Inspiron XPS running very slow, dvd-rw not working, etc.

[MAAD]

I'm having some major problems with my Inspiron XPS. I bought it in January of '05 and my warranty is up so I'm in a bind. It's running very slow, my software lags quite a bit, my dvd-rw has stopping working altogether, the fans are ALWAYS on from start up to shut down, even with the fans, it overheats fairly often, and my video playback in general is VERY choppy at best. I do defrags and virus scans and free up disk space but nothing seems to be helping. It's very disappointing considering that I paid a huge amount of money for this thing and it packs some impressive hardware (P4 3.4GHz w/HT, 1 GB DDR RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon 9700). It just performs so poorly that I feel like I wasted thousands of dollars because it seems to be falling apart before my very eyes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Miguel

 

[an51r]

Well for starters what anti-virus program do you have? Also what anti spyware if any are u using? What is the primary use of the computer? Do you download alot of things of the internet and when u r browsing the internet do you just wander through sites or do you use the same couple of sites?Do you have any system monitoring programs? If not try speedfan, mbm5 or everest. With those programs u can monitor your temperature thought your usage to try to identify what aspect of ur usage could be adversely affecting your computer. As far as antivirus and anti spyware, try avast home edition for antivirus it has done wonders for me(also free ) try to use ccleaner regularly as well as spybot s&d and ad aware se. All the programs i listed are free and will benefit u. Also you may want to check ur processes Ctrl+Alt Delete and see if there are any running that u do not recognize. Good Luck and in the future you should try to build your own computer

 

[MAAD]

Thanks for the reply an51r. I was using McAfee SecurityCenter and Spybot S&D but now I'm currently using AOL Safety and Security Center which I believe is also McAfee. The primary use of this particular computer is for graphic and web design, but I do use the web quite a bit. I do download quite a bit and visit many sites but I am careful about what I download and I avoid suspicious sites. I don't have any system monitoring programs running but I took your advice and downloaded Speedfan. I have noticed that AOL Safety and Security Center has slowed me down so I'm going to replace it with Avast. I have also downloaded CCleaner and Ad Aware SE. I'll be trying them out tonight. When it comes to checking my processes, I'm not sure what to really look for and would hate to stop a process that I need thinking that it is suspicious when it's actually needed. And as far as building a computer next time, I actually have (my desktop) but bought this machine as a mobile replacement for my desktop (this Inspiron XPS that I'm having problems with is a laptop) when I'm out and about. That's what makes this so frustrating. This high-end laptop is slower than my old P3 500MHz that I had years ago! Anyway, I'll try the software that you recommended and will post again if I'm still having problems. Thanks again for the assistance!