Serious lagging issues when opening programs

[trustedbasset]

For the past few weeks I have been having a very annoying lagging problem. It occurs when opening Microsoft Office programs such as Outlook, Word, etc; and when opening Internet explorer. This problem isn't only occuring with Microsoft software but even games, Adobe photoshop, Media player...

This happens when I connect to the internet too. It takes about 3 minutes for the box to popup saying what speed I am connected at. Not sure if there is a relation to my problem I posted about here http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68559 but this problem started happening around the same time.

Basically it takes 3-5 minutes for something to open up after I double click it or select open. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen a lot. When this "lag" occurs I can't even get task manager to popup when I ctrl+alt+delete.

All the while this lag is occuring I can still open up folders such as My documents, etc.

Sometimes this has totally froze my computer forcing me to shut it down manually by the off button.

Here is what I have done: I run a virus scan every day and I don't have a virus, I have installed Microsoft AntiSpyware which has found and deleted 8 bad files, I have downloaded the updates for XP and Microsoft office which took forever with my internet problems. I have uninstalled programs I don't need. I tried a full scan disk. I have tried system restore which didn't help but I may try it again. I tried this after I uninstalled some software. Though the software was uninstalled, it still showed up under the Add/Remove software menu and I couldn't get rid of what I uninstalled previously. Besides, I would have to pick a system check point from like 3 weeks ago and after all the updates I have done, I'm not sure I want to.

I was going to do disk defrag but it told me I didn't need to but I am going to do it anyway. It has been less than a month since I have defragged, but I don't think this is the problem.

Please help, I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated!!

P.S. my specs are in my siggy

 

[Iantosca]

Have you tried a fresh install? Re-install windows ... or even get a memory manager and see if the memory on your computer is getting used or not. You can get one at analogx.com for free.

Then You might want to check if there are any usless processes running or programs that open when you start your computer.

Give the defrag a shot at least before a fresh install of the os. If none of that works ... hardware problem?

 

[rainbow]

hey first I think when your system starts lagging, try looking in the task manager for processes taking up more processor time and system memory.
Clear all the items from the startup and stop all unnecessary services.
These are some basic things you can try.

Coming to system memory,
If system memory has been insufficient to support your applications, its possible that your page file may is badly fragmented. You could run one of the defragmenters which defrags the paging file and MFT, or try increasing your RAM if its a memory problem.

 

[trustedbasset]

I did the defrag but it didn't help. I try to look at the task manager when it starts lagging, but that doesn't come up either. Once it does pop up, computer usage isn't that much, this time after the lag it only said 2% CPU usage. When it lags, nothing sounds odd like the computer is trying to "think" or anything like that.

I also have went under msconfig and disabled the unnecessary startup services.

I was thinking about getting more RAM but I don't think this is the issue. 512MB should be enough to handle simple processes like opening up Outlook, which just took about 10 minutes I even updated Microsoft office which took about 2 days because of my stupid connection.

Anyway, thanks for the advice so far. I'm going to wait awhile and look for more answers before doing the re-install. I have already backed up all of my important documents, etc in case it comes to reinstalling.

 

[pinkfloyd2005]

Try deleting your temp files, and are you sure you have no virus or spyware

 

[trustedbasset]

Temp files are deleted, I do it on a regular basis. Microsoft AntiSpyware detects no spyware, AVG detects no virus.

Thanks

 

[Osiris]

Have you disabled items you dont need in msconfig?

 

[trustedbasset]

Yep, I already stated that a couple of posts up

 

[EricB]

did you use office updates or windows updates