Increasing PC performance

[para]

Good evening...I have noticed a significant decrease in the level of my computer's performance in the past year. It is an older computer (i.e. 4 years), but has been sufficient for my particular needs until recently. I ran a scan using Registry Mechanic and it found 889 problems. However, one of the "problems" it found is actually a file needed by Yahoo! IM (ycrwin32.dll, or something like that). Therefore, I got a bit anxious about what other items it deemed as "problems" and did not perform any fixes. I'm not even sure if correcting the appropriate problems will result in a noticeable performance increase. Defragmentation and constant spyware/virus scans have not done much of anything to remedy the extreme sluggishness I am seeing, so I figured a registry fix may be my last hope for this computer.

Anyway, I was just wondering if a registry fix will indeed make a significant impact on the overall speed of the computer. If so, how in the world do I sift through hundreds of cryptic entries to find which ones are harmful and which ones are necessary for the proper functioning of the computer? I code websites, so I have very little knowledge of system and software files.

Thanks!

[Fred_Flintstone]

Hi para, welcome to the forum.

I suggest you post a HijackThis log in the applications and Security forum for the experts here to analyse.

Go HERE (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=34)

Start a new thread and post the log along with a description of your problem.

Get HijackThis from here:

Please download HijackThis (HJT) version 1.99.1 from here:HijackThis (http://www.downloads.subratam.org/hijackthis.zip) and make sure to unzip it to a permanent folder.

(I suggest C:\HijackThis)

Run HJT, click on Scan, then click on Save Log.

Do NOT "Fix" any lines in HJT without instruction as most are legitimate and vital for the stable running of your system!!

Post a copy of the log in your post.

someone will be along to help you before too long..;)

[Quantax]

Good evening...I have noticed a significant decrease in the level of my computer's performance in the past year. It is an older computer (i.e. 4 years), but has been sufficient for my particular needs until recently. I ran a scan using Registry Mechanic and it found 889 problems. However, one of the "problems" it found is actually a file needed by Yahoo! IM (ycrwin32.dll, or something like that). Therefore, I got a bit anxious about what other items it deemed as "problems" and did not perform any fixes. I'm not even sure if correcting the appropriate problems will result in a noticeable performance increase. Defragmentation and constant spyware/virus scans have not done much of anything to remedy the extreme sluggishness I am seeing, so I figured a registry fix may be my last hope for this computer.

Anyway, I was just wondering if a registry fix will indeed make a significant impact on the overall speed of the computer. If so, how in the world do I sift through hundreds of cryptic entries to find which ones are harmful and which ones are necessary for the proper functioning of the computer? I code websites, so I have very little knowledge of system and software files.

Thanks!
Your experience with the Registry "fix" is one reason I've never relied on or recommended them. They will invariably come up with 1,001+ issues, many of them harmless.

[mjc]

Don't do it...registry fixers aren't meant to be cure-alls. They are good for cleaning up specific problems, not taking care of everything.

First, do a general clean up...all the software you don't need, all the 3 year old emails...all of that, get rid of it. Then, clean out things like IE caches and all of that.

After that, make sure you aren't infected with anything, update to the latest definition file for you antivirus and run a full scan. Fix anything it finds. Then grab HijackThis (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php) (download it and open it to its ow folder run it, post the log here).

[Sylvander]

Which version of Windows are you running?

If suitable, [good housekeeping] you might try running the following programs included on the "Emergency Boot CD" [EBCD]...

1. "Win98/ME Registry Tool" [I've run this a number of times and it has done no harm. Scans for and fixes registry errors].

2. "Microsoft Scandisk".
[Will scan your file system for errors and fix them if it can. Can also scan your HDD for faulty clusters and take out of use any found]

3. "Drive Fitness Test Utility".
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Run Process Explorer (http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html) to see whether all's well there [anything using too much %CPU time?]

5. Run WinDirStat (http://windirstat.info/) to check out your files for [any particularly huge] space wasters.

It's a good idea to run these kinds of things routinely from time to time.

A. How to make a free “Smart Boot Manager” floppy
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41498
This makes it easier to boot a chosen drive [particularly the one holding the EBCD].

B. How to make a free EBCD bootable CD
http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41485
This has a number of useful utilities included including "Image" [for DOS, by Terabyte] & "File Manager".

[para]

Good morning...thanks for the welcome and for the plethora of information. I wasn't expecting so many responses in such a short time, but I certainly do appreciate the help very much! I'll go ahead and try what you all have mentioned.

I'm using Windows XP, by the way. Home Edition, Version 2002, Service Pack 2.

Please don't laugh when I tell you this computer is a Compaq Presario 1.3GHz (Celeron) with 256 SDRAM and 40GB hard drive ;)

[para]

I went ahead and posted the "Hijack This" log file here (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?p=314011#post314011). Thanks again.