Good points...

I forgot to mention that I ran Spysweeper (latest version) and McAfee antivirus recently, but with no noticeable improvement.

Engraving is the only thing I use that machine for, so it doesn't have a lot of miscellaneous programs/files on it...mainly the Corel Suite and Photograv.

Just makes me wonder.

Cody,

I would run a disk clean up (Start-all programs-Accessories-system tools-disk clean-up)

This will remove any and all temporary files that most don't even think about. They are not needed but they can slow the performance of your PC down.

You might also do a disk defragmenter.

Both should help without any harm to the computer.

Another thing that can slow things down is your registery. Lots of garbage gets left in the registery. There are several good registery cleaners out there. The one I use is Registery Mechanic. It works great and has nevery caused a problem.
Bill

HOLD IT!!!

Before you try any of these suggestions, please make sure you back up your current data. I spent the last 20 years as a computer monster repairing, troubleshooting and building machines of all flavors. I will not claim to be an expert, but I do know a little more then the average computer user.

The biggest causes of problems I dealt with besides for failing hardware? Someone knowingly/unknowingly edited their registry; ran defrag; ran some clean-up programs; installed shareware programs such as screen savers, games and utilities or deleted files they thought they didn't need.

Defrag can be a great tool - if your machine does not have any problems. I spent 2 days recovering bits and pieces of a user's irreplaceable research data because someone told him to run a defrag on his slow laptop. It was slow because the hard drive was failing and the defrag destroyed it.

Editing the registry? Sure it can be done, but you better know what you are doing and read everything thoroughly or you can trash your machine.

Scanning for spyware and viruses are relatively harmless for your machine so I have no problem suggesting those. Unless I know the user's skill level and have a better understanding of the problem and what the machine has installed/saved on it, I would never suggest running defrag or editing the registry.

Michel

Michel is right. It is alot less hassle to clear a disk of unneeded files than to have to rebuild an entire data base because you defragged, clean swept, etc and caused your system to glitch thus losing everything. Also while you are at it make sure you dump your recycle bin on a regular basis. Alot of people forget that the recycle bin is nothing more than another file system on your computer and by putting stuff in it you are only moving files from one folder to another. If you have internet on the computer you are using, clear out the temp files.
BY ANY MEANS necessary BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE DOING ANYTHING.

Tons of freeware optimisers out there (or trialware) Most work real well like system mechanic.
The only time multiple files will really slow you down is if the disc is fragmented and you have very little ram and the program is paging to disc.
Disc drives and dvd burners are cheap , a dvd will hold 4.7 gigs of data and a 200gig usb external HD is mickey mouse compared to the cost of your data , backup programs are free too.(windows has one)
Despite the dire warnings ., modern commercial optimisers/registry cleaners are pretty safe , but if you dont backup in todays world of viruses etc , then if you do run one of these and it glitches , you deserve what you get.
If you get a USB HD + dvd burner you can back up to a hd on site and then still burn dvds and store em elsewhere . so you have both on and off site backups (shop burns down , the onsite backup goes up in flames too)
You might have some adware etc on the puter that is causing slowdowns too, I would suggest updating your spyware and anti virus programs. You might also be loading a lot of rubbish , but something like system mechnic etc will diagnose processes that are consuming resources and allow you to stop loading them if not needed. Check its not a network problem if you are running one.

I know this won't be popular but about once a year I start fresh....reformat my drive and star over. I have an image backup that has the OS on it with the latest drivers. After I put the image on, I immediately run Windows update and the latest virus update then add my important programs. You'd be surprised how much stuff you don't use anymore.
I partition my drive into a C and D and on C, only the OS is installed. All my programs are on D. So, even formatting C keeps the data on D. However, programs still have to be installed.
This is something I suggest for the general public but for those who know they are in control with their system.
All the other suggestions are great and should be done regularly as system maintenance.

I agree with you as I commonly do that too. Then again, I have the skills to do so without any worry of loss of data or the need to spend all day (or week) to rebuild it.

Keeping data separate from your OS is a good thing. I had the most trouble recovering data when it was stored on the same drive as the OS.

Speaking of storing data, you may want to read this article on CD and DVD life spans:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124312,00.asp#

Michel

I found that to be quite a surprise too. I was under the impression they had a very long life.

I immediately thought of all the people who have converted their video tapes to DVD in order to save them from degrading, as well as all the photos being stored on CD.

Your idea is not bad considering the method you are using to back up your data. RAIDing your drives is a good thing. You're actually doing better then I am. I don't always backup every night - and I know better! ;-) 

Michel

It was the back up that saved my butt after the hurricane. I didn't miss 1 invoice or payment and even sent bills from my evacuated room in Baton Rouge to customers throught the states.
I can say that Acronis True Image is awesome but we had trouble using a backup on a different system running Windows 2003 SBS. It seems that the exact motherboard, ram, HD etc are needed for it to re image correctly. No big deal, installed 2003 SBS then everything else. In half a day, I was back up and didn't miss a beat.

I'm not fluent with Acronis, but I used to use Ghost and Drive Image quite a bit.

Drive Image is capable of working over a network or on different drives provided you configure the right settings. Many times I would just boot a machine with a floppy with TCP/IP parameters and grab images from a central location on the network or from a specific server that stored images.

I haven't used Ghost as much as I did 5 years ago, but last time I used the newer version a year ago, I could have sworn I could get it to recognize an external drive as long as the right drivers were installed.

Michel

You can ghost to various "external" media. I have used it to create a set of image CD's. I am sure you can write to an external hard drive.

If you are using the MS backup that comes with WinXP, be careful to pay attention to what you are including in the backup. I have seen the .bkf file reach more than 20gb, which is great if you are moving it to an external drive, but you can not move it to any other media at that size.

Harold

Cody,

No such thing as an ignorant question.

Several things will make a computer run slower. TOO much crap on the hard drive. A drive that is fragmented. SPYWARE will slow down a drive. A corrupt registery.

Too much stuff? Copy what you don't need ON the drive to a cd.

Fragmented? Defrag. XP has a pretty decent utility.

Spyware? PCTools (available for download) has a great program to monitor and delete spyware. The same company also has a program called "Registery Mechanic". I use both and have had no problems. After running registery mechanic, I DID see a noticable difference in performance.

However as I have been told, and as someone has said, the best thing to do is to reformat your hard drive at least ONCE a year and re-install. But of course you will back up or copy any important files to a cd or alternative drive or tape drive.

I hope this helps.

It was great to meet you in Vegas. I'm sorry we did not have more time to chat