dell dimension 2400 running sluggish

[WatermelonBonkers]

I have this fairly new (2 months old) dell dimension 2400. 2.2 ghz p4, 256 ram, win xp pro and it is running kinda funny. When i goto the "start menu" and then "all programs" the menu fades in really slow. Also, it runs a lot of MS office apps at once,so soetimes it might have outlook, word, access and publisher open at the same time. But I've run all of those at once on an 600 mhz with 256 ram and gotten better performance. And it doens't happen all the time but enough to cause me concern. This is a work computer and i need it to run top-notch. What do you guys think? RAM problem? Powers supply problem? (it did act alittle funny just now but i haven't been able to reproduce the error) CPU problem?

 

[mechBgon]

I would start by adding another 256MB or 512MB of memory. Here's Crucial's guaranteed-compatible modules to help with that: link

Beyond that, do a rigorous antivirus scan using the latest antivirus definitions, with heuristics at maximum detection. Next, scan for spyware using AdAware 6 or Spybot Search & Destroy (link for AAW6 and link for Spybot S&D). If you need antivirus software to scan with, you can download a 15-day trial of Norton Antivirus 2004 from here. It being WinXP, you should disable System Restore before scanning and delete all the SR files, and if it were me, I'd leave it off.

You can also choose to maximize the GUI performance, which disables all the animation junk. It would be a good idea to do a full defragmentation of your hard drive too. Hope some of that helps you out! By the way, is this computer part of an Active Directory domain?

 

[dude]

Check your video drivers. Try to update or reinstall them.

Also, try turning off the fancy features of windows xp.

 

[dude]

Make sure DMA is enabled for your hard drives. Sometimes, they get disabled for odd reasons...

Ensure you have the latest intel chipset drivers from intel.com. I forget what they call them... but a simple search will find them on intel's site.

 

[WatermelonBonkers]

Well I did try turning off all that extra animation stuff..it seems ok now but it really irks me considering there is an identical workstation sitting right next to it, running all the same programs, minus publisher, and its completely fine! but I will still try updating the video drivers and the mobo drivers as well.

 

[Horsepower]

I got a new Dell 8250 a few months ago for the office and it wasn't any faster than what I replaced UNTIL I install Intel Application Accelerator and tweaked the hard drive NOT to be quiet. Now it works like a gig faster rig should.