Question: I’m running windows XP and I’ve noticed it has become quite sluggish in the past few months. ?
Background: I have suspected a few programs, but I haven’t found anything conclusive. ?By viewing my CPU and memory usage history (using process explorer) I don’t think either of them are to blame. ?I’m thinking that accessing the HDD is taking up a lot of time. ?I have noticed that operations that require reading a lot of files (such as launching a large application with many dlls to load), and also switching between running applications take particularly long.
Is there a way I can test my hard drive to see if its performing where it should be?
CPU: dual core 2.8 GHzMemory: 4GBHDD: 160 GB, WD Raptor 7200, with 2 partitions: ?partion C: 45 GB total – 2.3 free ?(used for XP and program files) ?partion D: 103 GB total – 25 free ?(used for all other other files, i.e. all my source code) ?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Edit: Tried ?using HD Tune Benchmark and here are my results.HD Tune: ST3160812AS Benchmark
Transfer Rate Minimum : 2.9 MB/secTransfer Rate Maximum : 73.7 MB/secTransfer Rate Average : 54.7 MB/secAccess Time ?: 17.7 msBurst Rate ?: 137.2 MB/secCPU Usage ?: 5.6%
Answer: I would suggest downloading CCleaner and Defraggler (both free)
CCleaner
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CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! 🙂
Defraggler
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Use Defraggler to defrag your entire hard drive, or individual files – unique in the industry. This compact and portable Windows application supports NTFS and FAT32 file systems.
Auslogics Disk Defrag
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Disk Defrag is a vital maintenance tool that will improve your PC’s performance by defragmenting and re-arranging files on your disk.
Both will fully optimize your computer, then you can start looking into programs etc