Sluggish performance

[nickster]

My programs will "hang" usually while I switch to another program. Tab switching in I.E. , for example - the tab i switch to will take a few second to change to "in focus" color and a few more seconds to be visually "above" the other tabs; Some programs will be considered as "not responding" temporarily while waiting for time slices or resources while the system is busy doing other tasks.

Visually on screen, parts of program windows will be drawn as the system is busy performing more important functional tasks and thethe rest of the windows will be drawn, sometimes slowly enough that it is clearly seen drawing the window from top to bottom (sometimes finishing the visuall window takes 4-5 seconds)

This happens even if IE is not open. No scan (I use A-squared malware, free edition of AVG, Ad-aware, WinPatrol, and Zone Alarm) have shown nothing that would cause this. This is a situation which started regularly being the case about 1 month ago.

I have xp profess., 512 MB Ram expandable to 2 GB

I know more RAM would definitely help, but what else could be the cause?

Thanks in advance

Nick

[Irene]

Have you tried clearing out the tempory files etc.?

CCleaner does a good job. Here is a free download if you don't already have it.

CCleaner Download

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Use Task Manager, tab Performance, to see how much actual memory you are using. If all your 512MB are taken up, then switching between programs will have to write the current's program's memory to the page file, and read the switched program's memory from the page file. This can take a long time, and result in exactly what you are seeing.

You should try to reduce memory usage as much as possible; start with cleaning your start-up program from unused/unnecessary items. One of the easiest tools for this is Startup Inspector; use 'Consult' to get information on each startup item. Uncheck the ones you don't need.

If you are unsure about certain items, don't hesitate to ask here.

Irene's recommendation to use CCleaner is certainly good, although it may not help to reduce RAM usage.

[nickster]

Have you tried clearing out the tempory files etc.?

CCleaner does a good job. Here is a free download if you don't already have it.

CCleaner Download

I didn't mention that I do use CCleaner every other day. It's thorough

[nickster]

Use Task Manager, tab Performance, to see how much actual memory you are using. If all your 512MB are taken up, then switching between programs will have to write the current's program's memory to the page file, and read the switched program's memory from the page file. This can take a long time, and result in exactly what you are seeing.

You should try to reduce memory usage as much as possible; start with cleaning your start-up program from unused/unnecessary items. One of the easiest tools for this is Startup Inspector; use 'Consult' to get information on each startup item. Uncheck the ones you don't need.

If you are unsure about certain items, don't hesitate to ask here.

Irene's recommendation to use CCleaner is certainly good, although it may not help to reduce RAM usage.

Thanks; I will get Startup Inspector