I have had XP installed on my machine for 5 years. In the past 6 months I have started doing regular registry cleans. I have uninstalled my old software. What I want to know is why microsoft word opened in one second 5 years ago but takes 10+ now. I am upgrading the RAM but that does not fix the problem it just gives it more space to hide. Please tell me what programs I should use to make the thing run faster or should i just re install xp?
Tagged with: microsoft • microsoft word • old software
Filed under: Windows Repair Software
Now matter what you do or what you use to clean out junk you will never remove all of it. If cleaner programs were too thorough they would remove files and registry entries that may be connected to another program or service thus trashing your operating system.
If it’s been 5 years without reinstalling Windows you have done very well. I usually find it starts to downgrade after 6 to 8 months of heavy use. As your computer gets older everything starts to degrade (Hard Drive, Power supply, etc. so no matter what you do it’s unlikely it will ever be as good as new again.
Lots of junk on the drive. Format and reinstall.
Defrag the hard drive?
When’s the last time you reformatted your hard drive? It sounds to me you have never reformatted? Information on your hard drive is probably fragmented and data is spread everywhere which may explain the delay for software to open. I would recommend backing up your most important documents and pictures and do a clean install. You will feel much better and notice a huge improvement.
Upgrading RAM is good but if you don’t have anything open when trying to open word then it’s not your RAM.
When they get older hard drives can become very fragmented, causing the machine to work more slowly than usual.
Go to Start – Programs – Accessories – System Tools and run the ‘Disk Cleanup’ program.
Then run the ‘Disk Defragmenter’ program in the same menu.
If you are still having trouble, you can either go into add/remove programs and remove any unnecessary programs or programs you are suspicious of.
If all that fails, I would recommend you save all the files you want to keep to a flash drive or CD and reinstall windows on the machine to get a fresh start.
A fresh start can do wonders for and older machine.