In the last 2 weeks or so, I've noticed a significant dropoff in my computer's performance. Freezing often, taking forever to open simple programs, etc.

One particularly noticeable problem is that whenever I open itunes and try to play a song, it won't play. For some reason, I have to close out of it and open it a second time. Usually the second time, it will play. I wondered if the problem was related to Itunes, but I've uninstalled it and the computer is still messed up.

I've tried running my anti-virus program, but it takes 3 hours to scan and the computer will lock up before it's through.

So can anyone suggest a good program or website that could help me? Thanks.

MOGHARR wrote:

Do you normally defrag?

Nope, don't think I've ever done that. Could that be the problem?

EDIT: I just went in to the defragmenter, and it looks like the computer has been automatically doing it once per week. So I guess I have been keeping up with my defragmenting, huh.

Ba‘al wrote:

Could be your RAM catching up to your computer, any chance you know how much you have?

Yup I have 2G's of RAM. I don't game or anything though, so I really don't think I should be putting that much strain on it.

Burt Reynolds wrote:

Ice2SeeYou wrote: In the last 2 weeks or so, I've noticed a significant dropoff in my computer's performance. Freezing often, taking forever to open simple programs, etc. One particularly noticeable problem is that whenever I open itunes and try to play a song, it won't play. For some reason, I have to close out of it and open it a second time. Usually the second time, it will play. I wondered if the problem was related to Itunes, but I've uninstalled it and the computer is still messed up. I've tried running my anti-virus program, but it takes 3 hours to scan and the computer will lock up before it's through. So can anyone suggest a good program or website that could help me? Thanks. I had a similar problem with my computer a while back, even the iTunes thing was the same. For me, a couple sectors of my Hard drive went bad screwing up a couple system files and the indexing. run chkdsk in restore mode. It will fix the problems, and I believe, though I'm not positive, it will isolate the bad sectors making them unusable. if your computer Defrags every week, TURN THIS FEATURE OFF!! You do not need to defrafment very often. Doing so will put uneeded strain on your hardrives decreasing their lifespan.

I did like you said and disabled the automatic defrags.

Can you tell me how to do the Check Disk in restore mode?

Thanks for all the help, guys. My computer seems to be doing better now. At the very least, the Itunes thing isn't happening anymore.

Hey guys, still having problems.

I'd like to get an external hard drive to back up all my stuff. Can anyone recommend one (hopefully not too expensive)? Also, is there anything else I need to know or be aware of when getting an external HD? Are they all compatible with any computer? Does it require anything besides a USB cable?

Lottel wrote:

External harddrives usually require a power source too. Portable ones don't. You are too late for cheap ones. Got a 500gb one on Black Friday for $79 or $69. That'll run you about... $120 or so? Should work with any computer. all the ones I've had did. As for brands... I've had three, all different brands. WD, SimpleTech, and something else... SimpleTech was the best so far... Followed by WD. Crappy one was the other one which broke on it's own.

Actually that price range of around $100 is what I was considering to be cheap, so thanks