hey. this might be the wrong place to be asking but i really need help with this PC. Ive had it for like 5 years now and it has been getting slower and slower. It is a P4 with 2.4 GHZ, 256 RAM, and a Geforce 4 mx 420. I have windows XP.

Anyway, i used to be able to play games like Call of duty on High settings but now a days for some reason the computer is so slow and when i try and play COD its so laggy i cant even play, even on the lowest settings. I have NO
IDEA why it has suddenely become so slow, do PC's just eventually get all slow like this?

Yeah so what i wanted help with is just getting my computer back to running smoothly. What ways can i get it running well again? Any help would be great thanks.

-Do you have much harddrive space left? (You probably want 10gig+)
-What is your CPU usage when idle? (should be 0%. Use Task Manager).
-How many processes are you running when idle? (should be less than 30 I'd say)
-go Start/run and type in 'Prefetch' and delete all files in that folder. Then reboot your computer.

All I can think of right now.

Do you have updated anti virus software running? Have you checked for spyware, and with what programs? Bring up Task Manager , Performance Tab, bottom left, Peak Usage. If it's more than 256000K you need more memory fitting. Have you defragged the drive?

Mike.

With Windows XP, 256MB of RAM is a little on the low side... I like to have a minimum of 512MB... with at least 1GB as an ideal. I've never tried 2GB; but then I haven't felt a pressing need for it.

Depending on what other software you're running... 256MB probably isn't cutting it anymore.

I have windows XP 600mb RAm pentium 4 2.4 GHz. I can play Flight Planner with no problems. But to play a simple video on windows media player the pc becomes very slow. A simple 15 sec video will not work. I have been told to look at my video controller. I can not find one on my pc, under the hardware file. how do I fix a video controller if I have none. Or where can I download one?

Oh yea I can play videos that are online with no problem it is just videos I have on my PC

Drivers for your Display Adapter is what they mean... and you do have one, because you wouldn't see anything on your screen if you didn't. It would be a good idea to update both the video and sound drivers if you're having video playback issues. You may also need to download CODECs for Media Player.