PC dying?

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Need advice on my next steps, please. For last several days while I boot up, the lights in my A and CD drive light up and then go off (I frankly don’t remember if this happens ‘normally’) the 2 lights on the CPU stay on for over half an hour. The Desktop appears normal but when I click a shortcut, nothing happens. The hourglass may appear and then nothing. I have to sometimes do a cold boot to be able to use computer.

I have run my antivirus, malware,adware ccleaner and rootkit programs. Still had to do a cold boot and wait and wait before I was able to click on a file and get to work.

(When clicking Mozilla in Taskbar, took 5 minutes for it to open)

I did a System Restore this morning –not an improvement. Only now 45 minutes after I turned on the PC did the 2nd light on my Dell go out.

Are these signs of an ailing PC or is there something I can do to prolong its life (it’s c. 4 years)

Thank you very much.

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Thank you much. Shall investigate re-installing, though it sounds a tad beyond me.

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Original Reply:

I highly suspect this isn’t a problem with your hardware. In all liklihood, you’ve simply hit the limit on a typical windows installation.

Long story short, Windows doesn’t handle files very well. Later versions do a fair job better than previous versions did, but they all have issues cleaning up parts, and keeping things tidy. This is basically because windows sometimes loses track of the files it creates. This often creates a condition where it doesn’t remove the files it no longer needs. It’s simply a matter of time before the performance of your PC takes a hit as it tries to cope with them all.

If you’ve managed to get 4 years out of it, you’ve done pretty well. I’d highly recommend that you do a clean install of Windows. Doing so should make your system hum like new again. If a clean install is out of the question, you can try using a program like Registry Mechanic to clear the registry of un-used trash. This often has a marked affect on performance, but does not work as well as a clean install would.

Note that a clean install requires you to back up your important files. Also, repairing the installation won’t have the desired effect, as it won’t remove the temporary files that are likely cluttering up your system directories.

In my experience, it’s easiest to simply add another hard-drive (for non-laptop PCs), designate the new hard-drive as primary, and do a clean installation of windows onto it. You can then have access to the old hard-drive as your secondary, and use it to migrate over any files you’d like. It’s a bit more complicated if you have a laptop, but not impossible.

Hope this helps!

Thank you much. Shall investigate re-installing, though it sounds a tad beyond me.

I made some edits during your reply – definitely check those out if you get a sec.

As for the level of difficulty, I’d put it as above average. Dell makes the process somewhat easier by making it relatively painless to restore the system using the CDs they provide. You can also likely get some help with the process by calling their support department. They haven’t been too horrible in my experience.

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Thanks again.

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