i highly doubt your ram is causing the slow downs
because it was running fine uptill a few weeks ago
but
like badhq said
with start ups, less is more
not only do you want to disable all start up items
but you also want to limit the services as well
open up msconfig and click the services tab
down at the bottom theres a box that says hide all microsoft services
check that box, and hit the disable all button to the right of it
windows runs best with 20 or less programs running in the background
if you have an anti virus program installed (which you should) go back, find the boxes for that service and check those again
hit OK and restart
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now also another thing that might be causing some problems is windows its self
how long have you been running on this current install of windows?
i like to reformat every few months, cause im a speed whore, i like windows to run as fast as possible
if youve been running for longer than 6 months, id recommend a simple reformat
because it was running fine uptill a few weeks ago
but
like badhq said
with start ups, less is more
not only do you want to disable all start up items
but you also want to limit the services as well
open up msconfig and click the services tab
down at the bottom theres a box that says hide all microsoft services
check that box, and hit the disable all button to the right of it
windows runs best with 20 or less programs running in the background
if you have an anti virus program installed (which you should) go back, find the boxes for that service and check those again
hit OK and restart
_______________________________________________________________________________
now also another thing that might be causing some problems is windows its self
how long have you been running on this current install of windows?
i like to reformat every few months, cause im a speed whore, i like windows to run as fast as possible
if youve been running for longer than 6 months, id recommend a simple reformat