> my desk top is a Dell from 2003. my computer is running very slow.
It's Windows, that all do that :-}
> I've noteced under the control panel where the Add and Remove programs
> is there is a big empty space that takes up most the room in there.
> I believe this is one of many reasions my computer is running slow.
Although it sounds a little odd, I doubt that is the "cause" of it
being slow.
Do us a favour, and press CTRL-ALT-DEL and see how many processes you
have running when you first boot up - it should range from about 32
(lean mean fighting machine) to 50+ (mine has about 52)
Those processes all take up processor time, and it may be an
accumulation of various bits of junk you may have installed /
uninstalled over the years that have slowly dragged it down.
Possibly one of the best things you could do at the moment might be to
run HijackThis to get a full list of processes you could post here
(select the "do a system scan and save the logfile" option to be able
to cut and paste the results)
Do you have a virus checker running / have you run any anti-spyware
utilities lately / defragged the hard drive* / checked for rootkits ?
* before you defrag clutter and waste time, run Crap Cleaner
(ccleaner.com) to flush out the browser caches etc.
I've got links to free and afaik trusted apps (I use them!) on my site
over at
http://www.coreutilities.co.uk that might give you some other
pointers...
You can download HijackThis* over at hijackthis.de (and you can also
paste the results into an online form they have there, just take the
report with a pinch of salt, as it doesn't know every program that
might be in use)
* there's a newer version of HijackThis, but the report functionality
was crap in comparison to the site above ! (it was bought by Trend
Micro)
Linear Mode
