Computer getting bogged down

[supremespleen]

It took me like, five minutes for my computer to shut down yesterday. Anymore stuff takes ages to open, too. If I run any CPU intensive games, my computer barely wants to do anything afterward.
It's about four years old, and I think I'm due for a backing up and purging, but is there anything I can do to lube up my computer and increase its response time in the meantime? I've tried defragging and running crap cleaner to no avail.

[Hyperion5182]

Spyware hunters would be a good start.

Upgrading parts as well.

[Moseph]

Ctrl + Alt + Delete and check how many processes are running. I'm not sure what a normal number is for other people, but I have 38 running right now. If the number is really high, it might help to get rid of some of those processes.

Disabling startup programs can lower the process count -- Go to Start Menu > Run ... and type MSCONFIG in the box that comes up. The system config utility will appear -- go to the startup tab, Google all the startup items that are checked, and then uncheck the ones you don't think you need to have run on startup. Then go to the services tab, check "Hide All Microsoft Services," Google what's left, and turn off what you don't need.

[phill]

Well your cleaning things up, might as well run disk clean up (\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools) on your c:\. When the disk cleanup window is open, pop over to the More Options tab and clean up the System Restores. Not only do they take up alot of space, if you aren't having major issues now having more then the last one isn't going to help.

Depending on how much and what type of crap is laying around, this might also help.

[supremespleen]

Did the processes and some of the system cleanup. I can free up like, 9 gigs by compressing "old files." Not sure if I want to do that though. How does it affect them and if I need to use them? What does it compress?

[phill]

I wouldn't bother with compressing old files.

[supremespleen]

I wouldn't bother with compressing old files.Hmm. Alright. This has helped some. If anyone has any other advice it is greatly appreciated.