I gave up playing games on my computer because I was having so many problems. Well it's been about 6 months and I really miss my games so decided to ask if there is any hope for my computer. I'm using XP, Home Edition, version 2, Service Pack 3.

I've been using my laptop almost exclusively for about a year, so I removed most of the junk on my PC. The cache has been cleaned and the PC works fine other than the gaming problem. It takes forever to load and then once I start a game, it's jumpy, bogs down and sometimes just outright refuses to play (even old games that used to play OK.) Any suggestions for a quick fix by a non-tech minded user?

Defrag the drives. Try a utility program to clean the registry and system startup programs. Spybot Search and Destroy can do this.

Does your computer have the necessary RAM, video card etc. to play games? You don't mention what kind of problems you were having....

EDIT: Oops! Why, yes you did!

Games are often the most demanding software people use on their computers.


That could be due to the copy "protection" if you're using games on CD or DVD. As the CD/DVD drive gets older, it may have more difficulty reading through the copy "protection" and it may have to go through extra passes before it allows the game to start. Also if you have an antivirus that scans the CD/DVD drive before it allows you to use it, that will also slow the startup.


It would be good to know which games. Some recent games have fairly low system requirements, while some "older" ones have fairly high requirements.

An antivirus can cause games to run slowly. If the antivirus is scanning everything the game is doing, that will slow it down (especially if the computer is borderline on system requirements). Of course if you have malware (viruses, adware, spyware, etc.) running on your computer, they'll be using up your computer's resources too.

It would be useful to know your computer's specs -- especially the video card. If it's borderline, and you have extra software running in the background that doesn't need to be running, then you could try disabling some of it.

Thanks for all the input. Like I said, I'm not very tech knowledgeable and I suspect I may need to reallocate my computer's resources. Perhaps I've reduced a setting somewhere that is causing it to be so slow.

It takes forever to open anything (not just games). I disabled antivirus and spysweeper software when I switched to the laptop. Intended to use PC just for games.

I have an NVIDIA card that has always been more than ample for gaming in the past. Perhaps I should see if the driver needs updated (?)

Jenny100, I discovered the antivirus slowdown a long time ago. Started temporarily shutting it off while downloading and playing games and it solved the problem at that time. This current slowdown doesn't seem to be the same problem.

Maybe I should just take it to the local office supply store that offers computer checkups???? Does anybody know if those checkups are a racket to get you to buy a bunch of stuff you don't need?

Scarlet. Do you have an Office Depot near you? They offer free diagnostics. I was told by them that if they find something wrong and you are able to fix it yourself, that is fine. Maybe others have comments about this.

I have been wanting Bill to take his XP computer there as his will freeze up if he just leaves it on and doesn't use it. It is sometimes slow also.

Bets

You could check in dxdiag to see if hardware (graphics) acceleration has been turned off. If this were a laptop, you could check to see if it was set to Power Saving instead of Performance.


If it's slow to open programs that don't use a disc check for copy "protection," it's not likely to be a problem with the CD/DVD drive.


Did you take the computer offline before you did that? If not, it's possible it picked up a virus or some other malware off the Internet.


If the computer used to work OK with the same games and the same drivers, it's probably not a driver problem.


They could probably check it for malware. If you have malware installed, it can prevent antivirus and antimalware programs from detecting it, so the hard drive has to be checked from another computer or from booting off a CD with malware scanning on it -- something like the Kaspersky Rescue Disc.

Depending on how old this computer (and its Windows install) is, it may just be a matter of files becoming corrupt over time.

Since this computer is only for games, I'd recommend a reinstall of Windows. It's the quickest and most sure way of getting rid of malware, as well as repairing any Windows files or registry entries that have become corrupt. Do you have a restore CD -- or at least a restore partition on your hard drive? If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, they could probably do it for you at the office supply store as long as you have either the restore CD or partition.