Computer is incredibly slow, unresponsive and BSOD's really quick (2.5 ghz cpu 3 GB ram)

[Recurracy]

2.50 GHz processor
3 GB RAM (2 slots)
3 HDD (1 2.5 in. SATA 300 GB, 1 3.5 in. SATA 300 GB, 1 3.5 in. IDE 150 GB), 3.5 inch SATA hdd has 45 GB free space and has never been formatted AFAIK, it's all NTFS
CD/DVD writer
Nvidia GeForce 9500GT
Win XP 32bit

Basically, my computer starts slow, starts programs really slow, freezes programs without even trying, and if I move windows around on the desktop, it just looks like the mouse trail which you can turn on in options except it's for windows. It's also really easy to get a BSOD on it. I'm at wit's end. I'm pretty sure either my CPU or my RAM is damaged pretty badly.

[simonjb]

Check task manager and resource monitor, is a program, process or service using up a lot of memory/cpu?

Have you checked for viruses, unwanted programs, and unused services that might run at start up?

[Recurracy]

Yeah, task manager says it's not even using all of its resources (5 percent). Everything I don't want has been removed from startup.

[editline]20th October 2011[/editline]

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to do a clean install though. I have way too much software 'n shit I don't wanna lose.

[editline]20th October 2011[/editline]

Opening a new tab on Avast! shouldn't use enough resources to make it unresponsive for 5 seconds though.

[simonjb]

True, I use avast because its alot quicker than things like AVG, I've heard of problems like this before, where resource use looks fine and yet the computer is very slow... If I can just remember what caused it...

[editline]20th October 2011[/editline]

Might want to clean your registry, download a registry cleaner, make sure its a safe one however. I recommend you try this: [url]http://download.cnet.com/XP-Registry-Cleaner/3000-2094_4-10796916.html[/url]

Hope this helps!

[Recurracy]

I'll try that as soon as Firefox stops shitting up. I'm still busy on my laptop because something as simple as browsing Facepunch will make everything sluggish.

This is just straightout weird.

[editline]20th October 2011[/editline]

Sweet shit, I tried that but it didn't do much.

Also, I'm really worried about my kernel memory. Out of 130MB, 100MB is being used, with 30 MB not in the random memory... It seems to spike up whenever I start taskmanager.

[Recurracy]

74 views and 8 posts.
I'm just a little annoyed by this, this shit's seriously annoying.

[tratzzz]

Uhh? Tried safe mode? Just in case?

Run Checkdisk etc.
Get MemTest or whatever and check if you RAM is okay.

[Taipan]

And update your GPU drivers just in case.

Did you do annything prior to the problem occuring?

[Recurracy]

I'm not sure anymore. It's too late to find out now anyway, I just formatted my hard drive. I did install two hard drive disks though, but the 2.5 inch one seemed to work like it should.

Though dragging windows across the screen is still really sluggish.

[simonjb]

Faulty RAM or processor or GPU? You should get component testing software maybe?