Running extremely slow

[xyphoid]

Hey guys im really new here and need some help on my brother's laptop.

Here's the problem
When my brother first got the lap top it ran fine everything was running fast and it hadWindows home edition installed.
5 months later I notice one day that everything is running slow. It took like 15 seconds just to open my computer !!! My brother was running 56k for a while with no firewall so a virus could have got on the computer but im unsure about that.
The next week I install windows xp pro edition SP1 I had lying around. I chose the upgrade option when installing. It turns out that the computer ran even slower in the new opperating system. Then I decided to change the System Configuration Utility to diagnostic mode and everything worked like it was when I bought it but I couldnt use any other software because diagnostic mode only runs necescary files to boot.
Now Im at the point where I have no idea what to do !!!
The closest thing in my mind to do is to defragment the hard drive but I dont know how to do that. I was also wondering when installing Windows Xp SP1 Pro can I just install over everything starting from scratch???
If you have any other idea that might fix the problem plz feel free to reply.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies

 

[Time2mod]

Originally posted by xyphoid
My brother was running 56k for a while with no firewall so a virus could have got on the computer but im unsure about that.

Have you actually run an anti-virus, then? Make sure you do.

Originally posted by xyphoid
The closest thing in my mind to do is to defragment the hard drive but I dont know how to do that.

Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Sytem Tools -> Disk Defragmenter

However, defragging is overrated. You may see some difference, but I doubt it'll be much.

Originally posted by xyphoid
I was also wondering when installing Windows Xp SP1 Pro can I just install over everything starting from scratch???

Yes, you sure can. You may want to if there's nothing too awfully important on there. But first, you should go down the usual checklist:

Run an antivirus program that has updated virus defintions.
Run AdAware 6.0 or some other Spyware/Adware/Malware seeking proggie.
See how many proggies are starting up when he starts the PC. To do that, you need to go to the run option on the Start Button, type msconfig, and hit the Startup tab. Don't go off unchecking things you never heard of though.

I'm willing to bet that those things will help you right along.

 

[xyphoid]

Thanx a whole lot Time2mod and ill be looking into what you have suggested. I have run adaware 6.0 and it still ran the same speed. I haven't tried running a virus scan yet but ill go do the housecall.antivirus.com free one on the net.
And When i said I dont know how to defragment, I meant to say I dont know how to reformat Lolz.

Also when shutting down the lap top I always get an non responsive program called wms idle. I am wondering what this is and how to disable it If i should.

 

[ameoba]

It could just be that your brother installed software that sucks & starts up a resource-hogging systray app or background service...