System continually being accessed

[Bear]

I have had my system for 6 months now: Windows XP with
512 ram and Intel 2.4 gig CPU. All has been fine up until
3 weeks ago. After a recent install, I noticed that icons
took longer to snap into view, programs took longer to
run and there is an infernal noise of the system either
accessing the hard drive or cpu (forgive my ignorance
here)whether I am doing something or not. Often it is
like a the ticking of a clock.

I have checked the hard drive and all is well, I have
loaded the same set of software, and all other bits work
fine.

I deleted all partitions and started from scratch, but
the same. What could it be?

PS I know I am clutching at straws but I did change the
BIOS on my ASUS P4PE - cold this be the problem?

[Gail]

What did you install at that point that made the system slow

Have you looked at your task manager and determined what you are actually
running? Do you have a Firewall and AV? HAve you scanned your computer to rule
out a virus?



"Bear" > wrote in message
...
> I have had my system for 6 months now: Windows XP with
> 512 ram and Intel 2.4 gig CPU. All has been fine up until
> 3 weeks ago. After a recent install, I noticed that icons
> took longer to snap into view, programs took longer to
> run and there is an infernal noise of the system either
> accessing the hard drive or cpu (forgive my ignorance
> here)whether I am doing something or not. Often it is
> like a the ticking of a clock.
>
> I have checked the hard drive and all is well, I have
> loaded the same set of software, and all other bits work
> fine.
>
> I deleted all partitions and started from scratch, but
> the same. What could it be?
>
> PS I know I am clutching at straws but I did change the
> BIOS on my ASUS P4PE - cold this be the problem?

[Bear]

Thanks Gail,

I used NOD32 antivirus software, Sygate firewall and a
program that scans for Trojans because that is what I
thought immediately. All proved negative. What I thought
was that it could still be a virus but my system can pick
it up.

Everything that ran before is running now. There may be
more fundamental settings that I cannot see. Could it be
a chip problem? I don't know.

Is there any course of action you could recommend. Do I
take it into a pro to look at or are there utilities that
can do some identifying for me?


>-----Original Message-----
>What did you install at that point that made the system
slow
>
>Have you looked at your task manager and determined what
you are actually
>running? Do you have a Firewall and AV? HAve you
scanned your computer to rule
>out a virus?
>
>
>
>"Bear" > wrote in message
...
>> I have had my system for 6 months now: Windows XP with
>> 512 ram and Intel 2.4 gig CPU. All has been fine up
until
>> 3 weeks ago. After a recent install, I noticed that
icons
>> took longer to snap into view, programs took longer to
>> run and there is an infernal noise of the system either
>> accessing the hard drive or cpu (forgive my ignorance
>> here)whether I am doing something or not. Often it is
>> like a the ticking of a clock.
>>
>> I have checked the hard drive and all is well, I have
>> loaded the same set of software, and all other bits
work
>> fine.
>>
>> I deleted all partitions and started from scratch, but
>> the same. What could it be?
>>
>> PS I know I am clutching at straws but I did change the
>> BIOS on my ASUS P4PE - cold this be the problem?
>
>
>.
>