QUESTION: For the last several days my Windows XP PC slows down after 5-10 minutes without a message, especially when I try to burn something to disc. I get an extremely slow level of performance and the cursor hardly moves. I am not able to shut down the system properly, I have to turn it off using the power switch. I also get a few beep sounds afterwards. My hard drive is pretty new, I installed it approximately five month ago, everything worked just fine until the last several days. What can be the reason?
Daniel Kahala
ANSWER: You may have installed the hard drive on the same IDE control cable as your CD burner. Most PCs have two control ribbon cables, and for the best performance, your disk drive should be on one cable, and your DVD/CD drives should be on the other one. That way, your computer can simultaneously read from the disk and write to the CD.
Another possibility is that uninvited programs have infested your PC and are consuming its resources! Make sure you have active anti-spyware protection, as freeware scanners only catch things after the fact. A good one to try is the beta of Microsoft's AntiSpyware, a free download from www.microsoft.com, and good through July 31, 2006.
Nerds On Site Support Team and Globetechnology.com
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