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My system has Windows XP installed with 2 GB RAM, and it has been working OK, but since 3 days ago it hangs a lot. I tried deleting the temp (%temp%) files manually, and also used disk cleanup, and tried a system cleaning software as well. I have scanned the complete system for any possible virus or malware, but didn't find anything.

I tried deleting from temp (%temp%). Are there other folders from which I should delete the files or is there anything else I should do?

Please help with any other possible solutions.

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    How old is your system? These random hang could be bad / failing HDD, and/or faulty RAM.
    – Darius
    Commented Nov 12, 2013 at 6:39
  • These may help. Ram test memtest86burn the ISO and let it run over night. Drive test Disk Becnhmark As for virus ESET free online scanner may find what others do not. As for other folders Check system restore size, System -> System protection, the default is 5 - 10% generally more then you need. Can you move Photos, Videos to a Usb ?, Moving everything to usb could be the smart thing to do, just in case
    – mic84
    Commented Nov 12, 2013 at 7:09
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    When does your XP hang? And what exactly do you mean with "my XP hangs"?
    – Werner Henze
    Commented Nov 12, 2013 at 8:45
  • Single malware scan does not always discover the infection. It is best to use multiple tools including offline scans. Either boot a separate OS with an antimalware or connect the disk to a different computer (do not open any files there!) and scan it there.
    – pabouk - Ukraine stay strong
    Commented Nov 12, 2013 at 11:32
  • Since 3 days ago on November 12 puts it into being Windows Update related. November patches are known to resurrect the svchost wrapper issue. Your computer will be sluggish as hell and nearly unresponsive until svchost completes Windows Automatic Update operations.
    – Fiasco Labs
    Commented Nov 17, 2013 at 21:18

5 Answers 5

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Most of the time, PC starts running slow by lots of reasons. Corrupt registry, unnecessary applications, as well as too many start-up items would be the major reasons contributing to this problem. Many PC users simply utilize PC yet never consider how to maintain and optimize PC performance. I would suggest you to download any reliable program to fix registry, to manage unnecessary applications & start-up items like am using Reginout since 2011. Many programs are available in market which can perform these steps, but don't believe on free products. Now its up to you. :-)

Good Luck.

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It might not be an issue with disk space. If you think it is look in the hidden %userprofile%\apps folder. There is also a temp folder under c:\windows

In my experience if the pc start is hanging the first thing to check is the task manager.
Go to the Processes tab, then click view from the menu and select Columns. tick the I/O Read and Write boxes, you might find that something is using the had drive, possibly a virus scanner.

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Just like @werner-henze noted, the best question to ask yourself might not be "why my computer hangs" but "when my computer hangs".

Since you know more or less "when it started", you can try to see what changed since that moment to find the culprit (which might be the result of one of your direct action on your system).

Have you been doing something different (using a new program that is memory-intensive, running something in the background) that you didn't before?

Have installed you something new since it started?

Have you significantly reduced the amount of available disk space ( = Have you added a few Gigas of data on your hard drives ) ?

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Just use CCleaner it will asks which files have to be deleted which are not.And also fix and clean your registry.

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

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Windows XP SP3 with 2GB ram on a single core or early dual core processor is at End Of Life for both the Operating System and the hardware it is running on.

The last Windows XP patches (November) had a glitch that resurrected Windows XP's Windows Update WUAUCLT.EXE svchost wrapper 99% processor usage demon.

This has been an ongoing problem that Microsoft will not be bothered to fix, September Windows XP patches randomly brought the above issue back, October saw an update to Internet Explorer to fix it, a larger quantity began suffering this time around in November.

Basically, when WUAUCLT.EXE (Windows Automatic Update) fires off to check for available updates, it can trigger the svchost.exe wrapper 99% processor usage. You can actually trigger it simply by trying to manually run Windows Update. You can see this in operation by pulling up Task Manager and sorting processes by cpu usage. Look for svchost.exe at 99% and if that's the case, none of the other recommendations here are worth diddly.

Two things to consider, ban your antivirus from scanning Windows Automatic Update related files and folder as per KB822158 and try reapplying the October Internet Explorer MS13-080/KB 2879017 patch manually.

Next Internet Explorer Rollup to fix it was KB2898785 dated for Dec 10, 2013. The SVCHOST 100% CPU issue marches on.

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