Topic: Pc skips doing everything.

[mindshift]

I've tried everywhere and everything to try to fix this. And I am in no ways an amature in computers. My problem is that everything skips in my PC even though i have decent hardware. For example: my TV program skips about 1 frames every second. Even the selection box in explorer skips when i drag a box. Its the same in my games. Freespace 2 and Half-life also show these signs. I would think it was my hardware's age if it wasnt the fact that EVERY application skips at the same rate and same ammount. Here are my specs:
Windows XP Pro SP1
1.7 ghz Celeron
GeForce 4 MX420 4x AGP w/64mb DDR memory
Kworld PCI TV card
9 GB HDD and a 2 GB HDD
intel motherboard
 
These skipps have occoured in the past month. When i removed my 2 gb HDD the skips stopped, but now they have returned. I can't give you a full PC description because i built it myself with a barebone kit.
 
Thanks!

[Simon]

Hi Mindshift and  

Strictly as a non-techie, I think the first thing I would do in this instance is check for spyware or viruses.  Have you had a look in the Task Manager to see if something is running heavy on resources?

We usually recommend Ad Aware, and Spybot, as good (free) spyware scanners / removers.

Hopefully a proper techie will be able to help you, if that suggestion is no good.  

[mindshift]

i removed all spyware and it still happenes. And i dont have any major processes running. Never the less it always happenes at a constant rate. which stil leads me to the HDD becuse it is the only thing that is accessed by windows on a constant basis (ex. pagefile). but i know the issue isnt space kuz i got 4 gb free. im at a loss. any help would be apriciated.

[mindshift]

i found the problem  !

turns out my parallel 250 zip drive was causing the problem. i just figured that the fact it was on the parallel port that it wouldnt do much system wise. But thanks for the warm welcome and il be shure to help in the future!

[Sandra]

Glad to hear that you sorted it mindshift, I have been looking on the microsoft knowledge base without any success