Why is my machine slowing down?

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Hey Leo, I just have a question for you.
Recently I've played a game called 'Tron 2.0' and found that as soon as I hit certain parts of the game, the sound quality dropped instantly to about a 65kbps (crackles in the background) and the sound itself sounded like it was being played slowly on a recordplayer...long and drawn out. I eventually ignored it, despite multiple restarts by my computer and as I beat the game, I never thought much else of it until now.
I was listening to a .flac file within winamp when the sound slowed down again, accompanied by the system restart. I have had absolutely no results in obtaining help from anyone thus far.
I do have a problem with installing directx though...I have version 9.0b, but any time I try to install any version now to update it (or even downgrade to upgrade again), it always skips the install and automatically tells me that the intstallation is complete. I have a feeling the two issues are related, but I am not entirely certain. The thought is there that I may have a cooling issue, but I seriously doubt that as well. As for the game, i've run it at the lowest visual settings all the way up to the highest and it's not had any effect either. I'm almost at my wits end about this. Is there anything you maybe be able to throw my way in terms of advice?

Hi Leo
I have the exact same problem as many of the other ppl have posted on your pages. Windows Media player 10 has started for some unknown reasonover the last few days using near on 100% of my CPU. It goes back to normall soon after I shut the program. I cant remove this program as it is now part of Win XP, Fed up now, I see from surfing the net for a soultion that many other peps have this problem too. Any ideas how to clear this up once and for all?
Cheers CS

hello
The other day my computer froze i had to shut it down with my main power switch at the back of my computer shuting windows xp down cold. when i went to start it up a couple of hours later it asked me what mode i wanted to start windows in i chose last stored settings. And now it takes windows forever to load and same with all other programs. Can you help me

Hi Leo:

I am very impressed by your answer and the time taken to answer it. It is very appreciated.
You must have a lot of patience to do it every week. I am a retired accountant, and especially during tax time, I was very hard to live with.

As a matter of curiosity, how do you make your living? I know that it is none of my business,
but it would be interesting to know.

Take care, and thanks again.

Regards - Ray Hall

I just built a new computer and it is running great, most of the time. When I try running those larger programs or installinng certain things, it slows almost to the point of freezing. For example, media player will play music but wont slows/freezes when i try a movie. I have all the drivers for the computer installed. I know its not a memory problem because I have 1G DDR. When I use to do the same with 256k, and I have just reformatted the hard drive to it is barebones. I am stuck! Please help.

For those of you who are looking to fix the problem where your CPU rages at 100% when you use any element of Windows Media Player or any other music/video program, here you go.

Try to update your BIOS.

I have a Dell (do not throw things at me) Inspiron 1100, and when I would run Rhapsody or WMP, the other programs would come to a grind. I never thought to update the BIOS, but when someone told me, I tried it, and Blammo! no more stuttering or frozen programs.

Wheee.

i dont know if this is helpful or not...but i just thought..for those ppl whose windows media player runs at about 100% try and check if ur running any additional plugins in the background and check ur sound adaptors e.g if u got more graphic equalizerzz they sorta hog ur CPU, and if u like get rid of visuliazations for plugins go to View>plugins>options and tick dem off..hope it helpz

J

Problem with windows media player: using 183.000k

or more. it takes 5 minutes for me to minimize a program!!! I have 500 ram!!

windows media player has always been slow but never past 60 for me.

Here are my questions:

-how do I update Bios?

-Should lime wire be taking up 50 to 58.000 k?

Thanks you for your time
Andrew

well you have slime wire say no more.. I on the other hand have a event viewer process hogging my cpu WHY?

Found the solution that solved the problem immediately:(you may have to restart the computer and then do this)

Use Classic Windows Folders
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Appearance and Themes, and then click Folder Options (or double-click the Folder Options icon).
3. On the General tab, click Use Windows classic folders.
4. Click OK.

It starts working normally as soon as you do it.

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