Sorry if this is the wrong board for this but Im a first time poster and need help. My PC runs some games pretty much perfectly but about every 2 minutes or so it will just really slow down almost as if it is lagging. It even does it sometimes when Im just listening to music. I'll try to scroll down to change the song but the cursor goes very slow for a minute. I can tell you a little about my PC specs but Im not sure what you guys need but here are some I have. Its a Compaq Intel Pentium 4 1500 MHz, 512MB RAM, Page File: 312MB used 937MB available, DirectX 9.0, NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 400, Integrated RAMDAC, Approx. Total Memory 32.0 MB. Now I know the 32MB is low but some games say it only requires 32 so I really have no clue whats wrong. Some people suggested it was overheating but I cooled it off for a long time and still no results. I can't afford a new computer for a little while so any add on suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you if you can help.

what operating system do you have? when was the last time you defragged you hard drive?

go to start > run > all programs > accessories > system tools > disk defragmenter > click 'analyze', and if it wants to defrag, let it. (the analyze option is only in windows 2k up, so if you have something older, let me know)

Let's start there, then we can run some apps that will clean the machine up and we'll also check for malware.

thanks,

v

what games are you trying to play? also, have you ever cleaned hte dust out of your computer, and out of the processors heatsync?