Windows XP Computer Overall Slow, Freezing & Locking Up.

The transfer mode for your hard drive is fine.

The only issue I see is that for the time that MSE is updating, your mom's PC slows down. And then when the update is finished, the performance is fine.

She can choose to live with the initial slow performance (which will improve once the update is finished) or you can install extra RAM so that the PC runs better during those times MSE updates.

Another option is to let the PC run 24/7 and schedule MSE updates to occur only during the wee hours of the morning (if that's possible).

The top three processes are as follows: System Idle Process: 99 CPU. firefox.exe: 02 CPU. plugin-container.exe: 00 CPU. firefox.exe: 145,012 Memory Usage. MsMpEng.exe: 26,108 Memory Usage. plugin-container.exe: 20,964 Memory Usage. And again, the numbers keep changing. I know you said don't worry about it. It's normal. But I just wanted to let you know. I turned off and disabled indexing. My mom's computer has 2 Primary IDE Channels and 2 Secondary IDE Channels. The one Primary and one Secondary IDE Channel says in the Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable. The second Primary IDE Channel says in the Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5 in Device 0. In Device 1, it says, Not Applicable. The second Secondary IDE Channel says in the Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 2 in Device 0. In Device 1, it says Ultra DMA Mode 2 too.

Ok. I will do this today at some point. The top three processes. Turning off and disabling indexing. And, determine if my mom's hard drive transfer mode has slipped from DMA to PIO.

Ok. Thanks! Anything else you want to talk about besides the video thing?

The biggest bottleneck for you is (or was) your lack of RAM (physical memory). Then again, now that you have uninstalled Norton and replaced it with MSE, you might be okay. You can re-do the Task Manager exercise. This time only the top THREE processes for BOTH CPU and Mem Usage. Simply click CPU (probably two clicks) so that the highest numbers are at the top. Then click Mem Usage (probably two clicks) so that the highest numbers are at the top.

Also, if you have not done so already, you really should turn off and disable indexing:

http://lifehacker.com/031440/turn-off-indexing-and-speed-up-windows-xp

Finally, let's determine if your hard drive transfer mode has slipped from DMA to PIO.

Follow these instructions:

http://forums.vso-software.fr/how-to-check-enable-dma-transfers-in-windows-xp-t2796.html

When you see the window below, does it say something like "Ultra DMA Mode 5" next to Current Transfer Mode?

http://albums.photoonweb.com/phil/forum_dma/ideprops.PNG

If so, that is good! If it says PIO. let us know.