i have thought of reinstalling vista my only query on this is why i need to back up my files prior to this as i only use the pc for emailing and purchasing
1.
Backup Data. You need to backup your personal "data" files or any data you can't afford to lose. Generally you can reload the operating system and application programs from their setup CD/DVDs (or download installation files from Internet).
the fact remains that my pc is very slow i did have thoughts of system restore but the restore points shown are recent and ideally i would like to go back at least 8 months when the pc was running efficiently
2.
System Memory. I would expect a Vista system with only 512 MB of system RAM to be slow. I'm surprised it ever ran "efficiently". Hard disk drive access is "slow". All system access to hard disk drive to read/write data is "slow". You want to minimize number of disk accesses by having enough system RAM so you're not constantly using "virtual memory" of paging file on disk as a swap space. In order to load a new program or data into memory for execution, you're probably having to wait for system to "swap" existing program data out to disk to make room. Having said that, ensure either you're letting Vista handle allocation of paging file (size), or that you've allocated enough space for your expected work loads.
Recommendation: Replace the system memory with the maximum amount motherboard and operating system will support.
3.
Hard Disk. For the file system to work efficiently, you want to check the integrity of the file system on a regular basis and "defrag" it on a regular basis. You also need enough "free" space on the disk to operate efficiently (Never want it to fall below ten percent). A very large new hard drive would also probably help as disk access to data on outer cylinders is twice as fast (or more) than access to the inner cylinders. So of course with your minimal storage needs, your programs and data would be in the outer cylinders.
4.
File System(s). Check the integrity of the file system(s) and "defrag" them on a regular basis. I'm not familiar with "Vista". On Windows XP the "chkdsk" utility was used to verify the integrity - not sure what it's called in Vista. Use the Vista built-in defrag software or better yet third party software. I prefer
MyDefrag v4.2.7.
Recommendation. Verify file system integrity first, then defrag it. A badly "fragmented" file system will noticeably affect computer performance.
5.
Startup Programs. Almost every application you install thinks it's the most important piece of software you'll ever own, and schedules itself to start automatically at system startup/boot so it will be ready to serve you. Most of these should only be loaded when you need to use them (some security software excepted). Temporarily disable their startup to see if you can recover the "zip" your computer used to have.
If this helps, many of those programs have a configuration page that will permit you to disable their automatic startup. Or there is third party software available to control system startups.
Shhh... The following was "stolen" erh... borrowed from Broni:
Go Start>Run (Start Search in Vista), type in:
msconfig
Click OK (hit Enter in Vista).
Click on Startup tab.
Click Disable all
Click Services tab.
Put checkmark in Hide all Microsoft services
Click Disable all.
Click OK.
Restart computer in Normal Mode.
NOTE. If you use different firewall, than Windows firewall, turn Windows firewall on, just for this test, since your regular firewall won't be running.
If you use Windows firewall, you're fine.
6.
Process Explorer. Download and unzip latest version of
Process Explorer from SysInternals (now owned by Microsoft). Run the executable to see what is running on your system and how many resources (CPU, memory) each is consuming.
