Newbie ass tech question

[QuePsiXI]

Insert disclaimer about how simplistic and repetitive this question will be.

Athlon X2 3800
3GB RAM
GeForce 8600? 512MB(One of the nicer ones, but certainly not the best)
Not running Farcry

So based on the specs above(esp. #4), it should be obvious that my PC should be running pretty smoothly. I can and will go look at other threads to see how to maximize FF, so that's not the question.

However, while Alt-Tabbing, while opening windows, while opening Firefox, shit is slow. Also, I wake up about 3 times a month with the computer restarted, and it always happens overnight. And it often tells me it recovered from a serious error. I took it into Circuit City, they saw no hardware problems.

So basically, what I would like from whoeva, is help with what programs to run to clean up whatever might possibly be floating around(I've done the spybot s&d and CA virus check thing just this week), and then what programs to run once I feel like I have a clean system(I don't usually use a firewall but this year I'm not using a router, so I may again). And, what programs that one might think would help that probably will just slow me down(I've heard great things about Norton 360...from people who told me that Obama will release a celebratory rap album).

Thanks in advance.

[Cephius]

Download and run ccleaner - it will delete temporary and unused files on your machine, along with registry entries. This usually is better for getting more disk space, but it may speed you up too.

Symantec Anti-virus is a good, lightweight AV scanner.

Without any more details, it's hard to suggest anything to you. Just FYI though, your best option is to probably reformat your machine and start from scratch.

[Shuemue]

fdisk time

[QuePsiXI]

What more details would help?

[Cephius]

A hi-jack this log, screenshot your task manager showing high CPU/RAM usage, what error codes you are getting would help diagnose the problems.

[Shuemue]

also helpful to know your OS and any service packs installed

[Senoska]

fdisk time

Any PC problems? FDISK IT

[mootsfox]

Another here suggesting reformat time.

[Kohan]

I would like to make an additional suggestion, although you can feel free to ignore this if it seems too complicated.

You should make an additional partition on your HDD for your files, like your documents, MP3s, AVIs and such. This isn't going to give you a performance gain or anything, but if you ever need to format your HDD again, you won't have to back all of that stuff up and then restore it later. This will also make the whole reformatting-in-the-future thing more convenient, as you can stock the other partition full of drivers and program installers, then have them ready and waiting for you when the new Windows install is complete.

Just make sure you have plenty of space on your Windows partition. I have mine set to 10GB to future-proof it, but I install every program possible on a different HDD, and backup select parts of my registry so I don't have to reinstall them all whenever I format. That's an advanced method though, and since most people just let their installs fall into the default Program Files drive (same partition as Windows), you should probably give yourself a lot more space there.