too much HDD activity

[patkim]

My office laptop has 1 GB RAM Win XP SP3 & 80 GB HDD.
I notice that quite frequently even the routine tasks like net browsing, clicking on start button, explorer operations etc cause too much of HDD activity and that keeps slowing down the system.. Office Admin folks say it’s an OS issue.

Page file is set at 1.5 GB and both partitions are at least 60% free.
What could be the possible reason

[krishnandu.sarkar]

What about virus?? Which antivirus do u use?? Monitor the processes tat r running.

[Tech.Masti]

Update antivirus, check msconfig for some strange filename

[jal_desai]

See if your Task Manager shows some weird program/service running. Use CCleaner to remove junk files. Use only the most required Startup programs/services using msconfig utility.

[RazorbladeXtreme]

With 1 GB RAM and Win XP, I won't be using pagefile. Excessive pagefile really kills the hard disk life.

If you are using firefox, then I think you are having same problem as me. My firefox even with 2-3 tabs open, starts taking as much as 180+ Mb in RAM and 480+ mb in pagefile, my speed dies.

[speedrider_100]

What happens in safe mode/safe mode with networking (for internet connection)
-> Check in advance clean boot state
Start-run-msconfig- GENERAL TAB- check -> selective startup-> Uncheck - Load startup items, SERVICES TAB -> Check Hide all Microsoft services- Disable all, Apply ok, restart and check. Post the output..
-> Disconnect any external devices and check.,