Hi
My computer at work feels very slow on pretty much every task. Video and audio are lagging and when I try to compile through visual studio it's usually freeze for almost a minute. When I tried to speak to the IT-support deparment they told me it was all fine without bother to look at it (busy or lazy I dunno). Now I was thinking to run a test to see if anything is broken. How should I go ahead? I was thinking that there might be some software I can download that tells me how the machine is performing relative to it's declared specification.

Anybody knows?


Thanks

Hello!

Why don't you run

SuperPi
3DMark03 + 3DMark06

And post your result here?

Also,
Check your hardware in CPUZ and post the specs.

Then people can comment on whether they think the performance is fair,
or where the problem may reside.

Remember to minimize the number of applications resident in memory
and frequently taking time from your hardware.

The issue you mention is usually caused by a combination of the following three:
- not enough RAM
- a slow hard disk
- a weak CPU (single-core or Pentium-D dual core)

Which version of Visual Studio are you using? How large a project are we talking about? What programming language?

For good performance, you will typically need 2GB RAM, a dual-core CPU (Athlon X2, Core 2 or faster) and a reasonable hard disk (any 320GB+ disk built in the last three years should be sufficient). The more powerful hardware the better things will be. You can get away with older hardware but performance will suffer.

Some routine checks you can do:
- check the event viewer for errors in the "System" section. Pay special attention to hard-disk errors.
- let HDTune measure you disk performance. The curve should be relatively smooth with occasional dips when the OS tries to read something from the disk (close all applications before running). If the curve looks like a sawtooth, there's a high chance you have a hard-disk issue.
- open the task manager and check for memory leaks. Let it open and see if the compilation job eats up all your memory.

Depending on your IT policy, it might or might not be possible to run some of those checks.

It's hard to tell at which speed your computer should runs without knowing it's specs. Anyway, use MemTest86+ to look for damaged memory.