Almost a year and a half ago (October 12, 2002 to be exact) I was kicked off my mom's 98se computer because she bought me my own computer. Now in 2004, I've started to play around on her computer again. And it's REALLY SLOWED DOWN, even though I've removed my games (Sims and Civ3) and other stuff. It loads slower. Trying to launch Spyware Blaster caused the blue screen of death. Opera freezes up her compuer now.

I was just wondering whether it was time that really slowed down the computer.

Could it have been that your computer was faster, and had more ram, a better processor, and that you were more used to your computer now then your parents? I remember, when i first cranked up my beautiful new machina, my parents old crappy pentium seemed REALLY slow (ok, it was . . . ). I think it might be that you are used to your new faster computer, then your mom's computer getting slower . . .

All windowses deteriorate over time.

although knowing mums, she probably won't give a damn that its slower. reinstalling the OS and the rest would fix problems, but dunno if she'll go for it...

I get the same thing Hbdragon. This PC uses 98 SE, and used to run games like Counterstrike alot better. Now it's painfully slow. Are you sure this is to do with Windows, rather than the computer? I just assumed that it's because its got so much crap on it, and is like 6 years old...

Defrag or format.

No, software does not slow down over time.

Possible causes:

1. You have gotten used to your new faster computer and forgotten how slow that computer was, so it seems slower to you when you use it - happens to me when I work with one of my older systems.

2. Excessive use, lack of maintenance, etc - causes the system to slow down. As posted above, possible solutions are to defrag, remove unecessary startup/background items, and/or reformat.

The computer is maintained quite well. It is degragmented on average once a week, and useless stuff is deleted beforehand -- it gets formatted less frequently ;)
I thought it was because I got a new pc also, but my dad has noticed the decrease in speed too. He doesn't use my (newer) computer. Hence, I strongly doubt it is that.