Computer speed question

[GivePeaceAChance]

So anyway, Linux and my Windows partition were acting really slow after not having turned the computer off in a few days.

Once it was restarted, the Windows partition was fast again (when it was slow, Norton took 4 hours to scan 200,000 files, and less than one hour once I restarted the computer).

Does anyone know what possible reasons there could be for this, and how it was somehow fixed by restarting the computer (so it seems at the moment)?

Also, does the Linux partition in any way affect the Windows partition, because my dad was pretty pissed that Windows was so slow, and wanted me to uninstall Linux, so I want to convince him that Linux does nothing to the Windows partition. He's so naive too. When we got the computer, some computer guy told him "nothing is free" in the way that software you download off the net isn't free (comes with spyware and all that) and he doesn't believe Linux is free.

Also, the Linux partition was slow too, I noticed. How can I fix this (I'm not in Linux now so I don't know if restarting the computer made it fast again)?

Sorry for posting this here, I just didn't/don't know where else to put it. Thanks for any help!

[Roxoff]

You can change the way the disks run in linux using the hdparm tool - maximise the disk cache, turn on udma modes, etc. etc. See its man page for more info; it'll also do some performance analysis stuff too - so you'll be able to measure any changes you get. You need to be a bit careful with the tool, 'cos you have a _lot_ of control - much more than you'd ever get with windows.

[bigtomrodney]

If your PC was running for a couple of days it may have been running hot. If your CPU gets hot it will stifle performance, and will need time to cool down. If you rebooted your machine but didn't leave time to cool down it would appear that both OSes were running slow.
It should also be remembered that under pressure Windows does slow down considerably, this is because the way Windows uses its pagefile and also the virtual registry waiting to commit entries on a reboot.