Help My Lap is driving me Nutts

maurine · Post by **maurine** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:41 pm

Does anyone know where or who can fix my laptop. its very slow when it starts. i don't know much
about computers, but what i know is that mine is driving me nutts i am a verge of throwing it away
but i need it so badly at this time and i cant afford to part from it since it includes half of my life

you know what i mean..... please help.

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interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 5:46 pm

I assume your are running some kind of !"#¤% OS on it? Have you run a disk clean up to get rid of junk (start menu - accessories - something-tools - disk clean), do you have an updated antivirus programme (eg AVG is free) and run a check lately, have you run a cleanup of the registry lately (eg Ccleaner is free).
Is your laptop making funny noises? Is it getting more warm than it used to?

maurine · Post by **maurine** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:19 pm

interleukin wrote:I assume your are running some kind of !"#¤% OS on it? Have you run a disk clean up to get rid of junk (start menu - accessories - something-tools - disk clean), do you have an updated antivirus programme (eg AVG is free) and run a check lately, have you run a cleanup of the registry lately (eg Ccleaner is free).
Is your laptop making funny noises? Is it getting more warm than it used to?

yeah it does make funny noises. i have Fsecure antivirus.

umit · Post by **umit** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 7:18 pm

I assume you have windows XP or vista...
Are there a lot of icons at the system tray (the right bottom corner of the screen)? If so, in addition to interleukin's suggestions I would advice removing some unnecessary programs which runs automatically at the start up. However, this may require a little bit more computer skills and knowledge than basic user level.

For XP: Start menu -> Run: write "msconfig" -> Ok
A new window will be opened. Click the "Start Up" tab. You'll see list of programs that run at the start up. If you remove the ticks on the left hand side they won't run next time. But, be careful, you may have some problems if you remove some crucial programs...

For Vista: Start Menu -> Search: write "msconfig" (it will find and display the msconfig file above) -> Click on the "msconfig" file. The rest is the same.

The best solution would be backing up everything and re-installing OS and other programs again after formatting the laptop (or run recovery CD if you have). Warning! This would be a pain-in-the-a$$ process even for experienced users!!

maurine · Post by **maurine** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:26 pm

Thanks Umit and Interl.. i have done what you guys suggested. but the problem am left with now is that. when i start my computer it tells me to choose the operating system. i have two of those. how can i delete one? second question is that. when i open the internet, it takes a while to start, help out please

interleukin · Post by **interleukin** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 8:35 pm

Which two OS are they? Is it Windows something and then the same but SAFE mode? Or do you have something else installed on the comp?

Re the slow internet, is your internet browser cache very large (the browser saves files from the web so it can load them faster next time you go to the same site. Nice to have but if too many files are saved this slows the browser down a lot). Depending on browser and OS the cache (temporary files, cookies, etc) can be emptied in different ways. In Firefox it is tools - clear recent history. In Internet explorer you can right click on the IE icon on your desktop and empty temporary files from there (also from inside the browser but not sure how).

If your computer is making funny noises you might consider if the hard drive is starting to fail. They have a certain lifespan and then die. Take a backup of everything just in case (I recommend buying an external usb drive for this, they are very cheap these days). Alternatively, is your computer full of dust? If it is old and no warranty left, it might be worth to try to open it up and see.

Also, for the slowness, you might try to defragment the hard drive (may help if you have put in many programmes and taken them out again). This function should be accessible from the same menu as the disk clean (start- accessories - admin tools? - defrag). (Sorry, am not on a Windows machine so don't remember the exact paths).

Pauluss · Post by **Pauluss** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:36 pm

Once you've got rid of extra stuff, you might want to run XP Antispy
http://www.xp-antispy.org/index.php/lang-en/home

I have used it on XP and it does make PC faster. Haven't tried other versions.

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:46 am

You really need to have a skilled technician look at it.

Ironically, two things that can cause long startups are anti-virus software and anti-spyware software. Some of them perform a scan at startup that can slow your computer down for minutes -- in some cases as much as 10 or 15 minutes if you have multiple guardians competing for access to your processes and hard drive.

There are lots of things we here can suggest that may be contributing to the slowness, but if you could find a knowledgeable friend to sit down and look through your startup settings and discuss them with you, that would be close to ideal.

Just because a computer starts slow, that doesn't necessarily mean it will run slow once it gets past all the startup. There are so many variables, that's why it's good to be able to talk about trade-offs with whoever examines your computer.

srivibhu · Post by **srivibhu** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:40 am

...and if you do throw it, much obliged if it could be in my direction!
Cheers

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