slow computer?

[hovis]

right, the last time this happened i took it to a shop, and they charged me £30 to format(?) it, which resulted in me losing all my pictures and music.

i was later told by quite a few people on here that you should never have to format it, so............ what do i do?

it seems to take a lot longer to start up. and its also a bit longer to search for things.

bear in mind, that i dont know much about computers, so dont try to trick me with your geeky talk


H

[Bluepete]

It needs a wash. Plenty of hot, soapy water and an abraisive sponge should do the trick!

HTH!

Pete

[hovis]

It needs a wash. Plenty of hot, soapy water and an abraisive sponge should do the trick!

HTH!

Pete

will a jetwash be ok, or should i put it in the bath?

oh............ do i need to unplug it first?

;)

[fizzwheel]

Have you got any anti spyware software on your PC yet such as Adaware. If not install it and run it then reboot it'll probably run alot faster then.

After that give the hard disk a defrag

After that get onto the microsoft website and download all the latest hotfixes and updates for your version of windows and then install them.

Reboot it again and then see what it runs like.

Formatting and starting again will definately sort it, but it can be a bit tricky if you are'nt very computer literate and you'll need to backup all the stuff you want to keep before you start if you are going to format it that is.

[hovis]

Have you got any anti spyware software on your PC yet such as Adaware. If not install it and run it then reboot it'll probably run alot faster then. i have avast v4.7

After that give the hard disk a defrag how

After that get onto the microsoft website and download all the latest hotfixes and updates for your version of windows and then install them.

Reboot it again and then see what it runs like. how do you reboot?


i did say i did not know much:(

[fizzwheel]

Google for how to do a defrag, it'll explain it better than I can, its not difficult, its just I'm not very good at explaining stuff.

Reboot : click on start, shut down then click restart.

[dirtydog]

DIsk defrag is

Start

Programs

Accessories

System tools

then disk defragmenter

[ThEGr33k]

DIsk defrag is

Start

Programs

Accessories

System tools

then disk defragmenter

Or simpler go to mycomputer, right click on the Hard drive (C is standard) go down to properties, click that. Then a window will open click the tools tab and it will be there. Pretty simple once you find it.

There is also the problem of too many programs you dont need starting up when you turn on the comp. To get rid of these click start -> Run then type in "msconfig" and click enter. A new window will appear and on the right there will be a tab called startup, click that then look at all the things that windows starts up.
If you see something in the list you *KNOW* you dont need or want at start (you can still use the program it will just take a tiny bit longer to open when you want it - but removing it will obviously speed up start up) remove the tick on the left next to the program. Once you have done this and closed the window the computer will ask you to restart, do it. Hopefully if you have removed loadsa crap it will start quick(er).
Once it has restarted it might bring up a box asking you to have another look at the startup, click (i cant remember the exact button) whatever looks like most likely to get rid of the dialogue box.

If this and the above doesnt work then best thing to do would be to buy and external Hard disk, copy everything you want to keep to there then get it formatted...

Then off you go :smt024

Lots to read... sorry. ;)

[Razor]

Have you painted it yellow? That makes everything slower.

[ThEGr33k]

Have you painted it yellow? That makes everything slower.

:smt044

[the_lone_wolf]

Have you painted it yellow? That makes everything slower.
now that was funny:mrgreen:

seriously though, i'd be inclined to say you have some kind of malware on your computer, popups and slow running are dead giveaways

install and run "hijackthis" - LINK (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis) - choose the option to output a log file when it starts then copy and paste the log file into a reply here, that way if anything untoward is on your system someone on here will spot it...

[hovis]

on C disc thingy

11 GB used
64 GB free

[Speedy Claire]

Stop downloading the porn... that might help :D

[hovis]

Stop downloading the porn... that might help :D

stop sending it to me then;)

[Viney]

on C disc thingy

11 GB used
64 GB free
75gb hard drive...ooo, state of the art.

Drop me your address and i'll pop a copy of a proper defrag programe in the post on a disc. Much better than the windoze one, although this is a good place to start.

Also do a windows clean up. Start>all programmes>System tools etc.

Empty any .tmp files.

[hovis]

75gb hard drive...ooo, state of the art.

.

are you making fun of my computer?:confused:

pm sent

[Scoobs]

Sorry to hijack your thread Hovis.

I've got around 100Gb of movies, music and photos on my computer and a 250Gb hard drive. It is also quite slow to boot up. If I save all of this media on to an external hard drive and only plug it in when I want to access the files will this speed my machine up?

[the_lone_wolf]

Sorry to hijack your thread Hovis.

I've got around 100Gb of movies, music and photos on my computer and a 250Gb hard drive. It is also quite slow to boot up. If I save all of this media on to an external hard drive and only plug it in when I want to access the files will this speed my machine up?
no, the main factor in how fast your computer loads is the actual speed of the drive, nearly all desktop HDDs are 7200rpm, the amount of data on the drive should make no difference. defragmenting the drive will help *if* it's fragmented in the first place. having lots of programs that start with windows will also slow it down, they load at startup so that if you do need them they will appear to start faster when you click on them several hours after booting your PC

[Scoobs]

no........blah, blah, blah..............booting your PC

Thanks.

[Alpinestarhero]

More computer memory (not hard drive space, but RAM) will help speed it up. I recently upgraded from 256MB to 1.26 GB, loads much fast and can cope with more things

Matt

[the_lone_wolf]

More computer memory (not hard drive space, but RAM) will help speed it up.
not necessarily, it'll only help if you were running low on memory to begin with, 256MB is absolutely bare essentials for XP:smt024

[fizzwheel]

i was later told by quite a few people on here that you should never have to format it

I kinda agree and I kinda don't. On the older Windows 95 and Windows 98 machines I used to find that if you installed and uninstalled software and generally pushed a PC hard especially with games it used to die after about 6 months and a format and reinstall used to sort everything out quite nicely.

Hovis, do you have a lot of stuff installed that you don't want or need anymore, do you install alot of bits and pieces and guff on the t'interweb, if so then you might just be as well to format the thing and start again.

It'd help if we knew the spec of your PC and what version of windows you have on it.

[MeridiaNx]

Upgrades will, of course, help. But gathering that your computer is running slower than it used to with the original hardware it sounds like a spring clean is in order.

Steps I would follow would be as follows, with a general summary and then a breakdown:

1. Physical clean

- Open the case up and, with a can of compressed air (cheap to buy online) blow out all dust from inside the case and parts. DO NOT use a vacuum cleaner, static electricity built up from this can damage parts. Also take care to prevent fans from spinning the wrong way, I use a cotton bud to keep them in place.
- Check all cables are well and truly connected

2. Virtual clean

- In my routine for keeping a PC in top condition is: anti-virus, anti-spyware/adware, registry cleaning/optimising, defragging.
- If you don't have paid anti-virus programs, I favour AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/) as the free one, or visit here (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/) for TrendMicro's online free scanner.
- For anti-spyware I use Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html) and for anti-adware I use Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/). Both do a similar job but I run both to catch what the other may not.
- For registry cleaning I use Registry Mechanic, though you have to buy this (or obtain it somewhere), though I do advice caution using it if you don't know your PCs. It can work wonders at clearing the clutter and improving efficiency in what I like to think of as the 'directory' of the computer, what is where at so on. This becomes a mess after years of most everyday activities, installing, de-installing and so on. However, it can also cripple the PC if you do the wrong thing. I would recommend it IF you school yourself on what it does and how to use it.
- For defrag I would recommend Diskeeper, it is a much more in-depth version of the standard Windows utility. Does a great job but again needs to be bought or 'obtained'.

3. Update

- Update all windows bits and bobs from their site.
- Update hardware and drivers, though to do this you will need to know who makes the various components of your PC and visit their respective websites.

Hope any or all of that helps, shout if you need more info or links.

[sinbad]

First press CTRL+ALT+Delete and click the processes tab. It will tell you how many processes are running whilst your computer is idling. You might be surprised. The click Start/Run... and type msconfig.exe and click the Startup tab. That will tell you how many processes are automatically started when you Startup the computer. You can also right click a process and stop it if one looks like it's using a lot of resources. You can't stop any critical process so don't worry, but if you stop explorer.exe you'll have a problem :) If you're not sure, just type them into google and you'll get a description of what they are and which program started them. If the computer is running a high number of quite intensive processes automatically, you'll be able to stop most of them in msconfig.exe, so look along both lists and untick the boxes.

It's annoying how many programs will set processes running in the background without asking if you want them.

[northwind]

Yup, googling the stuff in processes can find some interesting results... Though to be fair you don't just want to trust the first thing you read on the net! While you're in the task manager have a look and see how much of your CPU is being used, that can make interesting reading.

[Pedro68]

My recommendations would be:
1. Do a virus scan (I use AVG personally, but TrendMicro's online scan is just as good).
2. Scan for adware/spyware using the products already mentioned (Adaware is good, Spybot is technical and requires you to post your scan/log online to get answers).
3. Ensure computer is up to date with regards to all Microsoft Updates.
4. Do a disk cleanup.

Personally, I'd do the first 3 in any particular order, just so long as you do #4 LAST.
No point cleaning a disk that is infected with spyware/worms/virus/trojans/etc.

Whilst in disk cleanup pay particular attention to "temporary internet files" and "Temp folder" files, as these are 2 places that are hardly EVER cleaned. If you are not PC-savvy then it's unlikely that these places will ever have been emptied.

When you're done, you've rebooted and are happy that nothing is missing and everything works as it should, then empty the recycle bin too ;-)

Next steps would be:

5. Check running processes or processes loaded at system startup.
6. Registry cleaning software.
7. Driver updates/upgrades.
8. Disk defragging.
9. Hardware upgrade.
10. Bin it! Bite the bullet and save up your dosh for a new PC/Mac ;-)

[gettin2dizzy]

Buy an Apple :)

[Razor]

Have you painted it yellow? That makes everything slower.

:smt044

now that was funny:mrgreen:



:takeabow::takeabow:

[hovis]

:takeabow::takeabow:


yeah, not bad



for you;)



puter seems ok now, thanx for all the advice

[FeRoL]

Try this program for keeping your PC clean of temp files and such.
Also it'll help clean up your registry and has a user friendly way of sorting out which programs are starting when you turn on your puter.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=4191&file=10&evp=a12d758b021af1a4f0a6bfe45b0c7a82


Aptly named CrapCleaner

[2mths]

Hovis - Given your two thread regarding PCs it's my oppinion that you shouldn't own one.