Slow Computer?Any idea's?

[happyhippy]

Hi all,
We have two computers,a laptop(someone gave us 2nd hand)and a desk top we we brought a year ago.The laptop stays downstairs,and the desktop is upstairs.The router is downstairs in the hallway.Over the last couple of months our desktop has slowed down alot.It seems to take ages to load anything up,and my patience is starting to wear quite thin!!!We are not techy people,so I am wondering if there is anything we can do to speed it back up?My husband brought the desktop downstairs today to see if that made any difference,being closer to the router,but unfortunately it made no difference at all!We have anti spam filters on both,and neither computers are loaded to the hilt.Any idea's?Thankyou in advance!xx

[Davie Crockett]

It could be your Browser cache slowing things up. Open explorer or whichever browser you use go to tools > internet options and delete cookies and browsing data (Some just say delete browsing data). That should free up enough RAM to speed you up again.

I should point out that is you've got passwords stored on your PC, you may loose them at this stage unless you protect them (Some browsers allow a check box to limit what you delete).

Good luck.

[happyhippy]

oohhh Thankyou DC for the advice and help?OH is just upstairs as I speak,so hopefully it will work!

[MKG]

Good advice from DC. You could also delete your internet history files, clean out your registry and defragment your hard drive. You can download nice little proggies which will do most of this for you (and you should already have a defragmenter on your system).

Mike

[Jandra]

Your pc may have been infected with malware/spyware. That'll slow it down immensely. I'd download a program to clean it, if the previously mentioned measures don't work. Unfortunately I can't really advise what anti-spyware program would be good. Sorry...

[southeast-isher]

Try running CCleaner to tidy up your cache etc

It's free.

You could also run RegCleaner too.

Also free.

Google them!

[southeast-isher]

Ah for a spyware killer go for...

SpyBot Search and Destroy.

Update it before running a check. It's free.

Google it! :-)

[boboff]

go to control panel and delete programs not in use.
If you have anti-virus, click on a timed update rather than every time you boot up, as this will slow it down at the start.
Not sure how to do it do it now, but have a good look through programs that run on start up, often these are things you never use, but take an innordinate amount of time to load.
accept that in part you have got less patient and it's not really as bad as it feels
Plan around it, turn it on on the way to the shower, log in after shower and before making Tea....

[Carltonian Man]

Not sure how to do it do it now, but have a good look through programs that run on start up

Hit the start button (bottom left hand side) then in the search panel type msconfig and hit search. Open the startup tab and see if there are any programmes you don't need to start automatically on boot up. Any boxes you untick can always be changed back again should you change your mind.

[MKG]

Alternatively, chucking Windows out altogether works wonders.

But then I'm a pain in the arse convert these days

Mike

[boboff]

Not sure how to do it do it now, but have a good look through programs that run on start up

Hit the start button (bottom left hand side) then in the search panel type msconfig and hit search. Open the startup tab and see if there are any programmes you don't need to start automatically on boot up. Any boxes you untick can always be changed back again should you change your mind.

Thanks for this,

It's made my 5 year old Lappie bounce like a spring lamb now!

Yippeee!
Baa.

[Paul_C]

some things which i do regularly

1) hit CNTRL ALT DEL and look at the list of SYSTEM programs are running. the second tab.

you want as few as possible alot of programs like skype, run in the background so they open faster then if they wernt. they are not essential.

look down the list and goodle the name of the file running and see what it is.

if it is not essential to the running of the PC or an antivirus software then goto start. type CONFIG.sys which opens the system configuration application.

click on the tab marked startup

and uncheck anything which isnt essential to the running or antivirus stuff. this includes internet browsewr tool bars. they eat loads of memory

2) DONT use mozilla firefox. its a memory bandit. at first its ok then it ramps up and up in useage.

3) DO run system tasks like discheck and defragmenter. it does speed things up

4) DO hover it out occasionaly. sounds stupid buyt the cooler the interior is the better. or ensure that you have a way of cooling it down if it is a laptop (main issue with them is they cook themselves as the cooling systems just are not up to it anymore) they do sell cooling pads for them has fans to cool them from the outside (or use a deskfan)



Ad muncher helps speed up browsing byu killing the adverets

[happyhippy]

Hi all,Thankyou so much for the help and advice,really appreciate it.OH will try some of the other ideas in a couple of days.Did as DC suggested and it has speeded things up somewhat,but its still not as fast as the old laptop!!Thanks again and will keep you posted on progress soon,xxxxxxxxxxxx

[Paul_C]

run a memory checker to analyise the RAM. chips do go bad.

[Big Al]

I run norton 360 and yes I know i shouldn't especially when we got hacked last week even though I'm s^hot on security matters but I was told of http://www.malwarebytes.org/
free download and really good. This programme got the two problems that norton missed.

if all else fails get a ethernet cable and plug that in the modem and direct into the back of the computer cutting out the wireless router. you will find you get a faster speed that way.
hth

BA