How can i speed up my slow computer?
My computer is very slow, im almost positive it has no viruses in it, i have AVG Free Edition, and it works pretty good but this computer is so slow, especially on the internet, when the internet is unplugged, the computer is pretty fast itself, does anyone have any programs i could use(free ones, im broke) and im about to pull my hair out with this slow piece-a-crap. Any answers would be appreciated, thank you.
October 11th, 2010 at 10:57 am
i have no idea
cinderellamirage
October 11th, 2010 at 11:14 am
You buy a new computer. That’s what I did.
I know I’m lame.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Your Antivirus may slow your system.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
buy more ram
October 11th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
whenever you find out, PLEASE let me know.
i have the same problem.
October 11th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
u can try deleting some old files on the internet.
directions:
1.click on “tools” on the top tool bar on internet explorer (or w/e u hav)
2. click the tab “internet options”
3. then, click on the following:
delete files
delete cookies
clear history
4. X out once its done.
ur internet should b a bit faster. hope this helps 🙂
October 11th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I’m assuming you have Windows XP.
From time to time threads appear in the forums about PC’s slowing down over time for no apparent reason, or about a problem with the PC locking up when certain applications are running. Hopefully, this FAQ will give you a starting point and possibly a solution.
Controlling what starts up with Windows:
One of the most useful built-in utilities that WinXP has is msconfig. It shows you all the programs and drivers that are launched at startup. When you follow the steps below, be sure to search on the net first for any items or terms that sound unfamiliar.
Note: If you have a lot on the startup tab that isn’t self-explanatory or seems cryptic,
then you might be heavily infected with spyware. For that, skip to the Spyware section below and
come back to the rest of this FAQ later…
1) Go to Start -> Run
2) Type msconfig and hit OK
3) Go to the startup tab to prevent items from loading at bootup
The startup tab is going to be your main concern, though other tabs (such as the INI tabs) might contain some problematic entries as well. On the startup tab, you’ll probably recognize a lot of what’s listed. For the ones you don’t recognize, search on Google or Yahoo for a description. Be sure to try disabling from within the application’s preferences before unchecking it here in msconfig. Otherwise, some applications will think this is unintentional and replace the startup entry.
If you’re familiar with the registry, then you’ll know that the main point of reference to many of these startup entries will be found under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun.
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Deleting temporary files:
1) Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup
2) After the scan completes, select all the categories and click OK
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Turning off or limiting transitional effects
This is strictly optional and certainly not needed on higher-end PC’s:
1) On your desktop, right-click My Computer and go to Properties.
2) Go to the Advanced tab, and click Settings under the Performance category.
3) Select Adjust for best performance
Note: You can also further limit this by choosing “Custom” instead and only checking
the options you want (or uncheck them all).
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Upgrading hardware:
Check the specs of your PC (Start -> Run, dxdiag and hit OK). If you have less than 512MB of RAM, slower than 1GHz CPU, or have an outdated video card (if you’re a gamer), then you have much to gain by upgrading your PC.
Increasing RAM to 512MB can help significantly. There’s another slight jump going from 512MB to 1GB. Going any higher may only help in a handful of situations and is often not necessary. The CPU speed usually has the biggest overall impact than any other single component upgrade. Post in the hardware forum (forum602) for more info.
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Defragging and speeding up hard drive performance:
1) Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter
This is not something you should have to perform too often, depending on how you use your PC. When Windows is first setup, it is usually best to have the hard drive split into smaller sections (known as partitions). The Windows system partition (C:) is best kept at a minimal size (20-30GB for example) for Windows’ system files and critical apps that you will keep long term. Long term is key here, because it means seldomly uninstalling or change in file structure which decreases the amount of fragmentation.
Also on a smaller partition, a defrag doesn’t take forever and can be done often. Use the rest of your drive space for apps, games, utilities, etc., that you plan on keeping short term, splitting it into as many “logical” partitions as you like. If your drive wasn’t setup this way to begin with, you can use a 3rd-party app like Partition Magic to resize existing partitions and create new ones.
Something I won’t get into here but might also be helpful to know is that adding a second hard drive can improve performance in several ways. You can move the swap file to the secondary drive. Or going one step further, you can even set up a RAID array configuration to boost redundancy and/or read/write performance (though to do both requires 3 drives or more).
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Removing Spyware/Adware:
There are a lot of ways to accomplish this. The fact is that the more ways you take to approach this, the more efficient it will be.
1) Download and install Spybot. Search for and apply all updates.
2) Do a scan and remove all that it finds. Reboot.
3) Do another scan and reboot again.
4) Install Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware. Search for and apply all updates.
5) Repeat steps 2 and 3.
If you believe you still have an infection at this point, visit the Virus/Spyware discussion forum (forum760) and look in the FAQ section. You can install Hi-Jack This! and post your log in a new thread for help. Also, there’s a $30 app you can buy called ETrust Pestpatrol. This tool is by far one of the best overall scanner/removal tools available. Realize however, that heavy infections are hard to supress and clean up. I’ve used all of the top spyware applications in many situations where only a format and “clean” install brought things back to normal.
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Scanning and fixing the registry:
Not one of the most popular options, but quite a bit of junk can accumulate in the registry much like the garage of your house. I’ve used Registry Mechanic, and there are several other apps available out there that can help with a little spring cleaning. The older a Windows installation is, the more this option can help. As applications are uninstalled, they often leave remnants behind.
October 11th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I have AVG too.
Simply go to start> help and support> then restore it to a past date before all that crap attacked your computer. I do it almost everytime it slows on me. Remember , you will lose anything new you put on there in the way of programs from the start date you desire till today.. Try, maybe going back 2 weeks only.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
maybe ur intenet connection is slow, but that doesn’t explain why ur computer would slow down.
unless you have so many firewalls running on ur computer, that might cause a problem. Another problem is once u go online, other programs automatically connect online. Or u may have some kind or trojan or virus. I sugggest u go to the following website and scan ur computer:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
goodluck.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
add more ram., defragment your pc., maybe it has low disk space., check for spy ware and ad ware., i have a question….tell me how many Ghz is your prcessor…the higher tyhe faster
October 11th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Print this out and read it a few times before you start
Good luck
This may take some time.
First off I will tell you about system restore in XP.
Just an important note before I start. Anytime a say click on something it means LEFT click of your mouse. If I want you to RIGHT click I will instruct you to do this. Otherwise always Left click, OK? Another note: Right clicking is Usually, but not always, the same as left clicking twice. Though you should know.
Try this,
I gave it to another person and it does work,
Or email me and I would be happy to help you,
Jeff
Click start.
In the pull up menu click on system restore. If it is not there click on programs or show all programs
Next click on System Tools or accessories or whatever it takes to get to the System Restore program.
Open it. Click button that says: Create an Restore Point.
Note Again. I am doing this from memory so I may not have all the words exactly as they are shown on your screen. Just use some common sense you will be fine.
Name this restore point and click OK or whatever it takes.
Exit this program.
Reboot your computer
Go to the Restore Program again.
Click Restore my computer to an earlier time.
Click on the dates when your computer guy fixed and cleaned your computer and installed your programs for you.
If your computer shows dates when it automatically created restore points for you this is a good thing. It should always create its own points before any software is added.
Now the above lesson is intended to get you back to where your computer was working ok before changes were made. NOTE: It will erase any and all programs added between that time and the NOW time. Which means Chinese windows again.
So basically a final end to frustration. You can always go back to the restore program and undo this or restore again to the time I had you create one and name it.
Now onward.
Keeping in mind that you have done the first step mentioned above CREATE A RESTORE POINT! Before doing anything else. Okay?
Double click my computer icon on desktop.
Right click on your C-Drive (or whatever your computers main drive is)
Click on properties
Click on Disk clean up
Check all the items on the Files To Delete List. EXCEPT Recycle Bin. (we will do that later)
Click ok or whatever and answer yes to the question. This MAYYYYYYY take a long time. Or not, depends on your comp. tech’s savy/knowledge smartness.
After it is done, Do this again cuz. probably everything didn’t go away. And it may not go away the second time either but just do it.
I am going to assume you are using the Microsoft Internet Explorer as your browser. Let me know if it is different.
Right click your brower icon on desktop
On the General tab
Delete all cookies
And Clear History this may take some time too
If your History preferences are set for saving history for more than 5 days you should change this cuz history takes up a lot of disk space.
Click ok or apply or whatever and yes and exit this.
Also make sure your homepage is listed for what you want it to be. If you already exited than do it another time No worries.
Go to System Restore Program again and Create another restore point like we did first of all. If it will not let you. Then reboot and do it then. If it will than name it something different and exit.
Reboot your computer
Create ANOTHER RESTORE POINT and new name.
Exit program
Click start,
click on help button
use the index or scroll down and find the topic on Starting Computer in Safe Mode. Could be under just Safe Mode in index
Anyway find it and learn it and take some notes on the proceedures. It would just take to long to explain here in email as I have already spent almost two hours here and need to get to other things.
XP is a little tricky getting started in safemode with what they tell you. If you cannot get it done (try a few times, and Learn it as you will be using this often if you want to take charge of your computer and keep hackers at bay)
If you cannot get it let me know and I will explain another way around to get there.
Assuming you are in safe mode a window may pop up about trouble shooting. Go ahead and close it. You may just want to note this for future reference though.
Open your virus software program
Run the program
Exit the program
Double click on My Computer Icon.
Rt Click on C drive
click on properties
Do disk clean up again
as noted above way above check all but recycle bin and then ok and yes and this may take some time
Go to the tools tab in this same folder after cleanup
Click on check for errors and let this program run. If it asks you click on standard check and checkbox for automatically fix errors and begin or start and this may take some time as well.
Afterwards
Click on Defragment computer now. (Should be in this same folder)
Run this program and I KNOW this will take a long time.
Afterwards exit this program
click on start menu
click on run
type in %temp%
then okay
If anything is listed delete it and send it to recycle bin
close this window
right click your Internet Explorer Icon
General tab
Delete cookies again
Delete history again
(Yes we are repeating the same steps as above but now we are truly getting the crap out)
Exit this
Right click start click on EXPLORE button.
Scroll down to Temp Folder and open it. Delete anything in it.
Next down to Temp Internet Folder open it. Use your arrow keys for fast opening. Right pointing arrow keeps opening the next subfolder below.
You should have anywhere from 4 to 13 of these subfolders. Go to each one and delete everything in them. This may take some time as well. And maybe they are already cleaned out from the other actions above. Probably not though.
Now reboot and see if things are working better.
If they are not we need to go back and uninstall some recent programs put on your computer.
Also note that if you need to restore computer everything is in your recycle bin to do this. If a file is a Temp file its trash and can be deleted without worry.
Also your virus program may restrict you from doing some actions you need. You may need to disable it. First remove your internet connection though.
Also note I brushed over a lot of things that you may need to figure out with trial and error. But as long as you have a restore point if you mess something up you can go back.
Good luck, When you have a problem with the above instructions,
Number your questions to me if you have any that is.
I need to get going.
Jeff
October 11th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
1. Defrag — Microsoft is slow, and I prefer Diskeeper, though Perfect Disk is pretty good too.
2. start –>run–> msconfig (assuming XP) Remove any startup program you do not want to start on startup. The less you have pre-cached the better.
3. Try to keep at least 10% free space on hard drive
4. Disable system restore or at least move the slider down to 5% of free space.
5. Move recycle bin to 5% or less or delete permanently under properties after right-click.
6. Uninstall any unneccesary program.
7. Change your Internet file settings to a low value (I use 10MB or less).
These may help you out.