Techi help please - ultra slow computer

A request from my husband, who is often know to say 'What, browsing Downsizer AGAIN!'
Tonight he said 'Ask your lot', so here I am asking the collective wisdom of Downsizers:

What should we do/look for - our computer is taking at least 10 minutes to boot up, and is really, really slow.
So far we've checked for viruses, malware, and done a registery clean, all to no avail.

Thank you in anticipation

Jamanda

I'm not a techie, but sometime defragging your hard drive helps. (I think that's what it's called)

Check free disk space. Run an AV prog on it. Disconnect from network and try booting. If the last works at a sensible speed you may have picked up some malware.

If you are running windows try booting to safe mode and see how fast that is.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

too many things on the start-up menu?

Jonnyboy

First thing I would do is run disk clean up,

start - all programs - accessories - system tools.

Try the above suggestions, and try downloading a specific program that deals with adware, such as adaware

http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php

tahir

I'd back up all your important stuff, reformat the hard drive and re-install.

Jonnyboy

tahir wrote:

I'd back up all your important stuff, reformat the hard drive and re-install.

It'll certainly get you back to a clean build, but it can be a pita if you don't have all the proper drivers to hand.

tahir

Usually not too hard to get hold of. It might sound drastic but it usually saves time in the long run.

SallyAB

Thanks all - been off line. Have tried nearly all of the above, and some improvement.
I knew someone out there would know.

vegplot

Uninstall any programs you don't use. A clean install ususally speeds things up a lot but re-installing programs, utilites and other applications will cause your system to slow down.

Barefoot Andrew

How much memory do you have, Sally? If your machine is perpetually slow it sounds like it might be "thrashing".

When computers run short of memory they use an area of disc to temporarily "extend" the amount of memory available. This mechanism was only ever designed to be a temporary solution to a fleeting problem, and if the computer has to resort to this a lot it really slows down the whole machine.

If your machine is old it won't have a massive amount of memory anyway, and it could be that - as others have suggested above - that you've got too much "stuff" installed.

Sounds like you've had some success in removing things from your start menu already. Also have a look at icons in your "system tray" - the bottom right corner of Windows. Sometimes you get things there which are a mere convenience and not at all essential. MS Office and Open Office both, for example, have a "quick starter" - it loads itself automatically on start up, has an icon in the system tray, and uses your precious memory needlessly if you haven't got much.

Also, make sure your anti-virus is up to date. If there is any doubt, remove what you have and install the free AVG:

http://free.avg.com/

It's the left hand off the two GET IT NOW boxes. Let it update itself fully, and run a full scan. You might find it detects, and removes, some unwanted bits and pieces hindering the performance of your computer.

If, beyond this, performance is still unsatisfactory, more drastic measures are called for. A clean install can be a quick and effective remedy, but it can also bring annoyance and a machine that doesn't work as before if something goes wrong and you're short on techie know-how. If budget allows, I would suggest you consider replacing the machine first, and keep a re-install as a last resort. You can get entry level PCs these days for about £300 - which, depending on what you have at the moment, could be a considerable stride forward in computer capability.

Good luck!
A.

Just one word of warning with that Free AVG can itself take a huge amount of resource. It's good at what it does but if you let it do a full scheduled scan it can spend several hours a day scanning the machine.

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