Need help fixing a slow laptop!

T

thoryamaha919

New Member
Well im trying to help out a friend who is having issues with her PC. She has a gateway 6518GZ and i have tried everything in the book i can think of to get her computer running at a good speed. I have done antivirus software antispyware software with no help from them. They remove items and this doesnt seem to give me any speed. I have wiped off old and unwanted files, programs, cookies, cache, and junk. Thats doesnt seem to help either. So now im stuck and im not sure what to do. I was just thinking of dumping all of her important file to a external HDD and scanning them with my PC and doing a fresh install of the OS on her laptop. Any help will be great thank you in advance. If you need anymore info i will be happy to tell you what i can. I also will have this PC for about 2 days to work on it starting tomorrow so let me know what you guys think.

Thank You.
 
First of all every antivirus and anti spyware program that you install will install services that run in the background that slow the computer down. Programs like Norton and Macafee tend to protect you more by slowing down your computer to the point that you won't be able to use it so you won't get yourself into trouble. Another thing you can do is check to see what kinds of programs are running in the background. If you're running Windows XP or Vista right click your start bar and bring up task manager then take a look at how many processes are currently running in the background. Typically for xp the number should be right around 30 or 35. For windows vista it should be right around 40. If you have a lot more than this you probably have a bunch of bloatware running in the background that you don't need. You can remove it by going to start > run > msconfig. This will bring up a window that has a few tabs at the top. Click startup and uncheck anything you recognize that you don't need (such and such camera wizard, scheduled updates for java, quicktime ect...) You can do the same thing under services, just be sure you check the box that says hide all microsoft before you start unchecking things. Also remember, if you accidently uncheck something that you needed you can always go back in and put it back. My rule is, If i don't know what it is i must not need it. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the input. I have known about this for a long time. For the Programs i only have her running the antivirus and antispyware at night and she know how to turn them off completely so that they are not running. Also i have showed her about the ending process step in task manager and have ended all the ones that are not needed. Even after doing all of those things time and time again over the past few months the PC on gets slower.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top