speeding up computer?

[swoo]

couldn't really find a place to ask this.. i think, maybe i don't know the right terms..
however..

i have a HP dv2418 laptop purchased late august 2007.

it runs noticable slower than it used to..

i know i can make it run faster by turning off some programs and such that i don't need at startup..
i tried looking into it, and most of the programs ran at startup are adobe and HP related.. don't know if i need them or not..

any tips?

and are there other ways to speed up a computer? cleaning it up wise,

i'm a fulltime student, can't really afford to upgrade anything, as i just bought a monitor as well, so any other tips on how to speed up the system would be greatly appreciated!

thanks.
-swoo.

 

[GameMaster]

Hmm, if no unnecessery programs are running on your startup, and your computer is still slow, there are only a few possible explainations:
1.) You need to defragment your hard disk,
2.) You need to delete unusefull programs and applications,
3.) You have a virus(es).
You can always do a defragemntation and see if it works, also you know whether you have unusefull programs or not, so it's your choice...maybe we should check you for viruses?
If so, Click here to download HJTsetup.exe

• Save HJTsetup.exe to your desktop.
• Double click on the HJTsetup.exe icon on your desktop.
• By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Hijack This.
• Continue to click Next in the setup dialogue boxes until you get to the Select Additional Tasks dialogue.
• Put a check by Create a desktop icon then click Next again.
• Continue to follow the rest of the prompts from there.
• At the final dialogue box click Finish and it will launch Hijack This.
• Click on the Do a system scan and save a log file button. It will scan and then ask you to save the log.
• Click Save to save the log file and then the log will open in notepad.
• Click on "Edit > Select All" then click on "Edit > Copy" to copy the entire contents of the log.
• Come back here to this thread and Paste the log in your next reply.
• DO NOT have Hijack This fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless or even required.

Up to you!!