very slow computer

[littleeak]

We have a Windows XP laptop and it's extremely slow. It takes an age to open anything even after defrag & disc clean. The internet's as bad .................. always 'waiting' or 'not responding'. We're trying internet explorer at the moment but have also used firefox & google chrome.
Any ideas greatly appreciated.

[Marina]

Can't help I'm afraid but had to laugh as it's just taken me about 5 mins to get on here and this was the frst topic that came up. I'll be very interested in the replies!

[gerryh]

Download and run ccleaner from http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
It cleans all the unnecessary cr*p from your PC.
You should notice a difference after.
If you don't there are other things to try which need a more detailed knowledge to use.
Cheers
Gerry

[pigs-might-fly]

The only REALLY successful way, IMO, is to re-install Windows.
I am, as I type this, in the process of doing just that on our XP laptop.
I'm only part way through; not all our programs are installed yet, but there is a marked improvement in start-up & shut-down and the performance of Firefox & Thunderbird.
Just be sure to back up your important stuff.
(If you are using Firefox & Thunderbird, may I recommend Mozbackup. This can save all your emails, account settings etc. in TB and nearly all tour settings, such as bookmarks & add-ons, in FF)

[gerryh]

Pigs, that is very true, but it's worth trying ccleaner first.
Cheers
Gerry

[littleeak]

Thanks for replies.
Will try ccleaner tomorrow & see if it helps.

[Enrique]

Hi littleeak,
Some more info would be good..............like......
Make/ model of laptop , how much memory, how much free disk space, how many processes are running on a newly rebooted system.
What Antivirus are you running.
On the internet side........what is your connection contracted speed, what do you get ...

http://www.speedtest.net/

Open up Task manager and note what happens when you fire up a new program/application.


Look forward to hearing from you

[littleeak]

Hola Enrique,

The laptop's a cofiman make.
40 gb memory with 21 gb free.
What do you mean by 'how many processes are running on a newly rebooted system' ?
Internet speed should be 3mb but usually get 2.5mb.

We've got AVG anti-virus & zone alarm firewall.
Just un-installed firefox again!!

Any suggestions greatly received!!

[Beachcomber]

Try disabling the Link Scanner in AVG.

[pete_l]

Hola Enrique,

The laptop's a cofiman make.
40 gb memory with 21 gb free.
What do you mean by 'how many processes are running on a newly rebooted system' ?
Internet speed should be 3mb but usually get 2.5mb.

We've got AVG anti-virus & zone alarm firewall.
Just un-installed firefox again!!

Any suggestions greatly received!!

The guy in this post had the same problem. He isolated it to be down to ZoneAlarm, by temporarily disabling it. After that he dumped it and used a different firewall. Worth a try?

[Enrique]

Hi littleeak,
For Task manager............. right click on the blue bar at the bottom of your screen, goto the Performance Tab and let me know the numbers in the " Physical Memory (K)"
In the bottom left of the Task manager window is the "Processes number"

Before you throw your current security out you need to find out what's causing the laptop to run slow.

AVG has a schedule disk scanner , check that this has been turned off.

What version of ZoneAlarm are you using .............I use ZoneAlarm Pro on all my systems with no problems.

Please give the Model of the laptop so I can look up the spec.

[Martin Page]

A simple rule of thumb - If its sudenly slowed down - what have you done recently could be the cause....
If its been a gradual slowdown that you have hardly noticed over time then its a good chance your Registry is fragmented and cluttered - especially if your adding and dleleting software regularly.

If your computer is over Three years old, or you use it regularly, the only sure way to restore its vigour is for a full blitz and reinstatement. BUT ... REMEMBER to REMEMBER to back up EVERYTHING, thats EVERYTHING you want to keep. A Blitz reinstall removes EVERYTHING !!! Its installs everything as if its brand new !

[Enrique]

Hi littleeak,

Looking on the "The laptop's a cofiman make" site , they seem to list Acer and HP computers...so please have a look on the bottom of the laptop and post the make and model.

You should be able to keep a system running sweetly without resorting to reinstalling Windows, I've a 4 year old XP system that's still sharp with the original install . Its the one I use for support so is constantly getting stuff installed and uninstalled.

[Beachcomber]

Have you defragged your hard drive recently?

I prefer Defraggler:

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

This is a Piriform product, the same people who produce CCleaner but if you install it make sure you untick the option to install Yahoo toolbar along with it.

You can analyse the disc drive before defragging to see if it is worth it. This is a great program but back up all of your files to another drive first just in case!

[Enrique]

Hi,
From the OP...."It takes an age to open anything even after defrag & disc clean"

If they used the XP Defrag I suspect it didn't complete

I use Smart Defrag.............

http://download.cnet.com/Smart-Defrag/3 ... 59533.html

Really need to hear what is causing it to run slow..more info littleeak...please

[littleeak]

Hola Enrique,
Sorry I've not provided info yet............... chaotic day. Will get info together tomorrow.

[pigs-might-fly]

Here's a bit of a puzzle.
We have two laptops, one running XP home, fully updated and one running W7, also fully updated. Both using MTU of 1492, (same as the router), both connecting by wireless to the same network on a Linksys Home Gateway.
Testing each one while the other is not connected, via Speedtest.net, for the XP machine gives a download of around 3 to 4 MB, while the W7 machine regularly gives 7 to 8 MB.
I have checked the TCP settings, the wireless frequency,etc., etc . with no real improvement. What else can I check?

[pete_l]

What else can I check?

CPU load?
Signal strength?
Do both lappys connect wirelessly at the same speed (11MBit/s, 54 MBit/s etc)
are the ping times to the router the same?

[littleeak]

Hola,
Info for Enrique................... model 8640.
Total 261616
Available 87000
System Cache 78500

Processes 46

Will look at AVG .

[Enrique]

Hi littleeak,
With the laptop newly booted up and you not doing anything open up Task Manager -> Performance tab, click on CPU and scroll to bottom of box, there should very little activity >5% CPU usage, you will be able to see if any one process is taking up a lot.

Turn off AVG and goto some safe sites and see how things respond
Turn AVG on and turn Zonealarm off goto same sites and see how things are.