Very Slow Laptop

Scraggy

Hey

Going more or lesss unreg from this because its probably such a basic question but my laptop is running horribly slow. For example I have a game I played before that will run but slow and jumpy . Also IE is slow .

What would be a common cause for such a slow laptop?

Ruu_Old

Post up some of your system specs. Have you tried an anti-virus and spyware scan lately? Everything up to date?

DirkVoodoo

More info plz....

Linoge

Scraggy wrote:

Hey

Going more or lesss unreg from this because its probably such a basic question but my laptop is running horribly slow. For example I have a game I played before that will run but slow and jumpy . Also IE is slow .

What would be a common cause for such a slow laptop?

If its happened all of a sudden, its overheating. Does it only happen after you've played a game?

Make sure there is space for air to circulate beneath the laptop, don't use it on your lap or bed. That said even a flat surface can restrict the full flow, you can buy cooling boards if its very bad.

The other reason is lack of memory. You may have lots of programs (some you may not even know about) running in the background.

1.Uninstall all programs that you never use.
2.Run an adware removal tool like Spybot or Adaware.
3.A long but worthwhil process may be to go to your task list (in XP thats ctrl alt del) and look at your processes. You may recognise some (ipod service, msn messenger etc). Stop these. The rest you will have to copy and paste into google to find if they are a critical process. SOme aren't obvious eg "Powerbar" sounds like asware but its not. To save time you could do it to the processes that use over 5 megs.
4.You could add memory, cheap enough on eBay etc.
5.Lastly, if all else fails give it the big CTRL ALT DEL. Save files, Format disk and Reload Windows

Scraggy

okay lads.

here are the specs as far as i know

intel pentium 1.73
ram 512




I have ran Spyware doctore and Sophos and everything came up clean . One thing though is that it always runs chkdsk on startup and it takes forever.

i dont know if I should put in more specs?

Ruu_Old

Windows XP I assume, how old is it? It might be time for a clean install to get rid of the clutter or if it is being slow. CHKDSK should only run when the computer is not shut down correctly.

Scraggy

its about a year old. another thing is that the sounds is very disjointed (not smooth) . Ill try and run the system restore disks at some stage tonight?

Ruu_Old

Don't go restoring just yet. Try the steps Linoge mentioned in elminating background programs that are no use to you. Regarding the sound problem, try uninstalling the drivers, reboot and install them again and see if there is any difference.

challengemaster

another 512mb ram wouldnt hurt either

TempestSabre

Run some Smart Diagnostics on the HD.