Why is my laptop so slow?

newmug

Hi. I'm relatively new to computers and havent a clue.

Basically, my laptop is operating very slowly. Even as I'm typing this, the screen is freezing every couple of seconds. I'm continuing to type, and when the screen unfreezes, what I've typed catches up, but then it just freezes again. Downloading anything is a nightmare as the internet connection keeps disconnecting.

It is a Toshiba A200, intel centrion duo, windows vista, C drive has 24GB free out of 93GB, E drive is empty at 91GB. I dont know what RAM or ROM or anything it has.

Any ideas? All help appreciated - Thanks

Btwndeyes

newmug wrote: »

Hi. I'm relatively new to computers and havent a clue.

Basically, my laptop is operating very slowly. Even as I'm typing this, the screen is freezing every couple of seconds. I'm continuing to type, and when the screen unfreezes, what I've typed catches up, but then it just freezes again. Downloading anything is a nightmare as the internet connection keeps disconnecting.

It is a Toshiba A200, intel centrion duo, windows vista, C drive has 24GB free out of 93GB, E drive is empty at 91GB. I dont know what RAM or ROM or anything it has.

Any ideas? All help appreciated - Thanks

How old is the laptop?

newmug

Btwndeyes wrote: »

How old is the laptop?

About 2 years old. Why?

Ash.J.Williams

newmug wrote: »

Hi. I'm relatively new to computers and havent a clue.

Basically, my laptop is operating very slowly. Even as I'm typing this, the screen is freezing every couple of seconds. I'm continuing to type, and when the screen unfreezes, what I've typed catches up, but then it just freezes again. Downloading anything is a nightmare as the internet connection keeps disconnecting.

It is a Toshiba A200, intel centrion duo, windows vista, C drive has 24GB free out of 93GB, E drive is empty at 91GB. I dont know what RAM or ROM or anything it has.

Any ideas? All help appreciated - Thanks

Vista needs at least 3gb of ram to function normally, anything less is sluggish and slow.
Right click on "computer" and click "properties" and go to the general tab to see how much you have.

tricky D

Give it a clean with CCleaner. Run it, choose Analyse under Cleaner on the left, then Run Cleaner. Then select Registry on the left, Scan for Issues, then Fix selected Issues after having backed up the Registry. Also a good idea to download and run MalwareBytes Antimalware.

newmug

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Vista needs at least 3gb of ram to function normally, anything less is sluggish and slow.
Right click on "computer" and click "properties" and go to the general tab to see how much you have.

Aha! I only have 2GB of RAM! This is only a recent problem though, it was fine until a few weeks ago. How do I add more RAM? Can I use some of that free E drive as RAM?

Why the hell would they sell someone a machine that wasnt up to the job?

Ash.J.Williams

newmug wrote: »

Aha! I only have 2GB of RAM! This is only a recent problem though, it was fine until a few weeks ago. How do I add more RAM? Can I use some of that free E drive as RAM?

Why the hell would they sell someone a machine that wasnt up to the job?

When Vista was released Microsoft thought it was the business! However it cost companies a fortune updating all their hardware to actually run it! I'm sure if you look at the spec the minimum requirement for vista is less than 1gb of ram, however anyone that has used it knows you need as much as possible...

Ram is a small module (chip) and you will need to open the laptop to install it. If unsure i would recommend getting a repair man to do it, however it is an easy enough thing to do.

Mark Hamill

newmug wrote: »

Aha! I only have 2GB of RAM! This is only a recent problem though, it was fine until a few weeks ago. How do I add more RAM? Can I use some of that free E drive as RAM?

Why the hell would they sell someone a machine that wasnt up to the job?

Actually, 2gb of ram should be ok even to run vista (notorious resource hog that it is), but it might be worth your while to remove programs that you dont use (go to control panel-uninstall programs and remove what you dont use) and stop unnecessary programs turning on when the computer turns on (here is a very simple tutorial on how to do that). If in doubt which programs to turn off or uninstall, list them here and people can give you suggestions.

it might be possible that you need to replace virus scanner. Some can be very big resource hogs and can slow down computers a lot (Norton can be very bad), which one do you use?

Lastly, run MalwareBytes Antimalware to check for viruses to see if they are the problem.

newmug

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

When Vista was released Microsoft thought it was the business! However it cost companies a fortune updating all their hardware to actually run it! I'm sure if you look at the spec the minimum requirement for vista is less than 1gb of ram, however anyone that has used it knows you need as much as possible...

Ram is a small module (chip) and you will need to open the laptop to install it. If unsure i would recommend getting a repair man to do it, however it is an easy enough thing to do.

Thanks AJW. Where could I buy a suitable chip, and would you have any idea of how much it would cost to buy and get it installed?

Voodu Child

newmug wrote: »

Aha! I only have 2GB of RAM! This is only a recent problem though, it was fine until a few weeks ago. How do I add more RAM? Can I use some of that free E drive as RAM?

Why the hell would they sell someone a machine that wasnt up to the job?

2GB is fine for the average user. Your problem is not ram related.

BostonB

Accepting that Vista isn't great. Its should still run ok with 2GB of Ram to be usuable for the average Joe. If you clean up your laptop, like tricky suggested, by running CCleaner and uninstalling everything you don't need. You should notice a big improvement. Most people install a load of junk and never clean it out. Computers need a spring clean every so often. Have you all the service patches and updates from microsoft installed. Is your AV up today. Maybe try alighter AV like MSE. Turn off any services that you don't need.

newmug

Mark Hamill wrote: »

Actually, 2gb of ram should be ok even to run vista (notorious resource hog that it is), but it might be worth your while to remove programs that you dont use (go to control panel-uninstall programs and remove what you dont use) and stop unnecessary programs turning on when the computer turns on (here is a very simple tutorial on how to do that). If in doubt which programs to turn off or uninstall, list them here and people can give you suggestions.

it might be possible that you need to replace virus scanner. Some can be very big resource hogs and can slow down computers a lot (Norton can be very bad), which one do you use?

Lastly, run MalwareBytes Antimalware to check for viruses to see if they are the problem.

Thanks Mark. Yea I do use Norton. I just got a years subscriptoin not long ago, so probably will try to avoid replacing it if possible. Actually that could be it, it was around the time I downloaded it that all this slowness started.

Whats Malwarebytes? Is it something already on my computer or would I have to download / buy it?

BostonB

Norton. Uninstall it. Burn the disk., Shred, burn it again, drive over it, shred 3 more times. Write 100 times, "I will not install Norton". Burn the disk again...

Get the idea....

Mark Hamill

newmug wrote: »

Thanks Mark. Yea I do use Norton. I just got a years subscriptoin not long ago, so probably will try to avoid replacing it if possible. Actually that could be it, it was around the time I downloaded it that all this slowness started.

Well, I fixed my brothers pc doing the same thing (i also removed other programs which helped, but norton made by far the biggest difference). Avira or Avast are better choices imo, free too.

newmug wrote: »

Whats Malwarebytes? Is it something already on my computer or would I have to download / buy it?

Malwarebytes is a free downloadable virus scanner, you can get it here. There is paid version but you dont need it, the free one will scan everything and remove any bad files it finds.

newmug

Btwndeyes wrote: »

How old is the laptop?

tricky D wrote: »

Give it a clean with CCleaner. Run it, choose Analyse under Cleaner on the left, then Run Cleaner. Then select Registry on the left, Scan for Issues, then Fix selected Issues after having backed up the Registry. Also a good idea to download and run MalwareBytes Antimalware.

BostonB wrote: »

Accepting that Vista isn't great. Its should still run ok with 2GB of Ram to be usuable for the average Joe. If you clean up your laptop, like tricky suggested, by running CCleaner and uninstalling everything you don't need. You should notice a big improvement. Most people install a load of junk and never clean it out. Computers need a spring clean every so often. Have you all the service patches and updates from microsoft installed. Is your AV up today. Maybe try alighter AV like MSE. Turn off any services that you don't need.

Thanks Btwndeyes, TrickyD, Voodoo Child and BostonB. Same question as above, whats CCleaner? Should it be on my laptop already or do I have to download / buy it?

Voodu Child

newmug wrote: »

Thanks Btwndeyes, TrickyD, Voodoo Child and BostonB. Same question as above, whats CCleaner? Should it be on my laptop already or do I have to download / buy it?

CCleaner is just a free maintenance app. Link. Most of the things it does can be done in other ways, but it brings them together quickly and accessibly.

In this case I would use it for two key things:

1) Check the installed apps. Sort them by date, see if maybe you have installed something recently that is causing these issues. Generally, uninstall anything you don't need.

2) Check the startup apps. These are apps that automatically run any time you start the machine. You'll typically see things like Adobe Speed launcher, Java update scheduler, iTunes helper, etc. in your startup list. Most of them are harmless and use very little resources, however as with any app there is the possibility of bugs or memory leaks. So I would normally look through the list and get rid of anything that seems unnecessary or comes from bad vendors.

The other functions (general cleaner, registry cleaner) are useful but don't really pertain to this situation.

BostonB

Free...

http://www.piriform.com/products

I like Speecy and Defraggler too...

BostonB

I try to stop things like iTunes, Skype, Messenger, loading automatically. As they all slow a machine down. I always in install Norton if I find it on a machine. Its just too slow. I use MSE on most older machines these days.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Btwndeyes

The reason i asked was i have a laptop roughly same timeline as you, i had vista, ran as slow as fu**. got a free disk for windows seven so installed that and removed vista, the difference was unbelievable, so much faster, never froze like vista, battery time doubled. vista runs alot of background programs more then other systems that slows down a pc as programs build up over time, your processor, was probably perfectly fine when vista was installed new but now after two years of accumulation it is under stress, as stated above cleaning up your system will help no end, defrag regularly. Also if possible i would recommend swapping out vista(it was a good idea just badly put together as an operating system)

newmug

Btwndeyes wrote: »

The reason i asked was i have a laptop roughly same timeline as you, i had vista, ran as slow as fu**. got a free disk for windows seven so installed that and removed vista, the difference was unbelievable, so much faster, never froze like vista, battery time doubled. vista runs alot of background programs more then other systems that slows down a pc as programs build up over time, your processor, was probably perfectly fine when vista was installed new but now after two years of accumulation it is under stress, as stated above cleaning up your system will help no end, defrag regularly. Also if possible i would recommend swapping out vista(it was a good idea just badly put together as an operating system)

I'm getting loads of help here, thanks everybody. I did the MSCONFIG and took out a load of crap I never use, itunes, realplayer etc. I ran Malwarebytes Antimalware, true to from, the internet disconnected during the scan! Had to restart the laptop to get it going again, seeing results already:) Running Malwarebytes again now!

Btwndeyes, how do I remove vista and install Windows7? I assume I'd have to buy Windows7?

Ash.J.Williams

newmug wrote: »

I'm getting loads of help here, thanks everybody. I did the MSCONFIG and took out a load of crap I never use, itunes, realplayer etc. I ran Malwarebytes Antimalware, true to from, the internet disconnected during the scan! Had to restart the laptop to get it going again, seeing results already:) Running Malwarebytes again now!

Btwndeyes, how do I remove vista and install Windows7? I assume I'd have to buy Windows7?

You would need to buy a windows 7 disk, back up all your files to an external hardrive, (i would then completely format the laptop disk0 then install windows 7.

As i said earlier, I would not use less than 3gb for vista....it is usable but tediously slow.

Btwndeyes

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

You would need to buy a windows 7 disk, back up all your files to an external hardrive, (i would then completely format the laptop disk0 then install windows 7.

As i said earlier, I would not use less than 3gb for vista....it is usable but tediously slow.

Yup windows 7 is more or less vista fixed, its the same base of software, just made better and lighter, i recommend going to software4students.ie If you have any family members in any level of education( or just pretend you do)

newmug

Hi all!

Firstly, thanks everybody for all your help!

Secondly, its been a while so I thought I'd give yiz an update: I ran loads of virus scanners and defragmenters, all clean, feckall difference. I uninstalled Norton and installed MSE, slight increase in computer speed. Still didnt upgrade RAM or ditch vista for W7.

So, which would be cheaper to do, upgrade RAM or upgrade to W7?

Anyway, how do you go about upgrading RAM, where do you buy the chip? Do you have to "install" it like a normal piece of hardware or just lash it in and expect it to work?

bedstuybosco

BostonB wrote: »

Norton. Uninstall it. Burn the disk., Shred, burn it again, drive over it, shred 3 more times. Write 100 times, "I will not install Norton". Burn the disk again...

Get the idea....

i agree, get rid

get clamwin antivirus ....

you can get cc cleaner from filehippo.com

spiderjazz

newmug wrote: »

Hi all!

Firstly, thanks everybody for all your help!

Secondly, its been a while so I thought I'd give yiz an update: I ran loads of virus scanners and defragmenters, all clean, feckall difference. I uninstalled Norton and installed MSE, slight increase in computer speed. Still didnt upgrade RAM or ditch vista for W7.

So, which would be cheaper to do, upgrade RAM or upgrade to W7?

Anyway, how do you go about upgrading RAM, where do you buy the chip? Do you have to "install" it like a normal piece of hardware or just lash it in and expect it to work?

If you are stuck for cash, it could be an idea to do a clean re-install of Vista first. I've found any version of Windows I've had installed (from XP to 7) has a certain shelf-life of optimum performance before it starts getting clogged up/slowing down etc. Frequent defragging, keeping an eye on viruses/malware etc. helps, but you could get a significant speed boost by doing a clean install. You might have gotten a Vista disk when you purchased your laptop, but you probably have a repair partition on the laptop which will have all the files.

In my own position, I have a somewhat similar laptop to yours (centrino duo, 2gb ram). I had vista from day one, and it was grand for a while but started running very slowly after a while, for no apparent reason. Re-installed and it worked grand for a while, then the same thing happened. I bought Windows 7 (I got a student discount at the time, it was only like 35 quid or something) and I haven't looked back. It's a superior operating system in every way. Your machine will feel so much slicker with it. I've just done a clean install of it again after 20 months of my previous installation, and it's lightning fast. I've ordered ram for mine as well (to go from 2gb to 4gb), so that should be another boost. It cost me 60 euro for the ram from memoryc, and hopefully I'll get a few euro from adverts by selling the old ram.

BostonB

spiderjazz wrote: »

...do a clean re-install of Vista first...

+1

..with XP or W7...

Download auslogics disk defrafg and tidy up your files on your hard disk.

There is an option for 'defrag and optomise'.

If there is still a noticeable lag in performance, try turning of the visual effects on the OS.

This Microsoft link provides a list which enabled can boost your performance.

The main thing is, just enable what you need, delete everything else.

When installing applications / programs, be wary of the 'next, next, next' or 'click, click, click', look at the options and untick any unnecessary options which you will be presented with, such as additional software and avoid any additional installation of a 'browser toolbar', also many and most applications during the installation phase compete for application dominance by installing as a service or during startup as you noticed when deleting them in 'msconfig', just untick them.

Also if you are going to do an upgrade, I would advise go the Win 7 route, I know people have said XP, there is many reasons, from the installation, you might have to slipstream sata drivers as XP didn't didn't provide that in the base iso which your laptop obviously has since it came with Vista. To, it's legacy, and even this week the NSA (National Security Agency), I know USA, have advised XP users to upgrade to Win 7, and that's another discussion.

Anyways,

Hope it all works out..

BostonB

Well I don't think XP is much of a security risk myself. But for sure, since you're not technical forget XP. Go with Windows 7. I'd get that first then RAM. W7 is ok with 2GB of ram, depending on what you are doing.

Overheal

Have to say there was some misguided advice in this thread.

Did you ever suspect the Windows Backup Service? I know my PC skips around like an annoying bastard when I have my Seagate Backup Utility running. And the Windows Backup, which is a stupid thing even in Win7 and I really should disable it. But thats why I have it run at 4 in the morning on a Sunday.

Norton despite popular stereotype, runs in background (Like any other AV) and only runs maintenance scans during inactivity, just the same as a Screensaver might.

The Idea that Norton or 2GB of RAM caused the freezing/skips is asinine at best. Quick check of the Pagefile use rules out RAM and Norton does not function in that way. When RAM is maxed out, you dont Skip, you just plain Freeze while the machine struggles to keep up. Pause, Pause, Pause, Pause, Pauses, in my experience have always been caused by a Backup program. Or the first time you've launched Steam in 3 months, and it tries to download updates for 12 different games at once.

I uninstalled Norton and installed MSE, slight increase in computer speed. Still didnt upgrade RAM or ditch vista for W7.

Not surprising, given it wasn't your problem. Not surprised MSE has a slightly smaller footprint, but it is also just a barebones AV, hence the "Essentials" portion of the brand.

If you are stuck for cash, it could be an idea to do a clean re-install of Vista first. I've found any version of Windows I've had installed (from XP to 7) has a certain shelf-life of optimum performance before it starts getting clogged up/slowing down etc. Frequent defragging, keeping an eye on viruses/malware etc. helps, but you could get a significant speed boost by doing a clean install. You might have gotten a Vista disk when you purchased your laptop, but you probably have a repair partition on the laptop which will have all the files.

Strongly support this idea. You also have to bear in mind that even the best security is not 100% effective. Realtime protection isnt even 60% effective*. And the same goes with careful browsing habits. Depending on the age of the install it can just clunker down after a while. My laptop when I was running it on Vista I think I did the Factory Format about 6 times in 2 years to keep it zippy. Had I not done that I probably would have despised Vista, as opposed to just thinking it inferior to 7

*on-demand scanning results too: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/stories/test/ondret/avc_od_feb2011.pdf

BostonB

TBH the general information is all the same...

Clean up the machine, uninstall/disable apps services you don't need, defrag, install a lighter AV, a lighter OS. Reinstalling an OS is very similar effect, it cleans up the machine and installs the OS to contiguous areas on the disk.

newmug

This might sound like a stupid question, but how do you do a re-install of vista? It was on the laptop when I bought it, I have no disk. Also, would it not wipe all of your saved stuff, pictures, favourites, etc.?

beanok77

I also currently have Vista.

Got my laptop in 2007. Find this thread very interesting as I am having some slight speed issues myself. Not half as bad as the op but I am finding certain sites (some flash videos/games. etc) running slightly slower than others.

An IT guy once said to me that timelife for a laptop was 3 years. And PC was 5 years. Beginning to think there is some substance to this.

Everybody runs the defrag, uninstalls unused programmes, eliminates some start up programmes, deletes somes old unused files, malware scan, virus scan etc. And my own experience of this (1 Previous pc and laptop) it only slightly improves performance.

In my opinion and I am no computer expert, I regularily visit this site for help! If a machine is 3 to 4 years old and is constantly updating. eg. sevice pack 1, 2, 3 etc. Is it not inevitable the machine will slow down and need to be replaced instead of wasting money on new operating systems, software and hardware?

I, like the op will either be upgrading the ram and purchasing W7 or else buying some new hardware.

Although next time I buy a laptop I will buy an external hard drive to hold everything (itunes, pics, videos, everything!) then we will see exactly how long I get out of a new machine without clogging up the hard drive!

BostonB

Games and web apps, flash however are very demanding, and they keep upping the hardware needed to run those. Outside of that however for most things a late P4 or dualcore will be fine. So that 4 or 5 yrs old. If you are going to run the latest apps and website and games you'll probably need newer hardware.

Depends what you are doing. if its office stuff, office 2003 isn't much different to 2007 and is faster. However the latest version of browsers are faster than older versions, if you machine can run them.

Also a PC or laptop with a decent graphic card might offload some of the OS GUI or video playback to the graphics card. So will last a good bit longer.

You can also turn off a lot of bells and whistles to speed up a machine. Windows has always clogged up after a while and clean install often breathes new life into an old machine.

Overheal

newmug wrote: »

This might sound like a stupid question, but how do you do a re-install of vista? It was on the laptop when I bought it, I have no disk. Also, would it not wipe all of your saved stuff, pictures, favourites, etc.?

should be as simple as going to start and typing in 'factory' or 'reinstall windows', or 'system restore'

Yes it will wipe everything that ever happened to the computer up to the point it was actually taken out of it's original box and powered on for the first time since leaving the factory. You will want to back up your files.

Art Teacher

newmug wrote: »

Hi. I'm relatively new to computers and havent a clue.

Basically, my laptop is operating very slowly. Even as I'm typing this, the screen is freezing every couple of seconds. I'm continuing to type, and when the screen unfreezes, what I've typed catches up, but then it just freezes again. Downloading anything is a nightmare as the internet connection keeps disconnecting.

It is a Toshiba A200, intel centrion duo, windows vista, C drive has 24GB free out of 93GB, E drive is empty at 91GB. I dont know what RAM or ROM or anything it has.

Any ideas? All help appreciated - Thanks

I reckon your memory is too full. You need to keep about a third of your memory free - ie one third of 93 GB is about 34 GB . 24 GB free is not enough . You need to deleted you large files that are clogging up your memory.

Art Teacher

Also newmug,
Aswell as getting rid of large files - Find your caches folders and delete them.

Every time a website is visited online it leaves a cache or memory. These can really ad up to lot of memory space.

Do a search, find the computers caches and delete them.

spiderjazz

You should get ccleaner, it will go through the computer and get rid of a lot of the stuff talked about in the thread.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

tonto2010

Art Teacher wrote: »

I reckon your memory is too full. You need to keep about a third of your memory free - ie one third of 93 GB is about 34 GB . 24 GB free is not enough . You need to deleted you large files that are clogging up your memory.

Thats nonsense, 24 Gig of drive space is loads, your would start to run into problems if you were to get down to the tens of MB's. As other people have suggested run ccleaner, check your event viewer for errors and check your memory and cpu usage in task manager.

Also remove any programs you don't use, alot of newer programs run at startup and continue running in memory even though their not being used.

Art Teacher

24 GB is not enough of memory free. The hard drive is about 94 Gb.

The original poster wanted advice.

I advise the OP to delete large files and caches - its good maintenance.

Get your available memory back to at least 34 GB as one third of your memory free.

Overheal

Art Teacher wrote: »

24 GB is not enough of memory free. The hard drive is about 94 Gb.

The original poster wanted advice.

I advise the OP to delete large files and caches - its good maintenance.

Get your available memory back to at least 34 GB as one third of your memory free.

No need for one third. Defragmentation can run with a minimum of 15%.

BostonB

I've never seen defrag make a huge difference tbh. But I would try to have as much disk space free as possible.

newmug

Hi folks. Its been a while, and I think I'm in real trouble.

I did everything people suggested on here, except the re-installing of vista, the RAM upgrade, and the W7 upgrade. Feckall improvement. Over the last few months, my laptop has just been getting slower and slower.

Now it keeps crashing. It freezes, then the screen goes black. It doesnt recover. Sometimes a message pops up on the black screen saying "Logon process failed" or something like that. All I can do is force a shut-down and start again. Most of the time that works, but sometimes I get a DOS screen saying "Realtek media test failed - try cable", and again a forced shut-down is the only answer. What the hell is going on with my £1200 machine?

BostonB

You kinda didn't do any of the things that make a real difference.

Try un-installing Norton. See if that helps.

newmug

BostonB wrote: »

You kinda didn't do any of the things that make a real difference.

Try un-installing Norton. See if that helps.

I did do that. Up to this morning, I did everything that was suggested except the 3 things mentioned in my last post. So thats un-installing Norton, un-installing unused programs, running ccleaner, defragler, malwarebytes, super-anti-spyware, cleaning up the start menu, deleting cache's, the whole shebang!

And as of 12:00 today, I now have 3GB of RAM! Slight improvement, but still unacceptably slow:(

But now I have these new problems to worry about. We'll see if the extra RAM helps with them.

edanto

Can you avail of the student discount to get W7, as advised?

If not, can you re-install Vista?

They are the things that will make a difference. The reason that you haven't done them is probably because they are daunting big steps. That is the reason they will make a big difference.

(either from the original disks or using the steps below from http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c00809678&lc=en&product=18703)

• Click Start and enter Recovery in the search field. Select Recovery Manager from the list when it becomes available. Allow the action to continue, if prompted. The HP Recovery Manager opens.
• Alternately, click Start , All Programs , Recovery Manager , and then Recovery Manager . Allow the action to continue, if prompted. The HP Recovery Manager opens.
• Click Advanced options , System recovery , and then click Next . The PC will restart and reopen the recovery manager.
• Alternately, if Advanced options is disabled, click Next , and then System Recovery . The PC will restart.
• When the PC restarts, select the System recovery option and click Next .
• If prompted to use the Microsoft System Restore program, click No , and then click Next .
• When prompted, select the Back up your files first (recommended) option, and then click Next . Follow the on-screen instructions.
• When prompted to Recover without backing up your files , please STOP before clicking Next .
• WARNING:This is the final opportunity to change your mind about recovering the PC and deleting all the files and programs. Once you click Next , the restore process cannot be stopped
• If you are satisfied that you want to begin the recover process, click Next . The PC immediately begins formatting the hard drive and destroying all data.
• The recovery process may take up to several hours and will return the PC to its original condition. Any custom settings, drivers, software programs and updates, and/or hardware updates are lost and must be reinstalled.

BACKUP all of your files, pictures, music, EVERYTHING to an external drive before you start the above process in case something goes wrong.

If you're unsure or not confident, take it to a computer shop or invite a geeky friend around for some beers and computer fixing.

Overheal

Personally I don't find Windows Reformats/Reinstalls an issue... anymore. You have to be really careful that you backed up all your damn files. and I typically missed **** the first few times, some of which were irreplaceable photos. But oh ****ing well.

OP I would like for you to download and run Windirstat - you can google for it. I'm curious to know how much of your Hard Drive shows up as "Unknown Space" - I found that to be a weird issue with Vista, and yes, Vista always slowed down for me. Which incidentally is how I got so good at reinstalls. I must have reformatted the laptop at least 7 times in 3 years. I highly recommend the switch to Windows 7 if that appears to be the situation.

Norton should be perfectly fine to run I'd say your real issue is that strange Vista **** from Unknown Space. I always likened it to a brain tumor.

Either way the 2 year mark is prime time to upgrade the RAM on a laptop. Kind of like the 60,000 mile maintenance on your car: it's just something you have to do. Unless you want a new car.

Mark Hamill

newmug wrote: »

Hi folks. Its been a while, and I think I'm in real trouble.

I did everything people suggested on here, except the re-installing of vista, the RAM upgrade, and the W7 upgrade. Feckall improvement. Over the last few months, my laptop has just been getting slower and slower.

Now it keeps crashing. It freezes, then the screen goes black. It doesnt recover. Sometimes a message pops up on the black screen saying "Logon process failed" or something like that. All I can do is force a shut-down and start again. Most of the time that works, but sometimes I get a DOS screen saying "Realtek media test failed - try cable", and again a forced shut-down is the only answer. What the hell is going on with my £1200 machine?

If your computer is failing and giving specific errors codes, it could mean that there is a hardware problem. Googling "Realtek media test failed - try cable" and it seems like it could be a bad boot device (assuming you haven't altered you boot order, it could be an issue with your hard-drive or mother board being faulty). I would do what Overheal said, try to find out if there is an issue with the hard drive, it may just need to be replaced. Also, if you get anymore errors (as opposed to just slow downs), write down exactly what they say or the error code given. You can google it and see what the exact problem is.

newmug

Overheal wrote: »

Personally I don't find Windows Reformats/Reinstalls an issue... anymore. You have to be really careful that you backed up all your damn files. and I typically missed **** the first few times, some of which were irreplaceable photos. But oh ****ing well.

OP I would like for you to download and run Windirstat - you can google for it. I'm curious to know how much of your Hard Drive shows up as "Unknown Space" - I found that to be a weird issue with Vista, and yes, Vista always slowed down for me. Which incidentally is how I got so good at reinstalls. I must have reformatted the laptop at least 7 times in 3 years. I highly recommend the switch to Windows 7 if that appears to be the situation.

Norton should be perfectly fine to run I'd say your real issue is that strange Vista **** from Unknown Space. I always likened it to a brain tumor.

Either way the 2 year mark is prime time to upgrade the RAM on a laptop. Kind of like the 60,000 mile maintenance on your car: it's just something you have to do. Unless you want a new car.

Overheal I ran Windirstat. I'm not sure what I'm looking at. In the options menu, you can choose to display "unknown". The difference in figures for me is that Vista is using 66.8GB before displaying "unknown", and 75.1 after. Is that the info you wanted?

newmug

Hi folks. I know its been a while.

So! I got myself a 300GB external harddrive, and a brand spanking new copy of W7. Cost me E129. I know W8 is here, but I dont care, its too new to know if its glitchy yet, and so far everybody seems fine with W7.

So what next? I copied my entire C drive onto my external drive today cos I dont know what bits exactly I need to save. First thing I noticed was that on my laptop, it says my C drive is 93GB, but on the ext. HD, its only showing up as 31GB. Is this usual?

I didnt delete anything off my laptop. How do I do a "clean" install? I assume this will involve some deleting. The lad in the shop said I dont have to, that W7 can just "upgrade" from Vista, but I'm sick and tired of this machine behaving like a C64 from 1988, so I want to do this the "clean" way. Where do I start?

And when I have W7 installed, how do I get my stuff from my ext. HD back onto my laptop? Seeing as I copied the entire C drive, I assume there will be a lot of overlap or duplication between the various windows programs. How do you know what you need to keep, and what you dont?

Hijpo

newmug wrote: »

Hi folks. I know its been a while.

So! I got myself a 300GB external harddrive, and a brand spanking new copy of W7. Cost me E129. I know W8 is here, but I dont care, its too new to know if its glitchy yet, and so far everybody seems fine with W7.

So what next? I copied my entire C drive onto my external drive today cos I dont know what bits exactly I need to save. First thing I noticed was that on my laptop, it says my C drive is 93GB, but on the ext. HD, its only showing up as 31GB. Is this usual?

I didnt delete anything off my laptop. How do I do a "clean" install? I assume this will involve some deleting. The lad in the shop said I dont have to, that W7 can just "upgrade" from Vista, but I'm sick and tired of this machine behaving like a C64 from 1988, so I want to do this the "clean" way. Where do I start?

And when I have W7 installed, how do I get my stuff from my ext. HD back onto my laptop? Seeing as I copied the entire C drive, I assume there will be a lot of overlap or duplication between the various windows programs. How do you know what you need to keep, and what you dont?

Power the laptop, insert the disc, power down, power up and it should bring you to the windows install screen. If it doesnt try change the boot order in the bios.

When copying files back the only ones that would be necessary would be your pics etc as any programmes will have to be reintalled instead of just copied back to work.

newmug

Hijpo wrote: »

Power the laptop, insert the disc, power down, power up and it should bring you to the windows install screen. If it doesnt try change the boot order in the bios.

When copying files back the only ones that would be necessary would be your pics etc as any programmes will have to be reintalled instead of just copied back to work.

Thanks Hijpo. So even programmes I downloaded, eg. free version of realplayer, MS works which I had to pay for, I'll have to download (and presumably pay for) again?