Very, very slow pc

[buzzyb]

Good afternoon,

Wonder if anyone can help me sort out my pc which is running very slowly. It takes about 5 minutes to get going!

I bought a Dell about 2 years ago and have the usual software ie Itunes plus spyware, ardware, virus and firewall. I also defrag, delete and compress files about every two weeks. I have not used much of the pc's memory and have an external drive for backup.

Can anyone tell me what I can do to speed my pc up a bit?

[Tichfield]

If it is taking a long time to "fire up" when you turn it on then I expect you have lots of programs opening up in your "start up" procedure.

[buzzyb]

Thanks Tichfield, is there anything I can do to change this? How will I know if I am opening programmes? I have a number of short cuts on my desktop could this be slowing my pc down?

Bee

[rojash]

Are you running an antivirus program? Is it performing a scan on startup? This is a common reason for slow startup (and a pretty pointless waste of time).

[Ethel]

Desktop shortcuts won't slow your computer down.

Assuming you have Windows XP:

Start - run

Type

msconfig

in the box and click the 'startup' tab.

You need your firwall and antivirus to automatically load, but if you have Office, your printer, games, other programs that you really don't need to start up automatically, then remove the ticks. You can always change it back if you need to.

Then click 'apply' and 'okay'

You usually have to reboot.

If you are in any way nervous, you can use a free little program to help you

http://www.windowsstartup.com/startupinspector .php

[buzzyb]

Morning,

Thanks for all your help. I'll do as Ethel suggests tonight or tomorrow morning (i'm at work at the mo), hopefully this will sort the problem. If not I'll be back for more help!

Bee

[GEEMAC]

Thanks for the advice Ethel. My computer has the same problem. I followed your instructions (which are easy to follow buzzyb) Unfortunately, I didn't recognize most of the things listed there and didn't want to take the chance of unchecking something I needed. The only thing I did uncheck was bearshare as I know I don't use that. I'll see if that makes a difference.

[Tichfield]

If you do a google search on the program names it usually give you at least a good clue as to what they are.

[Mac70]

A good place to check those start up programs http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/

[buzzyb]

Morning all,

Followed instructions - it was really easy BUT everytime I restarted my pc the damn thing told me I something had changed and I had to click on "Normal startup.." on the general tab, everything went back to as it was and I had to restart my pc again.

Having gone through this exercise three times I identified four things which I definately don't need and a few things which are not necessary.

I was sad enough to time my pc. With all software starting up my pc took just under 5 minutes. Having removed a number of software the time reduced to about 2 minutes. Are these times normal for a two year old pc????

What's a girl to do now?????????

B