computer gone very slow

[pattylou]

my computer has gone very slow,i have heard about defrag but have no idea how to do it,please could someone tell me,and anything else that would possibly help.As you can see i am a novice with computing.Thank You

[sod_the_m25]

The simplest way to get to defrag is Start - Help - and type in "defrag". You will get a link to run it.

PC performance is a complex business unfortunately, but a defrag is a good place to start. If you've never done one before it may take a fair while and you might like to start it just before you go to bed and leave it whirring overnight. It slows the pc down a heck of a lot while it is running.

[Ethel]

How old is your pc?

Windows XP, Vista?

[pattylou]

xp and around 4-5 years old

[Ethel]

Start - - control panel - performance and maintenance

Free up space on your hard disk - select Drive C - ok

Tick every box, then the 'more options' tab

Click the 'systems restore' clean up button, then click ok.


When that has finished, back to start - my computer - performance and maintenance and click 'rearrange items on my hard drive' and choose Drive C.

You can repeat these two for all your hard drives, if you have more than one.

Then we'll look at your programs in your start up folder.

[pattylou]

Thank you Ethel for that, i went onto Start then Control Panel but cant find performance and maintainence! i know i am probably being a pain to all you experts but please where do i find perform and maintainence?

[Ethel]

In your start -control panel

Look at the left hand panel. If you can see 'switch to category view' , click that.

Any good?

[pattylou]

Hello again Ethel sorry its taking so long, but i said it was slow,done all you said just waiting for the last one "rearrange items" on hard drive to finish

[Ethel]

That's great!

Do you know how many hard drives you have? Mine has only one, but shows as three - Drive C; Drive D and Drive E.

If yours is the same, repeat with Drive D.

You can tell by going to Start - My Computer.

While you are in My Computer, I would like you to right click on Drive C, and click 'properties'.

How much free space and how much used space does it show?

[Panic Button]

You might be waiting a long time!

[Ethel]

It's worth the wait, though, panic. :)

[pattylou]

it is showing drive C and DVD/CD DRIVE D free space is 25.0GB and used space 10.5 GB capacity 35.6 GB if that is any use?

[Panic Button]

Sod the M25 is probably wise suggesting you leave it to defrag overnight.

Mind you I read somewhere that defrag has far less effect on XP than it did with earlier operating systems.

[Ethel]

That is very good - so only about one third of your hard drive is used.

Hurrah!

As you have plenty of space, download this free program:

http://www.windowsstartup.com/

It is the first one we are going to use - Startup Inspector

This will tell you all the programs that are starting automatically every time you turn your pc on. You can safely stop the unnecessary from starting - that will free up a lot of your pc's resources.

Yes, you can do it without downloading the program, but this is by far the easiest way for novices.

[pattylou]

Am i safe to download that programme whilst the defrag is still going?

[Ethel]

You could do, but it is probably better to wait.

I would wait. :)

What antispyware, antitrojan programs are you using?

[ACtheTROLL]

the trouble with using the microsoft cleanup tools is they don't get rid of everything (hardly anything actually - more conservative that margaret thatcher with a public utility
if you look in
C:\Documents and Settings\<yourname>\Local Settings\Temp after running ms cleanup you'll see....

it won't reliably delete anything but .tmp files
(and will also leave the sub folders and contents) -
often it will leave more than it cleans nor will it delete the update files
or logs - could leave the best part of 1Gb and 1000s of files

(that's why I use ccleaner - http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/)

don't let it install yahoo toolbar -
do use the default settings
if you bank - clear the delete cookies option

I rarely trust free utilities - this is one of the few exceptions
the worst damage it's ever done is clearing my banking password
do all that first - then check the disk for errors
finally defrag

repeat every couple of months

[ACtheTROLL]

just ran the ms utility ... with everything ticked -
says will recover 317,134 k of space

ccleaner
ANALYSIS COMPLETE - (299.588 secs)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
748.8MB to be removed. (Approximate size)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Details of files to be deleted (Note: No files have been deleted yet)

[pattylou]

Yes i will wait till tomorrow i'm getting tired now. i have Norton security installed.Could i just ask a question about cookies....like i said i'm a complete novice i do my banking on line, had no trouble before but now can't access the site it says that i have no cookies?I must have had before cos it's only just saying that now. Thanks for all your help Ethel, and to all the others offering advice.

[ACtheTROLL]

you say no trouble before - now can't bank
before what?

which method did you use?
(you don't get the option NOT to delete cookies with the MS utility)

what version of norton is it?

[Leight0n]

I found that Norton slowed down my PC no end! It's a pain as well as you can't simply unistall it!

You need to download a program which removes Norton fully off your PC.

I then used AVG which is a free anti virus program that updates itself against new threats on a daily basis.

I recommend removing Norton!