Speeding Up Laptop

[rockyracoon]

My sons laptop is very slow (due to the amount of crap he has on it) and has asked for a new one, which is not happening.

So, is there anyway to make a laptop faster? More memory etc.

Thanks for any replies :)

[factor-fiction]

The first step would be to remove as much of the crap as possible and see if that makes enough of a difference

[rockyracoon]

That's the difficult bit FF, according to him he needs EVERYTHING on it!, I'd do it myself but he's password protected it ;)

Thanks anyway :)

[chelle7272]

Could he not store some of it on an external drive to clear some space?

[rockyracoon]

I think he's broken the hard drive Chell and I'm refusing to buy him another one.

Bloody kids!

[rockyracoon]

Oops, external drive.

[VHG]

Adding more memory MAY make it faster (depending how much memory he has and how much he adds).

One of things that can slow a laptop down is how many programs start up WHEN THE COMPUTER STARTS.

Often when a program is installed it sets itself up to autostart when Windows starts, so the problem is you can have loads of programs starting up that you don't actually NEED started up.

And generally the more programs you have running the slower the computer is going to be.

So he needs to find out WHAT programs are autostarting, and then deciding what of those he does NOT need to autostart.

By stopping some of those programs autostarting it may speed up his laptop.

[MichaelZZ]

Are you sure it's slow "because of the amount of crap on it"? Could there be some virus or malware slowing it down?
VHG's reply is absolutely correct and this is something your son should be able to do easily.
Can you give us some details of his laptop please? (Make, model, spec, age, operating system, capacity of hard drive, percentage of hard drive still available)
Does your son actually know anything about computers or does he just want something bigger and better?
If your son is really into computers he should either know all these things or be able to find the answers very quickly.

[rockyracoon]

VHG, I have discussed the start up with him but I'm concerned if we stop programs that should be starting.

Michael, I'll post details when he gets in from school, I can't get on to give you capacities as I don't have the password. I'm not sure how much he knows about computers but he could be blagging it in the hopes I buy him a better one.

Butcherdog ;)

[mikey4444]

Good basic housekeeping is what is needed here ::

Defrag the the main drive
Delete ALL crap
Only open as many windows as is needed.
Do a scan with the virus software

Don't respond to any blackmail or added pressure...kids get enough these days as it is. Explain, forcefully if needed, that millions of kids in the third world don't even have enough to eat, let alone have a fast enough laptop !

[rockyracoon]

Lol, Mikey, he hasn't a snowball in hells chance of getting a new computer out of me.

Thanks for your input though :)

[mikey4444]

I'm so glad to hear it rocky !

Best of luck with the laptop clean-up.