Why is my Dell laptop so rubbish/slow/c**p??!!!

[Frankieola]

I've got a Dell XPS laptop which I've had for about 2 years, It cost quite a bit of money when I bought it but why is it so rubbish?! In the time I've had it it has gone through 2 screens and cannot maintain a wireless connection from even 5 ft away from the modem! It runs vista home premium and takes ages to start up, is forever doing some sort of update, installing a patch, scanning, the harddrive goes mental and is forever whirring, and in general, I regret the day I ever bought it! its just taken me over 45 minutes to get on here due to the various things it needs to do yet I only use it for going on the net and playing football manager! Its my understanding that it was a fairly good laptop, why is it so rubbish?

[craft1948]

If you've had it less than 2 years isn't it still under warranty?
I'm quite surprised as although I've got a Toshiba now I always had Dells when I was working, and I always found them excellent.....it sounds like you've been very unlucky :-(

[AlBags]

Uninstall ALL the cr*p that DELL install that you do not need .. that will be loads. Check all processes running and limit to what is actually needed.
Set Java to update monthly. Switch off all feed stuff ..and limit its cache, that will help. Clean up and defrag registry and HDD. Latest free AV software is sloooow and resource hungry. Consider a good paid for service like NAV 2010. Go to display advanced settings and switch off all stupid animations of windows, etc .. background pics, etc.
I just cleaned up and switched down 12 background processes and uninstalled a load of unecessary Dell stuff on an Inspiron. The difference is amazing. About 30secs boot to a clean desktop now.

[craft1948]

yeah ^^ what he said.....

[AlBags]

especially disable messenger on start, and also anything like Exif viewer and Dell quickset ... they are not needed to be running all the time. You can get by with only about 5 things showing in system tray (incl Wireless and AV)

[mightyWBA]

AlBags..I've got a rubbish slow and "not responding" Dell laptop as well, which is driving me nuts.
Please can you type all that again in an "idiots guide" Cheers!
(I'm an old fart!)

[AlBags]

I'll be back soonest with what I did (roughly) on the Inspiron!
Cheers

[lorygoes]

A slow Dell can be caused by many system reasons other than hardware issues, go http://www.speedupslowdell.com/ and have a scan of your Dell for a diagnostic report. Regards.