My computer is sloooooww....

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Celia Cyanide

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Lantern Jack just called me at work to tell me he just talked to tech support. Every time I open something, it takes, like 3 freaking minutes to load. It's really way to slow to do anything. Not just the internet, but my writing as well. My computer at home is old and used. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know whatever I do, I will probably have to spend money, but I would rather not buy a new one. Has anyone else had a problem like this, and how did you deal with it?

Thanks in advance, you guys are always awesome
 

MidnightMuse

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Hast thou checked for spywear, viruses and fragmented files lately?
 

clockwork

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Computers do get slower and slower the longer you have them unless you're very stringent with its maintenance. My uber-PC bought eight months ago which could run anything now has problems with particularly graphics-intense games. To fix it i need to defrag the SOB and clear out all of the crap I've collected over the past months, uninstall programmes I don't use and make sure, as Midnight said, there's little or no spyware/viruses.

If it doesn't improve the situation, you can always back up your essential files and do a factory restore. This will wipe everything you've done to the machine since you bought it. Depending on how much stuff you have this may not be an option!
 

Robert Toy

Aside from the above suggestions, can you increase the amount of RAM in your "old" computer?
 

dclary

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#1 cause of slowness on any computer I've ever seen is Norton Antivirus. What a resource-sucking piece of sh*t that is.

Anyway, yeah, you need to do a couple things, to get back to your accustomed level of speed and performance (despite the fact that for $400 you could probably quadruple both with a new computer today).

a) Add RAM
b) delete files you don't need on your computer anymore
c) uninstall any programs you don't need on your computer anymore
d) run a spyware/malware utility
e) defragment your hard drive
 

miles111

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You could consider buying a used Mac. That will allow you to work more and worry less.
You would have virtually no worry about spyware and viruses (I don't know any Mac user who has ever had one). There would not be the expense and irritation of having to buy anti-virus software or the pain of waiting while it slowly scans your every item you download or every email you receive. You would put an end to the never-ending 'patches' from M$. You would never again see the much-hated: "This Program Has Performed An Illegal Operation and will Be Shut Down" messages. And when you go to print something, it will print, not result in an error message telling you why it can't.
There are tons of great writing programs for the Mac—including the Mac version of Word. Life's too short to worry about viruses every single day.
I know I sound just like another Mac fanatic, and, luckily, I am. That said, making a change could save you endless grief...

PS the Mac mini is a great low priced machine that would allow you to use most, if not all, of your presently owned peripherals (printer, monitor, keyboard, etc.).
 
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dclary

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Because, you know, the true thinking man only uses tools that don't require him to...
 

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I've had slow PC response before but not as slow as 3 minutes each time!

A few months back I did a search for "optimize your PC" type utilities and downloaded a nifty program called Advanced WindowsCare. Once installed this software analyzed my setup and made a lot of suggestions on stuff like graphics, icons, colors (maybe not important on a high spec machine but on a crappy little 1200MHz laptop with 120Mb RAM like mine, this can gobble up memory). AWC especially pointed me to the services startup configuration (via msconfig - a handy command I'd completely forgotten about!) which listed a whole bunch of programs that load when Windows XP boots, stuff I'd installed ages ago but didn't use any more, but was still there, loading every time I switched my laptop on and sucking resource like a vampire. I unticked a lot of items, leaving just antivirus and touchpad software active during bootup, and noticed a significant improvement as soon as I restarted, e.g. when I double-clicked on icons the programs started in just a couple of seconds as opposed to that infuriating 10, 15, sometimes 20-second delay. I don't doubt there are other utilities out there that can do a similar or better job, this one worked for me.

If you don't have current antivirus software I'd recommend the free-for-personal-use AVG which you can download and install from www.grisoft.com

-Derek
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Nangleator

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I've seen a 3-year-old PC take longer than 3 minutes to open a Word file. It can get that bad. In our case, we did the factory disk lobotomy thing, and it didn't help. We must have had a virus buried deep.

Ended up getting a new PC instead of fighting it.
 

MidnightMuse

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Is the processor getting too hot? Do you still hear the fan running when you turn it on?

Any new software installed?

Is the hard drive close to being full?
 

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"What do you mean? The files are IN the computer?"
 

Unique

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dclary said:
"What do you mean? The files are IN the computer?"

That's why you have to make sure those fans are running. It gets hot in there and those files will catch on fire.
 

Ghost RYter

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I have a 3ghz laptop and it too has been running slow since I installed Norton Antivirus ...... Thanx for the tip , I have been defraging and checking for spyware to no avail ......Can anyone recomend a good anti-virus program that will allow me NOT run like a Pentium 1 , lol
 

Robert Toy

Ghost RYter said:
I have a 3ghz laptop and it too has been running slow since I installed Norton Antivirus ...... Thanx for the tip , I have been defraging and checking for spyware to no avail ......Can anyone recomend a good anti-virus program that will allow me NOT run like a Pentium 1 , lol
What OS are you using and what version Norton AV are you using? There are some known problems with the newer versions of NAV.
 

SeanDSchaffer

dclary said:
#1 cause of slowness on any computer I've ever seen is Norton Antivirus. What a resource-sucking piece of sh*t that is.


McAfee always bogged my system way down. Norton not so much. BitDefender was pretty good, and actually found a virus on my machine when Norton couldn't.

As for the original question: I would check for spyware first. Adaware SE is a pretty good freeware setup, as is Spybot Search & Destroy.

Another thing that I might mention is your Internet browser. Have you cleared your cache and your cookies? Enough of that stuff accumulated in your computer can really slow it down.

Also, be sure to use the maintenance features included in your operating system, such as Disk Defragmenter, etc., about once a week. My piddly little 500 Mhz Compaq Presario desktop works pretty darned good when I keep up the maintenance on it. It's slow, but not as slow as it could be.

One more thing: what operating system are you using? If you're using a newer system such as XP, it uses a lot more memory than does, say, 98SE--which, BTW, Microsoft quit supporting with new updates on July 11th. If you are using a big system like that on an older PC, you could have some problems opening things up because of the resources needed to run your OS.
 

Ghost RYter

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Tanx for the tips .... I heard last night in fact that Spybot was one of the worst offenders of slowdown (but I am not knowledgable as to computers other than on/off)
I am running on windows XP right now with a dial up carrier (I Know) as we just moved here and (sic) broadband is not currently availible where I am at .....Or cable .... Or alchoholic beverages (dry county) . I thought about DSL and will probably go that route VERY SOON .
 

SeanDSchaffer

Ghost RYter said:
Snipped.... I heard last night in fact that Spybot was one of the worst offenders of slowdown ....Snipped.

Of the two anti-spyware programs I've used, I find that Adaware SE is a better one and finds more stuff than Spybot - Search & Destroy. It is, however, a higher drain on my computer's resources than is Spybot.
 

Robert Toy

Ghost RYter said:
Tanx for the tips .... I heard last night in fact that Spybot was one of the worst offenders of slowdown (but I am not knowledgable as to computers other than on/off)
I am running on windows XP right now with a dial up carrier (I Know) as we just moved here and (sic) broadband is not currently availible where I am at .....Or cable .... Or alchoholic beverages (dry county) . I thought about DSL and will probably go that route VERY SOON .
If your using Norton AV, check the Norton AnitVirus Options and deselect: Enable Office Plug-In (Other, Miscellaneous); and Scan Active programs and start-up files (System, Manual Scan). With these 2 selected the system will do a virus scan every time you open a program and running. If you do a scan once a week, there is no need to keep these options – it will just slow the system down. I am using XP and NAV 2005 in conjunction with an Intel 3.2GHz processor and 4G Ram. No problems with operating (system) speed at all. NAV 2006 does NOT work well with XP, I tried the upgrade and returned it to Norton (on-line download) and retained the 2005. If you have NAV 2006, that is the source of your problem.
 

Cath

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Ghost RYter said:
Can anyone recomend a good anti-virus program that will allow me NOT run like a Pentium 1 , lol

Avast - another freebie. You need to re-register every so often, but it's worth it.

I'll second Whistlelock's recommendation on ZoneAlarm too.
 

MidnightMuse

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Zone alarm rocks - I used to use the free version, but when I went cable-internet and wireless, I purchased their complete lockdown/anti virus/computer condom package. Sometimes it blocks things you want to see, but you just have to do some tweaks.
 

allion

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You can also try Panda antivirus and Kaspersky for about a month for free.

They both found stuff Norton couldn't/wouldn't, and they don't hog the system.

Right now I have a trial of Bitdefender running, and it seems unobtrusive, which is good.

Karen
 
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