my laptopis running very slow online....need suggestions

[gabagoo]

I am not sure when it started, possibly in the last week or so, but everything I do online seems to have slowed down incredibly. Facebook seems to take almost a minute before I can do anything. This site sits for at least 20 seconds after opening any thread or trying respond.
I have run avg on a full scan. I have run Malwarebytes and spybot and nothing bad is found.
I know avg did some updating last week that required me to reboot and wondered if the new updates had caused everything to slow down. I shut avg down and risked going online with no protection and still the problem persists.

Have run cc cleaner, still no improvement

Not sure what else I can try or how I can find out what is really happening.
Oh right, I also started using Firefox and have had it actually hang and google chrome does not seem to run any better.

what u think? what can I try?

 

[shakey0818]

re-install the operating system i just did it and it works great,plus i added som memory

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Sometimes running defrag helps free up some speed when it gets rid of all that extra stuff just hanging around there.

 

[Locals Find!]

Have you checked with your Internet provider. See if there is a problem in your area with your bandwidth?? What your describing sounds more like a bandwidth issue than a computer issue.

 

[D2S]

try a malware remover or a good virus remover to be safe and defrag... I get most of my stuff from majorgeeks

 

[Cross Signs]

Have you checked with your Internet provider. See if there is a problem in your area with your bandwidth?? What your describing sounds more like a bandwidth issue than a computer issue.

I agree. Check to see if your getting what your paying for at http://www.speedtest.net/

 

[kffernandez]

sounds like a classic case of a virus infection to me. having an antivirus program and malware protection does help. but it definitely is not foolproof. if it were my pc, i would reformat it. and diagnose from there.

the slowdown could also be a hard disk problem. but the slowdown in those instances are usually gradual in nature, and is not likely to happen in just over a week.

hope this helps.

 

[gabagoo]

I dont really want to wipe the drive and reinstall windows as it's a Dell and never actually came with a hard copy of windows xp. I suppose I am licensed but have no idea how to obtain a hard copy of the program.
I tried a system restore and it seems a little better but that might just be my imagination.
Time will tell. I really only use it for surfing and the odd game playing, but most importantly it is basically my super sized Ipod so I have to be careful not to lose my playlists lol

 

[signage]

Check you system for a separate partition. If it has an additional partition this is you systems back-up of original settings!

 

[round man]

before you go for a reinstall or recovery setup check your power options,..some laptops will switch components to a low power setting to conserve battery power such as the wireless adapter etc.,...it might just be the thing has done exactly what you or the factory told it to do,...go figure,...

 

[TheSnowman]

No computers seem to come with discs to reinstall anymore...it's always a partition on the hard drive. It's really easy and simple to do now though...so that's nice. I do it to most of my machines once every couple years when I realize they've become sluggish.

 

[kffernandez]

sooner or later you will need to wipe your hard drive. even just for the sake of removing all the trash out. you don't really have to do it now. i'm just saying that you should prepare for the inevitable necessity.

like what the others said. if your laptop has a licensed OS, and you didn't get a cd with it... the backup is probably already on a hidden partition of your hard drive.

 

[Brandon708]

try to defragment your c drive.

here is how...

Control panel ; Administrative tools ; Computer Management ; Storage ; disk defragmenter

 

[gabagoo]

sooner or later you will need to wipe your hard drive. even just for the sake of removing all the trash out. you don't really have to do it now. i'm just saying that you should prepare for the inevitable necessity.

like what the others said. if your laptop has a licensed OS, and you didn't get a cd with it... the backup is probably already on a hidden partition of your hard drive.

If it is hidden how do I reinstall the OS?

 

[jiarby]

Here is hwo I tackle this kind of complaint (sluggishness)..

Almost always it is one of three things:
1. malware/adware/spyware infection 80% of the time
2. file system maintenance issue: no disk space, excess temp files 10%
3. Resource utilization issue: XP with 512mb Ram & celeron, other background process dominating cpu utilization (antivirus, backupjob, indexing, etc..)

How I tackle it:
I have bootable DVD, CDRW, and also USB stick with drive image software & PC utlities and use whichever one seems appropriate.

1. I boot from my disk and clone the drive to external portable drive in case it all goes to crap... I have a good backup and can put it back the way it was before I showed up.
2. Boot up normally to check condition: PC make/model, BIOS version, OS version, what service pack/updates, what antivirus, drive configuration (partitions, # of drives, capacity), amount of total ram, amount of free disk space, what process loading on startup, amount of available ram after all startup process loaded.
3. Then I run utilities from my disk/dvd... in this order: ccleaner, hijackthis, malwarebytes, superantispyware, hijackthis again.

That will fix about 75-80% of the issues caused by malware.
If not, then you have to determine what is the cause of the problem.. identify the specific malware you are dealing with (see hijackthis log, running processes)... you may have to manually remove files and edit specific registry entries.

If the problem is ram/processes then I backup HKLM/LocalMachine/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run and start deleting entries I feel like are expendable. You may want to use the msconfig utility rather than editing the registry directly. Shut off startup processes and un-necessary services (like wireless zero config for a desktop using wired ethernet) A bare-bones XP will take between 80-100mb. Most "bad loads" are in the 350-400mb range. On a 512mb machine that does not leave you much overhead to run any apps. Especially browsers.
I can't count how many users I have run into complaining about speed problems that were on an XP box with 256-512mb of ram and after booting up they were using 400+mb just to load XP & startup processes. Add RAM to resolve this issue.

In a worst case scenario you can reimage the drive.... but that CAN have some drawbacks:

1. After restoring from factory image you have to download and install endless MS updates, service packs, hotfixes, and reboots.
2. You will wipe out all the programs you have installed that you may or may not have installation disks for.
3. You will THINK you have a good backup, but then find out it is corrupt or otherwise unuseable. Or, you will THINK you have backed up what you need (docs, pictures, favorites) but forget your outlook PST & PAB files, or the Apple/iTunes folder.
4. You can't remember your pop3 email (or any other) cached password.
5. After spending 5-6 hours re-imaging, updating, reinstalling, reconfiguring you then restore your files and reinfect your new system too! Yep... seen it!

So, my advice (in summary..)

1. make sure you have adequate ram/diskspace
2. run ccleaner, mbam, and sas

If still bad, it may be easier to back up and reinstall OS... it is tedious but you will be guaranteed a good clean system.


You usually can re-image from the factory partition by using a keystroke (like F9, F2) at the BIOS splash screen... the same place where you hit DEL to enter BIOS setup.

You can look at disk configuration in compmgmt.msc and look at the HDD to see if you have a factory partition on your HDD.

 

[kffernandez]

If it is hidden how do I reinstall the OS?

ahh. this is where it gets tricky. normally, your manual will tell you the hotkey you need to press during boot-up in order to go into the recovery menu. if you are able to get in, you will be able to effectively initiate the return-to-factory setting. this will basically delete everything in drive C and install the OS that came with your new laptop. i mentioned "tricky" because some shops actually put passwords on the recovery menu - just so that you will be forced to have your laptop serviced by them in case something goes wrong. hehe. but otherwise, you should be fine.

 

[kffernandez]

if you can follow jiarby's instructions. that would be the best way to do it.

 

[jiarby]

yeah.. if you can follow my instructions you probably don't need them! LOL!

 

[Techman]

REinstall Bullscat.. Geeses what a crazy idea. Yes, reformat and spend hours reinstalling software for something that would take about 10 minutes to fix..

Wipe/ reformat is almost never needed. That is some of the worst of ideas.
This is nothing but an atom bomb when a simple punch is all that's needed.

A geek in a computer shop almost never does these wipes reformat etc.. Even when they say they do. It's often just a matter of giving the machine a simple tune up using a few simple utilities to do it in a matter of a few minutes.


First make sure there are not a load of processes running in the lower right of your screen.

Get The Ultimate Trouble Shooter and let it advise you on what other processes to turn off. There are at least 5 un needed that are hogging your resources.

AVG. Remove it.. AVG is the most common cause of all slow downs lately.

Get avast for a virus deflector

Get temp file cleaner. The real one not the fake one. It will remove gigs of old
useless files hidden on yer machine that most other cleaners overlook.

http://software.addpcs.com/tfc/index.php

This will give you a good start.

just so that you will be forced to have your laptop serviced by them in case something goes wrong. hehe. but otherwise, you should be fine.

Only if the machine is leased and on a service plan... Otherwise this is only a rumor..

 

[Bobby H]

Talk about a major "bump" for this thread. It's likely that gagagoo's problem was solved months ago.

But while we're talking about reformatting, etc. I'm more on the side of reformatting and reinstalling when the system has become unstable, registry gummed up, etc. On top of that, there aren't any trojans or rootkits that can survive a format of drive C: and clean install of Windows.

If you have your various discs properly organized (operating system, software, drivers) a hard disc wipe and reinstall can often go much faster than taking the system to some other company where it could sit for days before they fix the problem. Going that route, they usually only fix whatever the most obvious problem may be and leave any other problems unaffected. My experience has been most problem PCs have a multitude of system issues, not just one virus infection or cluttered registry.

The very nature of the Windows platform and Microsoft's frequent security updates mean that anyone will have his PC's registry trashed with all sorts of gunk after a long enough period of use. I'll usually perform a "factory restore" or complete wipe of drive C once every 12 to 18 months.

This topic also brings up the fact most computer users on average are HORRIBLE at file management. They just do whatever with the machine and don't do any backups or other preventive maintenance until their computer takes a giant crap. Then they're usually screwed because a simple boot disc reformat would destroy lots of e-mail, photos and other stuff they didn't bother to back up elsewhere. I've used computers long enough to NEVER trust a boot hard disc drive with valuable data. I use multiple external hard disc drives and have valuable art files stored in more than one location. An arsonist could torch our building, but we would still have copies of all our client art files.

I dont really want to wipe the drive and reinstall windows as it's a Dell and never actually came with a hard copy of windows xp.

Normally you would just press F8 (or is it F11?) during start up when the Dell logo flashes on screen to access the system factory restore hidden partition on the hard disc drive. Of course if your boot hard disc dies (and they do) then you need the OS on some sort of disc.

I don't know why so many computer companies don't include disc based system restore media. You often have to pay a few bucks extra if they provide that option at all. I paid $15 for the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit system restore disc option for my new Dell XPS quad core notebook. I have discs for all my other stuff too, like Adobe Master Collection CS 5.5. Basically I can get my notebook up and running again without using Internet access if the hard disc takes a dump on itself.

Some new computers, like the newest Mac Mini and Mac Book Air have no CD drive. You can put OSX on a USB thumb drive and restore the system that way. But you need to already have it on that thumb drive before any hard disc failure occurs.