HD 1/4 full, 'totally cleaned' laptop and still slow

cbachinger

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Hi all,

I dont have the oldest laptop on the shelf (2 years) but im only using 1/4 of my hard drive and have it regularly cleaned to ensure optimal performance (and this means weekly updated virus/spyware scan, cleaning temp internet folder daily, emptying the 'prefetch' folder, scandisking every month and defraging every couple of weeks).

My processor is Centrino 1.7GHz with 512MB.

What else can i do speed up this laptop?

It is fast when windows is freshly installed but why does it slow so much when its just 1/4 full? I have no memory demanding applications apart from firefox (25mb) explorer (23 MB) and svchost (21MB).
 
Welcome to Windows:(
Even just after a fresh install, downloading updates, installing your favorite programs, and surfing the Internet, over time, the registry gets fragmented, and you can hardly never get it straight again. There are programs that help, but there's nothing like a fresh install. You should see some lag over time, but if it's really noticable, then I have to ask what programs you are using to clean up things. The main thing- what type of antivirus do you have? If it's Norton or McAfee, that's over half the issue right there.
 
Yep, the same thing. Daily and /or maintenance and scans of crap will make it faster, but it WILL lag even with it.
 
pctechmike said:
The main thing- what type of antivirus do you have? If it's Norton or McAfee, that's over half the issue right there.

Holy crap that is so true. Those programs slow a computer so much. I have another older computer and it was running top notch until I installed McAfee. It made it so horribly slow that it was enough to just give it the boot. Then i realized that it might be McAfee that was causing the issues, i uninstalled it, and the computer was back to the way it was running flawlessly. So if you've got either of those installed, that may be the culprit.
 
Yes your right..If you have Norton(in particular) get rid of it straight away and get AVG..get it from www.grisoft.com
It says free version but it is a lifelong program not just a 30-Day trial..Not much of a differnce(if any) between the Free and paid anyway..Hope this helped you a little :)
 
I was using Norton but then my school's script unknowningly deleted it and my backup file refused to open. So i am forced to use the school's antivirus program Trend Micro-which im not really happy with using. I did notice a sligth increase in speed but not the speed that i was expecting. Zonealarm was also somehow taking memory but then lately it was slowing down and sometimes eventually freezing my laptop when a certain notification came up and so I deleted it too and my laptop seems to have picked up some more pace-but i feel not enough to be satisfied.

I use Adaware for spyware and registry mechnic for the registry.

My laptop was designed for running at high performance in the corporate world, so Im surprised that im having such problems to begin with. I also noticed that sometimes my laptop loads into windows fast and other times it crawls in and on thesame day!

So what you are saying, is that just by doing regular maintenance, I can slow down my laptop?
 
You are much better off with Trend Micros than Norton- Trust Me!
If you don't know how to use Zone Alarm, it can be more of a nusance than it can help. That's not a cut at you, but Zone Alarm is a little advanced, unless you have the time to research and read and configure it properly. It is a good program though. Adaware for spyware- I would suggest you keep that, and also use Spybot- Search and Destroy, and Microsofts AntiSpyware Beta. It's always better to have more than one spyware removal program, simply becuase one will find something the other won't. What is the specs on the laptop?
 
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