Why do I keep on having slow downs and program lockups on my laptop?

Question

Morning all,

I've grown frustraited with this ever more. I've done the following things for my laptop PC.

*Backed up files and programs,burned them to data disks.
* External HD
*Constinately doing virus,adware,spyware,etc...checks.
* Disk cleanup,cache cleanup,defragmentating the drive.

I am still suffering more program lockups and slow downs when I have 2-3 windows open. Why does this keep on happening to me ? The laptop is little over a year old.

Any additional information and questions about the laptop,let me know I can provide.

Answer 1

You need to reformat the hard disk drive. Or in other words reinstall windows. If you are getting the "this program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down," and similar. I can not explain why but over time it gets worse and it may have something to do with the file system or possibly the software may have errors, or the drive.

Answer 2

Sorry to hear about all that trouble your getting, but don't worry. I know a number of SURE things to do that will have your laptop running fast in no time:



1. Defrag your disk drives ever so often. This greatly contributes to system slow down. To defrag go to: Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter



2. Cleanup your temporary folders. As you do a number of things on your pc, temporary files accumulate on your pc, that are no longer necessary. You can go to the following folders and delete all the temporary files:

* To access the follwoing folders you may have to unhide system folders. To do this open any folder > Tools > Folder Options > View > Under Hidden Files and Folders choose show hidden files and folders, and also uncheck Hide protected operating system files.



c:\windows\temp\

c:\documents and settings\\local settings\temp\

c:\documents and settings\\local settings\temporaray internet files\

c:\documents and settings\\local settings\history\

c:\documents and settings\\cookies



3. Get a good virus scanning aplication. If you have norton or any norton related applications on your pc, do yourself a favour and remove it, because norton does NOT manage system resources well, resulting in MASSIVE slowdown. There is a free virus scanning software call AVG. Have been using it for nearly 2 years now...works great: http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/



4. Go through your Add and Remove Software list and remove everything that you do not use. Applications that are installed but not used take up disk space.



There are many otehr things you can do. If your interested in a full listing, you can instant message me at [e-mail]. I'll be more than happy to help you.

Answer 3

Hey Gadget,



Certainly sounds like you doing all the right things and i am thinking it's hardware and not file defragmentation etc. What is the processing speed on your Laptop? How much RAM do you have available ? How big is your Hardrive? - often when a hard drive gets too full it starts utilizing the system memory more and more to compensate for the ammount of disk space already occupied. I would go 1 step further and say that i would not fill up a hard drive to more then Half its capacity... Check all of this, double up on ram, and you should be fine....Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Personally, i would do a complete Xp reinstall with a FULL FORMAT rather than a QUICK FORMAT. This will ensure all corrupted files are deleted and wiped out.



On the other hand, of the computer is over a year old it very well could have the bare minimum ammount of RAM installed. In the past year programs (even AOL Instant Messenger) require 128MB of RAM or above to run.



Possibly your laptop needs some more memory to operate with todays memory demanding programs :)

Answer 5

Stop and/or remove any unnecessary programs running in the background that you don't need. Many machines (both desktops and laptops) come with a lot of pre-installed garbage that runs transparently to the user. Do a Control-Alt-Del to bring up task manager to see what you have running. You may also want to download and run Security Task Manager (free!) to see any processes that run hidden. Remove these and quarantine them so that they don't reload upon system startup. Just make sure that you don't terminate and/or remove any programs critical to the system. More RAM also helps improve a machine's speed, as Windows allocates memory to each application based on the total amount of memory installed.

Answer 6

Upgrade your memory if possible to 512MB or 1GB. Make sure your fan is working to cool the processor. You may need to backup your data reformat the drive and reinstall windows. Sometimes it just quicker to do that then to fiddle with the system forever, unless you have a billion programs to reinstall that you use. Make sure you have the drivers though first (download and burn them to a CD, or put on a jump drive). Especially your network card and or your broadband modem (if you connect with USB) drivers. So you can download the rest if you need to. And make sure you have all your program / application disks ready because you will need to reinstall all of them also. And you’ll need your windows Product Key (usually on the side or top of your computer case). If it locks up after a fresh install then I would lean toward a hardware issue.

Answer 7

open a dos box (Start | Run | msconfig). From there, check (or rather uncheck) for program modules you don't need (usually on the Services and Startup tab). This is tricky if you don't know what module is attached to what app. You can also determine if there's a spyware that auto runs on startup.



Another problem is the app you're running, it might be a memory hog.

Answer 8

The problem could be related to the amount of anti-payware, ad-ware and other crap that there is on line. People think that that stuff works. I found that Ad-aware from Lavasoft is one of the only few programs that are not useless. Anyways stick with reliable virus protection software and dont download any more of the so called spy sweepers e.t.c That could cause problems on your machine...Good luck

Answer 9

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Answer 10

You may not have enough memory clear out or tempfiles by goling



1) start

2)all programs

3)accessories

4)system tools

5)Disk clean up





you can also do a defragment

:)

this might speed it all up

also do a virus scan

Answer 11

how much memory do you have on your laptop. use ctrl alt del keys bring up task manager go to processes tab and see what is running. You can also go to resources tab and see how processor and ram is being used. If processor usage is low and ram is high then you need to use less programs or buy more memory

Answer 12

Go to http://www.windowsonecare.com/ and get Windows One Care and have it run a tuneup for you. I have been recommending computer programs (and writing them) for years and Windows One Care is one of the best I have ever seen for protecting your CRAP-based Windows computers from the Internet.

Answer 13

ok... if you are ABSOLUTELY sure that your computer wasn't like this a few months back (or since you got it), then backup all your important files and documents on DVDs and then format the computer and re-install ONLY the important programs, and re-copy all your files and documents back!