Advice please. My (admittedly) old computer appears VERY slow.

I restored to an earlier date, but that in itself appeared to cause problems by locking up the computer for a while - I got only an initial LASER screen and couldn't move from there. Seems ok again now but....

I have 'cleaned up', but in trying to defragment (thinking this might account for the slowness), I get a non-responding message.

Incidentally, I've got spy/virus protection.

Any clues, or will chucking the thing in Nong Prajak help!?

Thanks

Brian you need to give more info we have members here who can help you I know a little and some members know a lot more than I do but we need the info like what operating system how much ram what make is the pc how old is it what kind of internet connection you have then we can make suggestion to you

Brian,
Try deleting all tempory files, delete all cookies.
You could also try downloading adaware look for it on www.filehippo.com, then run the software its free, it will clean your trackers and ads out of your system.

In addition , please check the status of your hard drive, by right clicking on the hard drive icon and select properties, let me know how full the drive is, as this can also slow things down.

Brian Davis Advice please. My (admittedly) old computer appears VERY slow.

here's two free cleaning programs that may help http://www.ccleaner.com/ and http://www.regcure.com/lp/11/?uid=6nr4z I downloaded them both what the one doesn't clear the other one dose

all good stuff, spyware will slow things down, especially when on internet. had free spy/viris ware, then bought trend pc-cillin, installed and found 38 or so spywares the free stuff missed. definitely speeded things up, though on that computer, plenty of mem/hard drive open. would stall something smaller or older, as that was fairly new at time.

the defrag is bit of a concern. did it say why. just defragged a friend, older, low mem/hard drive almost full, matter of fact only had 2% hdd available, defrag said needed 15% to run properly, tho did run anyway, not sure how better a job or faster if system up to par, but report was ok, acceptable when done. so i'm think it should defrag, or at least tell you why not. good luck.

If it's that old Brian, just back up all your important stuff (emails etc), format the hard drive and reinstall windows or whatever operating system you are using.

Is the spyware/virus software you are using up to date?

Like letigger said, it could also be your hard drive on it's way out, check with the manufacturers website to see if they have a hard drive diagnostic program that checks the integrity of the drive, can also help repair it as well.

Good luck.

yes, if acting finicky, back up a.s.a.p., as i had a HDD crap out, luckily not much lost, but a couple things, nothing necessary, just things of interest, my calender and ms money which i had daily expenses for couple years on their. could tell where when and how much the restaurant cost that day. which was very interesting on cost and my habits. doing graphs. discovered what my favaorites were and how much of a cheap/thrifty butt i am. if you don't know where it is or going, you can't control it. ok, i got issues.

back up anything important now. just in case.

I installed CCCleaner a while back and it helped, then Regcure which helped a bit more, but then everyone I spoke to said Norton antivirus was well known for slowing your computer down. Last week Norton came up for renual so I dumped it and bought McAfee instead. Now it's like a Pitbull on Seroids

try system mechanic www.iolo.com they give you a 30 free try maybe that will help you

also try trend pc-cillin site. i believe they have a free scan thing, sort of test. if still have/offer, at least you'll know if better software will find anything.

Aardvark wrote: Now it's like a Pitbull on Steroids

Would that be you, or the computer?

Definatily the computer

what I would do is get another Hard drive and install my operating system and then see if it works faster since there will be no junk or virus Or spy ware on it if that solves your problem then save what you want on the old drive and format it and you have a back up

Aardvark wrote:I installed CCCleaner a while back and it helped, then Regcure which helped a bit more, but then everyone I spoke to said Norton antivirus was well known for slowing your computer down. Last week Norton came up for renual so I dumped it and bought McAfee instead. Now it's like a Pitbull on Seroids

the 2008 norton is OK they seem to have fixed the problems of the older versions .I have McAfee on my new laptop as it came free with the Dell but still run norton on my desktop and will add it to the lappy when the McAfee runs out .Love the CCleaner just make sure you set it up before you wipe too much gets rid of all the annoying cookies

Just a thank you to those who offered advice. I'm working on it, although I'm very far from being a whizz on computers!

I DO have Spy Sweeper + Anti-virus, which regularly clears cookies and the odd virus which appears.

Fairly recently, installed IP Star satellite for my internet connection. Don't think this could really be to blame for any of the probs, although did seem that switching on the modem?(correct term? - the box of tricks supplied by TOT) first before the actual computer, helped with booting up.

It's always a bit disconcerting when my library of music 'disappears' from time to time - this is held within Realplayer, but most has been downloaded from Limewire. I have to scan disk to get it all back again.

It's pleasing to know there's a wealth of help out there. Although I've been here a few years now and not entirely wet behind the ears, just wait until I start building a house - I'll be calling on all of you to see how you did it, who you know etc!

I'll be back if there's no improvement on the computer.

Thanks again