mad5226 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Hey guys my laptop is running super slow and i was hoping someone could help me speed it up. I'm running XP and have 4 gigs of RAM so I'm good in that department. I have updated spyware and virus protection so no worries there. Basicly I think it's just that I have to many things that open when I first turn the computer on (It literally takes like 15 minutes to boot up.) I'm semi computer smart, and I know I can go into MS config and mess with what opens at startup and what not. I guess my question is 1) Will that help speed up the overall performance of my computer. 2) What are the bare minimum programs I can have it open. I've tried to go in there before and mess with it, but it resulted in my having to start my computer in safe mode cause I closed something I shouldn't have. thanks in advance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad5226 Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share Posted June 24, 2010 nothin huh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQI13 Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Not being a big computer guy, have you tried having it start up with the bare minimum (no messaging programs, etc)? Also, have you tried defragmenting your hard drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moon_lit_tears Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 <p>Going through MS config will help. What opens at start up remains open while you are on the computer. My suggestion is to disallow any programs you don't use during the time on the computer. If it is something you will open and use for a little bit of time, stop it from starting up. </p><p> </p><p> Also, if you have downloaded Itunes, go into your task manager and end the tasks of Ipodservices and apple something that you are not using. They do not run much in the way of memory but will help. The less processes running the better you are.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoganRodzen Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Trying opening "msconfig" via Run from the start menu like others have suggested. On the "General" tab click "Selective Startup" and un-check "Load Startup Items". This will make your PC start with only the essentials required for Windows. Restart and see how fast your PC boots up with that. If it's faster (which it should be by a lot) then you should open msconfig again and click on the "Startup" tab. Once you're at that screen you can go through and check what programs you really want to start (anti-virus being an obvious one). If you have camera software or printer software I'd recommend not having that startup. In fact I'd recommend not having anything BUT your anti-virus startup automatically. Anything that doesn't look "right" you should keep un-checked. If you want to make sure you don't mess anything up go ahead and post a screen shot here of that startup screen (the "Startup" tab in msconfig) or PM it to me. I have no problem looking that over and telling you what each thing is. Is your PC 32-bit XP? One thing that you may be overlooking (if you have 64-bit IGNORE THIS) is the fact that XP can't handle 4GB of RAM with a 32-bit processor. The most it can handle is 3 to 3.5 (it's a limitation within 32-bit XP). You may actually see a huge increase in performance if you remove one of your sticks of RAM. But again, if you have a 64-bit processor then this wouldn't be a potential problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slagaholic Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Download CCleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoganRodzen Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Download CCleaner Grab MBAM (Malwarebytes Anti-Malware) as well. You said you did anti-virus and spyware updates (assuming you did scans too) but those two programs help a lot. CCleanrer will get rid of a ton of temp files that you simply don't need and speeds up your PC. One thing you can do with that program (if you so choose) is set it to run every time you turn on your PC and that will keep your PC running "fresh" every time (be careful doing this as it will delete your recycle bin every time). MBAM is similar to Spybot Search and Destroy (which is most common) but (in my opinion) is better (though I run both when I clean PCs). Best thing about all this software - it's free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodzillahotrod Posted June 26, 2010 Share Posted June 26, 2010 also u have to take in the fact that u might have to much on ur hard drive. plus windows keeps a hold of a lot of unused information, sometimes defragment and all those other clean up dont work. u might have to reinstall a fresh copy of windows, completely wipe out ur computer (make back ups first) and just reinstall windows. in most cases it solves everything and ur computer will be just as fast as when u first got it. also a great way of getting rid of unused stuff u forgot about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad5226 Posted June 26, 2010 Author Share Posted June 26, 2010 Yeah that seems to be the problem, thanks for all the help guys, looks like I'm going to reset to factory settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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