Slower than a snail...

[Claire Freer]

I work from a laptop and lately it's become really slow to do anything.
I could make a cup of tea by the time it opens up an application. It gets slower towards the end of the day and I just don't know why?

I seem to have lots of processes running in the back ground but haven't got a clue what they are so don't want to end them.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Claire

[C.A.B.s]

Hi claire, this my seem like a silly question but when was the last time you defragmented the hard drive(s).
to do this you need to double click on my computer to open up the window, the choose the drive ( whether c / d) right click on that drive to open up another window, scroll down to properites it will them open up another window, select the tools option and choose defragmentation option. Depending on the size of ur hard drive and when it was last performed it could take anywhere from 1 hour to several.
hope that helps

[tonya]

Hi Claire

What is the make of your laptop? If it comes with recovery media, your best (and probably easiest) bet would be to back up all your data and run the recovery media.

When you back up, don't forget emails and favourites. I always forget those.

Without knowing what your laptop is, or exactly the processes running in the background, I can't really offer more exact advice, I'm afraid.

Hope this helps a little

Tonya

[strategic]

My computer has stated slowing down whenever I have a number of documents open, and since I installed the carbonite back up system, it really seems to have slowed.

So I was curious when i read

" ...but when was the last time you defragmented the hard drive(s)?"

thank you so much CAB for that tip on how to do this.

My computers used to be cared for by the office IT person who I remembered would do this to all our computers whenever he came in to do other repairs etc. But for the past four years I have been operating in my home office, and since I take good care of my 'stuff' I havent needed any computer TLC BUT - I didnt know how to defrag, so my computer is at it right now as I write...

I dont know if I'm imagining hearing it sigh "....aaaaaahhhh... that's better....." but I'm sure it will help.

Thanks, you are a champ!

[Claire Freer]

Thanks for the information on deframenting my computer. I tried it, but I don't seem to have enough memory to do this task! I can't understand why it has so little memory because all my business work is saved on the external hard drive and a memory stick!

I work from a Vaio and it has 512 RAM(?). I'm probably going to buy some extra memory and see if that helps.

Thanks for all your help

Claire

[C.A.B.s]

Thanks for the information on deframenting my computer. I tried it, but I don't seem to have enough memory to do this task! I can't understand why it has so little memory because all my business work is saved on the external hard drive and a memory stick!

I work from a Vaio and it has 512 RAM(?). I'm probably going to buy some extra memory and see if that helps.

Thanks for all your help

Claire

hi claire

when you say it says you dont have enough memory to defrag the hard drive. got me thinking bout something else.

on your task bar, in the right hand corner where the time is situated, have you tried closing down the programs running in there that you are not physically using.

try doing this, as programs in the task bar also take up and use a lot of memory, then try running the defrag again, to see if that helps.:)

[stuartk]

Hi There

I can do simple checks via secure, remote control to identify your problem before you buy anything.

Regards

[stuartk]

Hi There

Here is a guide for fixing slow computers (http://lanarkshireitservices.co.uk/slow-computer-fix.html)

Hope that helps

Regards