Slllllooooowwwww laptop

[Weston Super Saint]

Hi Guys/Gals........I thought i'd try this on here as I know there are some bright posters on here, i'll probably get told to '**** off' but there's no harm in trying Smile

 

Ok, basically my laptop is taking ages to boot up and even longer to shut down, sometimes going on that long[over ten minutes] that I just switch it off by holding down the power on/off button.

 

I've cleared all temp files, cookies, etc, tried chkdsk for c: errors and tried the defrag option but keep getting a message saying that this is not required.

 

I'm using Vista and am just hoping that there is something simple that I may have overlooked as to why i'm getting this problem.

 

Any ideas?

 

Because he can't start his own freds....

[St Landrew]

Do's and Don'ts.

 

Do save you important files, your e-mail archive, your favourites, computer settings, and format the bleeder.

Do install a fresh copy of Vista and online update to present [you'll have to anyway].

Do use as little memory resources as you can [by following the advice below, you're helping this to happen]

 

Don't download all and sundry stuff that you think might be cool to use.

Don't update Vista where you don't need it. A less bloated Windows is better Windows.

Don't have everything switched on at startup

Don't have stuff like Windows Messenger and other little incy wincy programs running in the background. They all clog up the speed.

Don't have a anti-virus/spyware/malware/whatever scan schedule that starts every time you turn on the computer, because you missed the last one. In fact, don't have one at all. Just catch the bleeders when necessary, which certainly won't be every time you start your computer. More like once every 3 months or even longer.

 

 

You'll wonder where all the extra power and speed came from.

 

Now that lot might read all cavalier and irresponsible, especially the format the bleeder and reload Windows. But it isn't. If you do it properly [or get someone who can], you'll notice your beloved laptop will perform like the day you took it out of the box. Now that's rather better than farting around putting plasters on the OS for a few days until your computer coughs and splutters into running marginally faster.

 

Any problems and you know where to come.

[Pancake]

Do's and Don'ts.

 

Do save you important files, your e-mail archive, your favourites, computer

 

Just to add to that, you should save them AWAY FROM THE HARDDRIVE YOU ARE FORMATTING.

[thesaint sfc]

Run malware bytes.

 

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

[Barney Trubble]

Interesting stuff gents and thanks.

 

There are only two programs that are ticked in the 'start up' tab, those being my anti virus[Kapersky] and Java Platform[sun Microsystems].

 

I'm considering deleting registry strings of thing's that are no longer installed on the laptop, then again, that could really make thing's worse.

 

I have booted in normal mode and safe mode and scanned for spyware, virus's etc but there is nothing suspicious.

 

I don't quite understand it as there doesn't seem to be a lot wrong but at times it seems to stall when shutting down. I must confess though that Vista has given me nothing but trouble and i'd use XP except that it came installed with Vista.

 

The SaintFC

 

I have already run this and it hasn't found anything.

 

St.Landrew

 

Thanks for the tips. I've taken on board a lot of what you have said about 'add-ons', I use firefox browser and have been adding daft thing's, they wil now be removed.

[saint_stevo]

i would leave your registry as it is if i were you, give it a disk cleanup, type msconfig in the run box on the start menu and check the startup tab, untick anything not mission critical, give it a defrag and try increasing teh initial size of your paging file

[thesaint sfc]

Sounds like either fresh install time or a faulty hard drive to me.

[Essruu]

Sounds like time to switch to a Mac and OS X to me.

[Baj]

Yeah, cos macbooks don't suffer at all..........................

[SOTONS EAST SIDE]

sounds like time to switch to a mac and os x to me.

yawn!

[Essruu]

Yeah, cos macbooks don't suffer at all..........................

 

 

 

I know that, you know that, but some people still need educating - like the_saint with his Dell/Window$ lapbrick fetish.

[St Landrew]

Just to add to that, you should save them AWAY FROM THE HARDDRIVE YOU ARE FORMATTING.

 

Thanks Pancake. Perhaps that did need clarifying..!

[St Landrew]

Sounds like either fresh install time or a faulty hard drive to me.

 

Hmm yeah, that's a nice one. A PC's HDD will give you plenty of audible warning that it's on the way out. All makes of HDD have their individual sounds, but it's hard NOT to recognise the distinct clink of a pickup flying to and fro across the disc. Laptop HDDs by their nature are smaller and tucked away a little more, but they will be audible if dodgy. It would certainly answer why shut down takes so long. But it doesn't answer why start up is so long unless you are getting reports of a dodgy HDD from the OS.

 

Either way, a fresh install is going to answer the question for you. If it cures your problem completely, then your HDD is fine. If it doesn't, and your computer exhibits the same problems, it's almost certainly your HDD, unless you have another component going off colour. But any other critical component will usually freeze the OS and a reset button press is required.

 

Go on, steal yourself and do the dirty deed. Your laptop will love you again.

[SOTONS EAST SIDE]

i know that, you know that, but some people still need educating - like the_saint with his dell/window$ lapbrick fetish.

yawn x2

[Barney Trubble]

I've managed to delete a lot of worthless crap that was using too much memory. Also, I've got files on my system that haven't been opened for over 12 months and are over 70MB in size, I imagine stuff like that can't be doing it a lot of good and I doubt i'll ever need to use it again.

 

It's now down to a reasonable level of time for boot-up/shut down and I'll have to accept that Vista is **** and so are Iqon laptops.

 

How do I find out the RAM type that I have so I can get an additional memory stick from ebay?

 

There is additional space in the laptop but I'm not sure whatb type to get. The system information just says '1GB RAM'.

 

Boot up time now takes about 90 seconds and the same for shut down, not brilliant but better than the five or ten minutes either way that it was before.

[saint_stevo]

go to http://www.crucial.com and run the free memory scan, tells you how much RAM it can take and what type you need.

 

try http://www.overclockers.co.uk for the RAM rather than e-bay IMO

[Barney Trubble]

Thanks Steve.

 

Also, forgot to mention, I accidentally deleted my recycle bin icon from off the desktop. I still get the option of sending stuff there but can't empty it as I don't know where to find it now.

 

Any ideas how to get it back?

 

ta

[Weston Super Saint]

Thanks Steve.

 

Also, forgot to mention, I accidentally deleted my recycle bin icon from off the desktop. I still get the option of sending stuff there but can't empty it as I don't know where to find it now.

 

Any ideas how to get it back?

 

ta

 

Start - computer : it's on the left of that page, drag it back onto the desktop...