Laptop running slow

Being one of those people that everyone turns to when their computer starts to mess up, i find that the most common complaint is that the computer has began to run slow or that the computer has a virus, more likely it has spyware on it that is running and slowing the whole system down. Rather than go through every computer and do it for myself which i really cant be arsed doing anymore, i think the best way to do things is to write a small guide so that people can do it themselves and will be able to fix their computers if it ever goes tits up again. This guide is written for Windows users as Mac users need to get a life.

Step 1: Understanding the problem

OK so you boot up your computer and its seems to be taking longer to load than usual, this could be any number of things including:

• The computer not being shut down properly
• The operating system is installing updates
• Too many background programs are running which is in turn slowing the whole system down.

The first thing to try is to properly switch off the system and load everything again to check it was not just a one-off occurrence. Unfortunately this will probably not work but its worth a try as i have found a sudden reboot makes the system seem sluggish until i shut down and restart the system properly.

One of the most common things i hear from people is that they believe that their system is running slow due to there being too much ‘stuff’ on the system. If you are thinking it may be your photo collection, video’s or something completely stupid like not cleaning your cookies then forget all that nonsense, the only time that having too much data will slow down a system is when the hard drive is almost completely full, a few spare gigs on any hard drive will be enough to make sure your drive is running as fast as possible. The ‘stuff’ that you should refer to is programs or mainly background programs, these programs can sometimes be hidden and stay dormant until you plug in your ipod or camera, some may just be update programs that check for the latest versions of your software, a few may appear in the bottom right of your task-bar which is called the System Tray. These can give you quick links to these running programs, the less icons you see in the System Tray the better. Viruses and Spy-ware are most commonly background programs that run so the user doesn’t even know they are on the system and can try protect or spread themselves to inflict as much pain in the arse trouble as they can.

So, in short the best way to speed up your system is to make sure all unnecessary background programs are not running and make sure there is no viruses or spyware on the system.

Step 2: Turning off background programs

*UPDATE

To make this stage easier i suggest using Soluto, this can be found at soluto.com or download it straight from here. Just install the program, run it, and then reboot your system. Once your system has restarted follow the on-screen instructions. That’s the simple way of doing it but if you prefer the old fashioned manual way of doing it here it is.

In this step i will show you how to turn off all those unnecessary programs that run in the background, eat up memory and just waste everyone’s time.

Msconfig

Here we have the msconfig options, to open this window press and hold the Windows Key (the Microsoft logo on your keyboard, usually located between Ctrl and Alt) and press R to open the run box. Then type in ‘msconfig’ and click OK. Once msconfig has opened you will see tabs along the top, select start-up. Now you will see a list of all the programs that load when the system loads. If you want your system to run as fast as possible, click disable all then click OK. This will make the computer run without any background programs but this will most likely disable any anti-virus programs you have on the system so its best to scan through the list of programs within msconfig and tick the ones that relate to your anti-virus program. So if you have Avast anti-virus look on the list for ‘c:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast5\avastUI.exe’ and tick the box then press OK. You should easily be able to find your anti-virus program in the list just by looking for its name.

Turning off every start-up program may cause some changes to your system such as if you usually plug your camera into your computer and then a specific program pops up, this may not happen anymore, you will need to manually load up the specific program for it to work. If you want turn this kind of feature back on, look through the msconfig list and tick the program that relates to whatever you want it to do.

Step 3: Viruses and Spyware

Viruses and Spyware are similar in certain ways but generally have a different aim. Viruses try to spread through the Internet and networks to infect as many computers as possible, some can corrupt files or disrupt how a computer works, others can connect the computer to whats known as a botnet which can be used to send out spam emails, launch mass attacks on websites or other computers etc.

Spyware is a program that sends information from your computer to another destination on the Internet without your knowledge and without your consent. This information can potentially include just about anything stored on your computer. In reality, most spyware programs limit themselves to sending specific types of demographic information, such as the URLs you visit on the Internet, IP and email addresses, or even something as mundane as a cookie. Spyware differs from viruses by the fact that generally the user has to agree to install these programs on their system but these options can sometimes be hidden in menu’s or hard to spot. Once installed the program may re-direct web pages to adverts or give you marketing popups.

There is also fake anti-virus and spyware programs which will pretend to scan your system for viruses, indicate you have some on your system and ask you to pay a fee to remove them. You should never try and purchase these programs as they are scams and you may end up having your credit card details stolen.

Removing Viruses

Getting rid of viruses and spyware on your system is pretty straight forward. There are loads of anti-virus and spyware removal programs available, some free, others can cost a one-off payment or an annual fee. While searching the Internet for removal programs is easy sometimes you can accidentally end up infecting your system even more. There are the fake-antivirus programs which can look genuine but are out to get your money in the hope that they will remove the virus for you when in fact they take your money and do bugger all. I recommend when searching for an anti-virus program that you use one from a recognised company such as AVG or Avast. I would recommend only downloading these programs from the companies website or from a trusted source such as download.com as there can be fake versions of these programs too. Here is a few links to good programs:

AVG

Avast – Recommended

As you may have noticed i chose to link to the FREE versions of these programs. This is because they work just as well as paid for programs, minus a few bonus features which most of us will never use. The paid versions to not catch more viruses than the free ones.

Once you have installed one of these programs run a full scan and see if it detects any viruses if so remove them straight away or quarantine them. I recommend running the anti-virus scan in Safe Mode if your using Windows, restart the computer and keep pressing F8 until a menu appears that says ‘Boot into Safe Mode’, once windows has fully loaded run a full scan. Running in Safe Mode can remove some pesky viruses that cannot be removed from normal Windows.

Removing Spyware

Getting rid of the spyware infecting your system is just the same as removing viruses in that you need a removal program to do it. Anti-virus programs tend not to pick up much spyware and vice versa so its best to have a separate program of each. Here are links to a few programs that i recommend.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware

Spybot – Search & Destroy

Once you have installed one of these programs, make sure its definitions are up-to-date and run a full system scan. If the scanner finds any spyware remove it from your system usually by clicking Fix or Clean. If you know for sure there is some spyware on your computer but the program does not pick it up then try a few different programs as there is not one program that will catch every bit of spyware.

Finishing up

If you have followed this guide and rebooted your computer, you should see a big improvement in your startup speed and overall speed of the computer. There are other things you can try to improve the speed by even more such as turning off system restore, moving your page file to a drive other than the one that Windows is installed on, turning off Windows features that you dont use, remove fonts you dont need, buy new hardware such as more memory and a faster hard drive and finally wipe your computer and re-install windows. I wont go into detail on how to do all these as i cant be arsed, just Google it people.

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