i say computer, i mean netbook…

t’is 1 year old (exactly), and when i bought it i immediately upgraded the RAM (i think thats what it was) from 1GB to 2GB. its a Samsung N210. windows 7 starter

I use it a lot, but it doesn’t have many programs on it – firefox, chrome, itunes and Avast (virus checker) are the main ones. they’re kept up to date. I’ve got about 2.5GB of ‘stuff’ in files – very little music, no films, not many photos really.

I’ve run a full virus scan on it – no problems, and it doesn’t need defragging.

in the past 10 days its gone from usable (although never amazing – vimeo, for example, is usually quite stuttery), to ridiculous – i counted 11 seconds between frames on a video, it takes 2-3 seconds for the cursor to recognise a link, and when i type, i get 4-5 words before the next lot disappears, and then suddenly appears.

you get the drift.

i can’t afford a new computer, and bought a netbook as it was all i could afford. i use it for work, which includes a lot of emails and editing articles, and its very frustrating!

so, the long or short of it is, what can i do to speed this bloody thing up?

have you maxed out the memory?

this will tell you
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/drammemory.aspx?gclid=CMii1pOAlqsCFYUJtAodshG-wQ&cpe=pd_google_uk&ef_id=vwVOOc2QqxgAAAJq:20110911201102:s

Start task manager and see what’s eating up all the memory and cpu.

Best off doing a clean install of the OS. I you don’t have an OS disk just buy a pre-owned non-registered/authenticated copy of XP on eBay for £20.

that link didn’t really tell me anything (after downloading and running its program) unfortunately – said something was incompatible or something.

CPU says its running at 2-4%, and my memory is 1.17GB used, out of 2GB.

firefox currently using up the most MBs, by a factor of 20 over anyting else running (explorer, for some reason, despite not having used that, ever).

its doing my nut, just wish i could buy something decent.

off to bed in a grump 🙁

Have you though about installing ubuntu on it?
If you want to stiuck with windows I’d agree that a re-install might be the best path forwards if you have an install disk.

Get rid of avast antivirus, install MSE. Newer versions of Firefox are running really slow and using lots of ram and cpu they might improve over the next few weeks with more updates but i have gone back to FF 5 over 6.

Did anything change 10 (ish ) days ago ?

Go into My Computer -> Manage -> Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> System.

Check to see if there are any system errors recorded, especially any relating to disk activity.

Also, install CCleaner, and check what you have starting up on your system, and disable anything that you don’t really need.

its doing my nut, just wish i could buy something decent.

It is decent – it’s just not working correctly.. question of finding out what the problem is.

Hard to instruct over the net tho.. Cougar to the forum please…

thanks guys.

have gotten rid of avast, and have MSE now, CCleaner has been installed and a range of programs have been turned off. got rid of a few programs too, and things seem to be a bit better already, without a re-start. doing another full virus check now.

not sure i could handle ubuntu!

thanks 🙂

Turning off all start up programmes may also help, take a system snapshot in case u need to roll back to it then …

click on start then in search box just above type msconfig and hit enter.

Select the startup tab, and deselect all non windows system applications, pays to do a couple at a time to isolate whats being a resource hog.

It’s also often handy to ctr+alt+del then select system performance (I think that’s what it’s called) which will chart what resources are being used. Running software will indicate spikes in resource use again.

lighter OS might be an idea

I would recommend Xubuntu

Is it slow just when your browsing the internet? Might not be the computer might be your net connection.

Also, just thinking about it, you wouldn’t happen to have set it in a slower mode? I have a N110 (ie v similar) and it has a blue Fn button that you press along with the f8 button to cycle through 3 speed settings. Worth a try.

Tom a reinstall of windows would likely make a difference – what i hate about windows is it just eats its self !

Even a computer never connected to internet still gets silly slow after time !

If you are doing a clean install of an operating system but want more of a performance boost, you could consider upgrading the hard disk to an SSD (solid state drive).

A decent 60GB one is about £70 and will make file access much faster, will help with things like startup, opening programs, flicking through photos, reduce noise and heat and possibly increase battery life. It probably will not help video playback but SSD is a good overall system upgrade for machines with slow (5400) drives.

Just fitted one to my laptop and am very impressed.

Not got my Samsung netbook to hand but I’m pretty sure there’s a system restore app pre-installed
It should give you the option to set it back to ‘factory fresh’
I’d back up anything you need to a USB stick and do that TBH

+1 try Ubuntu

Old Windows programs I run from VirtualBox

OP’s computer was fine, then suddenly started playing up. So clearly something’s happened which could be resolved and everything would be perfect again.

And people are recommending hardware upgrades, installing and learning a completely new OS.. bloody geeks 🙄

Q: “My Ford Focus has lost power and economy, what should I do?”
A: “You clearly need a kit car, for excellent performance and handling without breaking the bank”

Cougar to the forum please…

OH HAI

20 posts in to a “my computer suddenly went really slow” thread and no-one’s suggested a malware scan?

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Well since at least three of the people who have suggested one of those things actually support users day in day out, you’d think it would be reasonable advice.

It’s alright though. The user had a problem with his computer, advice was given but rejected and he still has a problem with his computer, but now it’s our fault.

Just a normal day at work.

20 posts in to a “my computer suddenly went really slow” thread and no-one’s suggested a malware scan?

I suggested a malware scan without prejudice.

I suggested a malware scan without prejudice

No you dint , you said use Ubugubwe or some such foolishness
……..

The user had a problem with his computer, inappropriate advice was given but rejected as such by someone else and he still has a problem with his computer, but now we feel like it’s it’s our fault cos we’re IT geeks and have a victim complex

FTFY, albeit harshly and with tongue in cheek 🙂

I’ll give you some advice that you really should take. DON’T come to a mountain bike forum for help with PC problems. There is some utter rubbish posted above.

No you dint , you said use Ubugubwe or some such foolishness

Yeah, that sounds like a malware scan without prejudice to me.

There is some utter rubbish posted above.

Good point, you were extremely helpful.

We’re assuming that you have the windows task manager open as soon as you boot up the machine? gives clues about what’s running before opening FF or other, task list is your friend, Ctrl+Shift+Esc is the shortcut

opera is a pretty good browser that’s light on system resource

oh and back up the registry before unleashing a registry cleaner (I’m oldfashioned and open regedit and do it the manual way)