Best Practice for windows PC running slow/freezing

[Donald]

So a friend asks you to look at his windows PC running slow/freezing. You do not want to make it an afternoon project and need to deal with it in 45-60 minutes. A quick check of task manager shows enough memory and no thread consuming a lot of CPU. So how best to spend your time. A full scan with Malewarebytes will take over 1 hour and may or may not solve the problem. Same with Norton. Don't want to end up with spending the hour and saying, well try and see if its fixed. Although installed programs will be a problem, saving all of the data in "MY DOCUMENTS" (or similar) and reinstalling Windows will almost certainly solve the problem, the friend is left with none of his prior programs installed which he may or may not have the CDs or Product Keys for.

 

[Oil Changer]

Delete everything in the "temp" folder.

Delete all cookies.

Download CCleaner and use it.

"Delete all" in IE (if that's what he's using).

Download Malwarebytes. Put the computer in safe mode. Run Malwarebytes. Tell him to reboot the computer when it's done.

Go home.

 

[45ACP]

1) Run "CCleaner" (Google it, by Piriform)
2) DEFRAG
3) Windows Defender/Microsoft Antispyware/Malware Anti-Malware bytes.. Run it
4) DEFRAG AGAIN
5) CCleaner AGAIN
6) Be amazed at speed.

I sold my laptop over the weekend and i did this to about 15GB of temporary files, and it was amazing difference. All that old stuff can "weigh Windows down."

Youre welcome.

EDIT: You KNOW this is true and correct advice because i just typed more or less the same thing as Oil Cowboy, without even viewing his post. its true, simple procedure! Boot into Safe MOde if you ever catch a nasty spyware, Malwarebites will fend it of, to. Happened ONE time, and i crushed it.

EDIT 2: If you have aspeedy computer, this can be accomplished in one hour.

 

[Oil Changer]

Oil "cowboy"? That sounds kinda

Get it? Sword fighting...

I was going to suggest defrag, but if it has not been done in a while (or at all) it could take an hour by itself.

If the friend has at least 10 brain cells, he should be able to defrag the computer himself with nothing more than a brief tutorial.

 

[Donald]

Will Malewarebytes find more stuff in SAFE mode? Are the QUICK scans enough or does one need a FULL scan.

 

[Oil Changer]

Running any anti-virus software in normal operating mode is a complete waste of time. Most viruses are written to shield themselves from scanners while the computer is operating in normal mode.

That is not to say that the scanner will not find the virus but it is better practice to always run your scans in safe mode.

Boot the computer in safe mode WITH networking.

Download Malwarebytes and any updates.

Reboot in safe mode WITHOUT networking and run a full scan.

Reboot normal when scanner is finished.

 

[buickman50401]

Put Hitman Pro on the machine. Run it. If it finds anything, activate the free 30 day license for removal.

 

[ronbo]

Download and run Advance Window Care (free) link http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086_4-10755164.html

 

[Donald]

The problem is would not be my computer but a friends. I do not want to spend hours and hours running various scans. Many scans find thing that are not the problem, but some dumb tracing cookie. The reason I am asking is I find myself helping people but spending way too much time and in the end not positive if I fixed it. If for example a computer freezes once or twice a day that is had to find and then know if its fixed.

 

[PZR2874]

Subbed

 

[wander2039]

Don't forgot physical cleaning. I've blew a cat and half out of a few computers over the years. Everything listed is good advice.

 

[JustinH]

Put linux on the machine. Most people just surf the internet and use office applications on an older PC anyways.

 

[ZZman]

Well I really like HiJack this if I had to check something out fast. But you have to be careful using it.

Either free Malwarebytes or SUPERantispyware using fast scans can find many problems.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: Donald
The problem is would not be my computer but a friends. I do not want to spend hours and hours running various scans. Many scans find thing that are not the problem, but some dumb tracing cookie. The reason I am asking is I find myself helping people but spending way too much time and in the end not positive if I fixed it. If for example a computer freezes once or twice a day that is had to find and then know if its fixed.

Hitman Pro will only take about 30min tops.

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: Donald
.....Same with Norton.......


There is your problem. A Known resource HOG!!

 

[91344George]

Get rid of Norton (make sure you use the norton provided removal tool that you can download from their site. )

You must always completely remove a security suite or system before you install a new one.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast. I personally think MSE is the best. RUN A FULL SCAN !

Download Malwarebytes from Malwarebytes.org RUN THE FULL SCAN.

Degrag.

Also run "chkdsk /r" AT LEAST TWICE.

 

[SWS]

I think that most of the suggestions made thus far are very good.
A few notes:
1) I haved used Norton for many years, and the newer versions (past ~1.5 years) are indeed less of a resource hog, as they promised. That said, I have heard good things about MSE, and I am sure there are other good anti-virus tools also.

2) I used my 2001 Dell 4400 for 10 years (Pentium 4) and performed a lot of maintenance over that entire time to try to keep it acceptably fast for routine work (no games). I sympathize with the time-commitment comments, but I don't see how you can do many of the steps in such a short time. Some things, like Defrag, are helpful but they take a lot of time.

3) A casual observation: Something happened after XP SP3 came out that seemed to slow down everything for everyone. I observed this on 2 PCs that I use and also mentioned it to friends who immediately agreed. Not scientific, but that's my story...

4) Most importantly, I concluded that it's a losing battle with XP on an old PC. Any maintenance that helps speed is a temporary benefit. I think that the minimum baseline PC assumed by software creators is beyond XP on a small-memory PC. This is fair enough...

In my case, my speed problem resolved itself when my 10-year old PC failed permanently 2 months ago (motherboard failure). I bought a new tower with second-gen i7 @ 3.4Ghz, 8GB RAM, SATA HD, and mid-range graphics card. Win 7 is great thus far. I found that this PC does everything with ease. I did not want to spend the money, but now that I see what I got, I wonder why I stayed with the old PC so long.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: 91344George
Get rid of Norton (make sure you use the norton provided removal tool that you can download from their site. )

You must always completely remove a security suite or system before you install a new one.

Install Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast. I personally think MSE is the best. RUN A FULL SCAN !

Download Malwarebytes from Malwarebytes.org RUN THE FULL SCAN.

Defrag.

Also run "chkdsk /r" AT LEAST TWICE.


Auslogics is probably the best freeware defragger out. Its capabilities put it on par with paid software like Raxco's Perfectdisk.

Also in addition to chkdsk run System File Checker while you're at it.

Vista/7 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

XP http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docum...r.mspx?mfr=true

 

[shrooms]

Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
Delete everything in the "temp" folder.

Delete all cookies.

Download CCleaner and use it.

"Delete all" in IE (if that's what he's using).

Download Malwarebytes. Put the computer in safe mode. Run Malwarebytes. Tell him to reboot the computer when it's done.

Go home.


On CCleaner, how do I remove the cookies on the 'options' section? There's no button to remove them.

Thanks

 

[Vikas]

I have AMD XP200+ 2.00GHz, 480MB, running WinXP Home SP2 The process tab from task manager lists all the running processes which fit in 3/4 of the screen i.e. to say it has not zillion process running. It is used for only for Internet browsing. It still is very slow. All the indications are that it is running out of memory. I had tried different browsers. Right now I am running Opera from portableapps and that seems to be the best so far.

I remember the day when I bought this computer. We were so impressed at the quickness of it at that time.

- Vikas