Toshiba Satellite Laptop Running...Crawling slowly

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
A download of 'Driver Easy' fixed them and took care of a few outdated Drivers I had. Did I say just a few?..... actually about 12 Drivers needed updating.

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I forgot to mention the Driver Easy Download to member Toros. Doing Driver Updates will improve that Toshiba also Toros. Go to their website to install it.


Those "driver updater" programs are generally complete steaming piles and one needs to be careful that they aren't wiping out OEM-certified drivers that provide specific functionality and replace them with generic versions. The best place to get drivers is from the OEM website. Most OEM's also provide their own driver update tools which generally work well.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
A download of 'Driver Easy' fixed them and took care of a few outdated Drivers I had. Did I say just a few?..... actually about 12 Drivers needed updating.

--------------------

I forgot to mention the Driver Easy Download to member Toros. Doing Driver Updates will improve that Toshiba also Toros. Go to their website to install it.


Those "driver updater" programs are generally complete steaming piles and one needs to be careful that they aren't wiping out OEM-certified drivers that provide specific functionality and replace them with generic versions. The best place to get drivers is from the OEM website. Most OEM's also provide their own driver update tools which generally work well.


+1

I've had issues after using these and other programs that "fix" your Registry. They need to do SOMETHING, so even if there are no better updates, they'll offer you something that's got a newer date on it! Newer isn't always better when it comes to drivers. I've found this out the hard way and not too long ago, myself.

I have had luck with CCleaner cleaning up registry undesirables, but most others seem to be overly aggressive.

 

[sxg6]

If you pull up task manager, I wonder if the hard drive is pegged at 100% a lot. Not sure how much storage space you need, but for $30 you can get a 120gig ssd from a reputable company that should give you a noticeable performance increase.

As Camry said earlier, windows update downloading/installing massive files could also be bringing things to a crawl.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: sxg6
If you pull up task manager, I wonder if the hard drive is pegged at 100% a lot. Not sure how much storage space you need, but for $30 you can get a 120gig ssd from a reputable company that should give you a noticeable performance increase.

As Camry said earlier, windows update downloading/installing massive files could also be bringing things to a crawl.


Before installing the free SSD I got for my netbook I didn't note any unusually high disk usage. Based on this, I would never have purchased an SSD for it (not to mention that this netbook is rarely used!) Now, its performance is very livable, whereas it was nearly useless with its old HDD.

 

[sxg6]

Oh yeah, I didn't mean to suggest that it's only worth getting a ssd if your HD usage is at or near 100% a lot. A SSD will definitely offer a noticeable performance increase over a mechanical hard drive no matter what.