I'm much more familiar with XP - never loaded vista... so... my daughter's laptop has suffered thru a couple years of use and it now runs really slow. is it easier to clean it up or simply reload? any tricks to reload? XP reloads easily. or should I pop for 7 ?
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Vista laptop running slow: reload or cleanup?
- Thread starter tomcat27
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If it's otherwise performing fine (no crashing and things like that) then you may want to consider cleaning up as much as possible. As for Vista, its not worth using with 7 on the market. If you are going to pay for a new OS and not clean it up, definitely make it 7 if the machine is decent enough to run it (it should be, I've loaded 7 on some older machines and they run great)
Another option is to use the manufacturer supplied disk and recover to factory spec with it. There should be a way to do that.
Another option is to use the manufacturer supplied disk and recover to factory spec with it. There should be a way to do that.
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Defrag the hard drive also.
tomcat27
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no mfr supplied disk. It never came with one. many newer laptops dont. I dont know the process to get one without research. I do have Vista disks from my home machine - not sure if that would work....
If it's the same version of vista (like home, or platinum w/e) then yes it will work, just use the key that is on the laptop now, now your home machine key.
Of if u would like to try cleaning it up first,
CCleaner is a great program for removing allot of useless files.
Make sure your anti-virus program is up to date, and do a complete scan. If you have none, AVG antivirus has a free version, which works just fine.
Also make sure you do the same, update and scan for spyware / malware. Free programs are also available for this. Spybot Search and destroy, is one of my preferences.
Also go through it yourself, uninstall any un-wanted programs, delete files that are no longer needed. Etc.
And as mentioned above, defragment the hard-drive, after the 'cleaning' in complete. To organize all the leftovers.
Good luck with the laptop
=)
-Joseph
Of if u would like to try cleaning it up first,
CCleaner is a great program for removing allot of useless files.
Make sure your anti-virus program is up to date, and do a complete scan. If you have none, AVG antivirus has a free version, which works just fine.
Also make sure you do the same, update and scan for spyware / malware. Free programs are also available for this. Spybot Search and destroy, is one of my preferences.
Also go through it yourself, uninstall any un-wanted programs, delete files that are no longer needed. Etc.
And as mentioned above, defragment the hard-drive, after the 'cleaning' in complete. To organize all the leftovers.
Good luck with the laptop
=)
-Joseph
yep, what others have said...
C-Cleaner first.
Defrag next (use the free Degraggler utility)
repeat monthly.
Turn off Windows Search Service. It fragments a disk quickly.
It's worth it for Win7 if all else fails. Haven't found a single person who said "I'm glad I stayed with Vista" after I upgraded them to win7
C-Cleaner first.
Defrag next (use the free Degraggler utility)
repeat monthly.
Turn off Windows Search Service. It fragments a disk quickly.
It's worth it for Win7 if all else fails. Haven't found a single person who said "I'm glad I stayed with Vista" after I upgraded them to win7
CCleaner
Mydefrag. select Monthly then consolidate free space. It will take a while first time
Mydefrag. select Monthly then consolidate free space. It will take a while first time
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Originally Posted By: tomcat27
no mfr supplied disk. It never came with one.
Did it come with a DVD RW? Mine didn't come with any media either. I needed to burn my own from the files they included.
no mfr supplied disk. It never came with one.
Did it come with a DVD RW? Mine didn't come with any media either. I needed to burn my own from the files they included.
Good advice given so far.
This 4 year old laptop I'm on was given to me buy a step-daughter who complained that it had just slowed down to a crawl.
I "cleaned" it up with Malwarebytes, Spybot, CCcleaner, Avast...etc....works great now for what it is and that's a basic HP Pavilion zv6000.
I use it to surf the web from my recliner and I'm not ready to update to 7 unless forced to. XP is working just fine.
This 4 year old laptop I'm on was given to me buy a step-daughter who complained that it had just slowed down to a crawl.
I "cleaned" it up with Malwarebytes, Spybot, CCcleaner, Avast...etc....works great now for what it is and that's a basic HP Pavilion zv6000.
I use it to surf the web from my recliner and I'm not ready to update to 7 unless forced to. XP is working just fine.
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I'm much more familiar with XP - never loaded vista... so... my daughter's laptop has suffered thru a couple years of use and it now runs really slow. is it easier to clean it up or simply reload? any tricks to reload? XP reloads easily. or should I pop for 7 ?
You can install Linux for free.
I'm much more familiar with XP - never loaded vista... so... my daughter's laptop has suffered thru a couple years of use and it now runs really slow. is it easier to clean it up or simply reload? any tricks to reload? XP reloads easily. or should I pop for 7 ?
You can install Linux for free.
If your daughter is in college you might want to check with their IT department to see if shes eligible to enroll in the msdnaa program, or if the school has a way of getting you a discounted version of windows 7. msdnaa is the way to go though if possible, I know for a fact xp is free, i forget how whether 7 is free, $15, or $30.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/dd759402.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/academic/dd759402.aspx
Most colleges do give each student a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade).
If that doesn't speed it up, then scan the hard drive for bad sectors, and consider replacing it.
I just did this with my fathers computer, his old laptop hard drive was tired and was giving SMART errors in the end.
A 40 dollar special from newegg, and an installation of linux made the thing run better than new.
If that doesn't speed it up, then scan the hard drive for bad sectors, and consider replacing it.
I just did this with my fathers computer, his old laptop hard drive was tired and was giving SMART errors in the end.
A 40 dollar special from newegg, and an installation of linux made the thing run better than new.
I would look into installing the free version of Malwarebytes and do a complete scan.
Too, would remove the anti-virus software and install the free Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus, anti scum software and do a full scan with it too.
Shut off Aero on Windows Vista or Windows 7 too if not needed.
Have two laptops with Windows Vista on them and no complaints. I think Vista has got a bad rap.
Too, would remove the anti-virus software and install the free Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus, anti scum software and do a full scan with it too.
Shut off Aero on Windows Vista or Windows 7 too if not needed.
Have two laptops with Windows Vista on them and no complaints. I think Vista has got a bad rap.
I also vote for running the free CCleaner. It seems like not all that long ago that with heavy use of XP, a fresh install every six to 12 months was a good move. Now, with a good regimen of running CCleaner regularly, using PerfectDisk to keep my hard drives defragged and keeping an eye on auto loading start up processes allows me to go for years at a time without any need to reformat and start over.
The key for a novice is to get a handle on what is auto loading when you boot your computer. After you use CCleaner to clean up temp files, let it clean up your Registry and then click the tab for Tools and then select Start Up. That will show you a list of what is loaded every time you boot Vista. You most likely will see a lot of stuff that is unnecessary. You can easily Google any of the file names for a quick search that will allow you to decide what should run and what may not be necessary. Note that after several years of use there can be way too much auto loading at startup, which can degrade performance substantially.
Do also open Task Manager, select "show processes for all users" and see what is running. You may find that your anti virus or security software is a memory hog and that a lighter option such as Avira may work out better for you.
The key for a novice is to get a handle on what is auto loading when you boot your computer. After you use CCleaner to clean up temp files, let it clean up your Registry and then click the tab for Tools and then select Start Up. That will show you a list of what is loaded every time you boot Vista. You most likely will see a lot of stuff that is unnecessary. You can easily Google any of the file names for a quick search that will allow you to decide what should run and what may not be necessary. Note that after several years of use there can be way too much auto loading at startup, which can degrade performance substantially.
Do also open Task Manager, select "show processes for all users" and see what is running. You may find that your anti virus or security software is a memory hog and that a lighter option such as Avira may work out better for you.
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CCleaner is the bomb. You will be amazed at how much garbage builds up.
BTW, when you first use it, make sure to run it a few times when cleaning the registry. Some entries are dependent on others, and will become unneeded after associations are no longer in the registry.
Later versions of CCleaner are better at getting it all in one pass, but I still am in the habit of cleaning at least twice in a row.
BTW, when you first use it, make sure to run it a few times when cleaning the registry. Some entries are dependent on others, and will become unneeded after associations are no longer in the registry.
Later versions of CCleaner are better at getting it all in one pass, but I still am in the habit of cleaning at least twice in a row.
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