Computer help

I have a Sony Vaio that has been very reliable, but lately (couple weeks), it has been going at a snail's pace. Locking up while loading pages (sometimes crashing out, other times just taking a while for stuff that should load quickly). I have run disk cleanup and SpyBot but I'm worried it's got a bunch of spyware and such. Any other recommendations from the computer experts out there?

 

Download and run other anti-spyware programs. They all catch some of the junk, but if you've got something rare your software might not be finding it. By the way, do you have an antivirus program running? If not, that could be the issue.

A couple other possibilites: Check to see what other programs you are running. It's easy to end up running 18 non-spyware programs that suck up your memory. Itunes, an e-mail client, maybe some Adobe stuff, Quark... it eats up your RAM quickly. Close some of those up and see if it makes a difference. Some extra RAM may be a doable solution.

Another issue can be your hard drive. If it's getting full - and by full I mean more than 75 per cent - you'll notice a slowdown. Get rid of crap you don't need (or back it up elsewhere), empty your recycle bin, see if that helps.

If none of these options do the trick, you may just want to back up your important files, gather up the disks you need for all your software, take a deep breath and format your hard drive (then re-install everything). Don't do this unless you're comfortable you can do it right - might want to take it to someone who knows better how to do it.

Good luck!

 

Run scandisk/defrag once each week!

 

Do you really need to defrag once a week?

I guess it depends on how you use the computer too. I use scandisk and it tells me there is no need to defrag.

 

Gomer's suggestions make a lot of sense. Also, make sure you don't have a bunch of programs running in your Startup file. Check for spyware with a couple different programs.

 

look at msconfig and see if there are any sneaky programs running at startup

 

Download AdAware. The thing's money. Also delete your cookies.

 

How does one do this?

And Scorpio, my laptop is my everything, so I should defrag once each week. That's crappy Microsoft products for you.

 

Easier to look at the Add/Delete Programs list in the control panel, you can usually tell which ones are infiltrators. If you're not sure, google the name...you'll know for sure.

 

Start/run/type in msconfig...
when it pops up, click on the "startup" tab. It shows the programs that run at startup -- things like MS Office, AOL... anything that starts when your computer is turned on. Uncheck the ones you dont want to run at startup... they'll still be there when you need to run them through programs.
It will ask if you want to restart. After you do, you'll see a box at start up telling you that you changed the configuration utility. Check don't show this again.

21 is right, add/delete will show you which programs are on the computer that you want to get rid of; this stops them at startup. They're still on the computer, it doesn't run the unnecessary ones when you turn it on...