Nursing a computer back to health - advice, tips

WaylonJennings · Apr 15, 2008

My laptop is going excruciatingly slow. Sometimes the Internet crashes. Sometimes Windows won't start. I'm sure it's Spyware, a virus or two, etc., that's causing the havoc.

I don't even know the basics of getting this thing back to full health.

What should I do, other than take it to the Geek Squad?

2muchcoffeeman · Apr 15, 2008

Download, install and run Spybot! Search and Destroy and AdAware first.

Also consider how much of your laptop's hard drive is in use. All versions of Windows basically demand a swap file to move info in and out of memory. If you've used up most of your hard drive space, then Windows doesn't have as much space to create a swap file.

How old is your laptop?

OnTheRiver · Apr 15, 2008

Additionally:

Putting more memory in is relatively easy and cheap, and will give you better performance, as well. But first things first, get all the **** off your machine using the programs 2MC listed.

Rosie · Apr 15, 2008

Also download Crap Cleaner www.ccleaner.com. That will help take a lot of junk off the hard drive.

Also, go to www.downloads.com and download Tweak Registry Cleaner. Run it in the beginner mode and do NOT delete any yellow or red entries.

Before you do ANY of this, do a system restore point (provided you are using XP or Vista). If you're still using Win98, you need to upgrade as that OS is not secure and there is no support for it anymore.

Rockbottom · Apr 15, 2008

I second the Spybot thing. I also got the ol' company to spring for Norton 360 v. 2.0, which has everything WHIZZING along!

rb

2muchcoffeeman · Apr 15, 2008

Rosie said:
Also download Crap Cleaner www.ccleaner.com. That will help take a lot of junk off the hard drive.

Also, go to www.downloads.com and download Tweak Registry Cleaner. Run it in the beginner mode and do NOT delete any yellow or red entries.

Before you do ANY of this, do a system restore point (provided you are using XP or Vista). If you're still using Win98, you need to upgrade as that OS is not secure and there is no support for it anymore.

If he's still using Win98 or WinMe and can't afford new hardware, he might be better off backing up his data and installing Linux instead.