[pebaker2]

So my mother just bought a new laptop from Comp USA, its a Toshiba Satellite and she wants me to find out why it runs so slow...and it runs ssssslllloooowwww! The processes seem to drag and take forever, programs often take minutes to load and it hangs up pretty frequently (no program crashes though). I'll try to get all the necessary specs and hopefully I can get her all fixed up.

CPU: 600MHz Intel Dual-Core, T2060 @ 1.6GHz 1.2 GHz
RAM: 446MB (Crucial scanner says: 512MB DDR2 PC2-5100, with an open slot)
HD: Hitachi HTS541610J9SA00 ATA

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What OS are you using? If it is a new machine did it come with some verison of Vista? I am sure people here will correct me if I am wrong but to adequately run Vista you need at least 1 gig of ram, preferably 2 gigs. I am sure that by increasing your ram you will see a noticable increase in performance. HTH...

Ken

[ktreffin]

What OS are you using? If it is a new machine did it come with some verison of Vista? I am sure people here will correct me if I am wrong but to adequately run Vista you need at least 1 gig of ram, preferably 2 gigs. I am sure that by increasing your ram you will see a noticable increase in performance. HTH...

Ken

[Anton1382]

You do need at least 1gig of mem. if you have a premium edition, but if you have home basic, you only need 512mb.
Maybe it's the processor?

Edited by Anton1382, 01 March 2007 - 12:44 PM.

[macten]

I know that at least some of the Pentium 4's have a feature where if they overheat they will automatically slow down to save the chip. I wouldn't think that it would happen on a new laptop, unless you had it on thick carpeting or a bedspread where air couldn't get under it.

Check and make sure the Indexing service is not running: right click on My Computer>manage. Expand 'services and applications' and click on services.

Can you hear the exhaust fan come on?

I worked on one the other day that was super slow. In this case the problem was Norton products. I uninstalled all Norton products in Add/Remove Software in Control Panel. Then I downloaded AVG antivirus and installed it. I went into: click Start>Run and type msconfig. click 'startup'. By unchecking things you can prevent them from starting. I unchecked stuff like Quicktime, Kodak Easyshare, Adobe updater, Microsoft Office etc. Click ok and reboot. It made a big difference in bootup time. Then I installed more RAM. It really snapped by the time I was done.

If you got on the Internet without a firewall, you could already be infected. I would run an antivirus program and an anti-spyware program....

[AnthonyJ]

well going by the way he has phrased the specs, the computer only recognizes 446mb of the 512mb, if so then in his processor wouldnt that mean its running at 600mhz? i doubt that is the fsb.

[pebaker2]

Thanks for the help. I disabled some of the unnecessary stuff that was running on startup and that may be helping...cant really tell yet. I cant find My Computer, does Vista call it an other name? Also, the fan seems to be running normally, the machine isnt all that hot.

My thought is that there isnt enough memory to have two profiles logged on and be able to do a whole lot without the computer slowing down a lot. Another 512MB of memory is about $50 from Crucial, I need to buy some for myself anyway.

[warriorscot]

512 is pushing it, it should run ALLOT better with a gig. If its windows vista sticking in a 256Mb or 512 USB pen and using readyboost will speed it up by a fair bit as well they are so cheap now its worth either using an old one and get a new larger one or buying one especially i got a 2Gb micro cruzer for 18 quid last week and a 4 is only 30 pretty cheap and quarter gig sticks are given away free from some places.

[james_8970]

My thought is that there isnt enough memory to have two profiles logged on and be able to do a whole lot without the computer slowing down a lot. Another 512MB of memory is about $50 from Crucial, I need to buy some for myself anyway.

Is there any reason why two profiles are logged on at the same time. I have XP, with 256mb(its a family computer or I'd upgrade), when more then one user is logged on it becomes painfully slow.
Having 1 Gig on basic should make a big difference.
James

Edited by james_8970, 02 March 2007 - 08:11 PM.

[The Matt]

Try running spyware and anti-virus scans and if u have norton systemworks from symantec, run clean sweep, windoctor, and speed disk to optimize performance.

--The Matt

Edited by The Matt, 03 March 2007 - 02:40 PM.

[macten]

check the following:

start>control panel>system>hardware>device manager

expand 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers'

double click 'primary IDE channel'

click on 'Advanced Settings'

for transfer mode, is 'DMA if available' selected?