[Asherbee]

Hi

If anyone has any ideas on how i can speed up my system i'd greatly apreciate it, i purchased my Advent laptop brand new about 2-3 years ago, it was working great.. Until about the last year, i've had a great number of performance/speed related issues.

My hard drive is always almost full, so im not sure if this has anything to do with the speed.. its especially slow on startup and opening applications, some videos buffer/run with a jitter.

but here are my specs if its needed for a prognosis..

- intel pentium dual T2330 - 1.60Ghz
- 2GiG RAM
- Mobile intel 965 express chipset family

thats the basics, also in task manager, i have 52% physical memory usage, i've seen it skyrocket at startup, same for my CPU usage, sometimes locked at 100% :/ anyways! , look forward to any tips or tricks anyone has to offer!

Many thanks

Ash

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Hi Asherbee,
Lack of available storage space on your HDD will cause various issues and one of them is slow access rates.
Other things that can cause a slowdown include a fragmented HDD, having more than 1 AV program running, the amount of programmes you have both running in the background and running on start, the actual AV program itself with Norton and AVG being very demanding on system resources and finally possible malware infection.
I suggest you tidy your HDD up 1st;
1: Download and use http://technet.micro...s/bb963902.aspx delete anything that says File Not Found.
2: Use TFC by OldTimer for removing unwanted temporary files http://www.geekstogo...ds&showfile=187
3: Defrag your HDD http://www.auslogics...re/disk-defrag/
4: Let us know what AV software you are using and what programs you have linked to run on start up (press Ctrl - Alt -Del to bring up the Task Manager on boot up).
5: Run the appropriate diagnostic tools for your brand of HDD http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
6: Check your system for malware by following this guide http://www.geekstogo...cleaning-guide/ see the canned text below regarding malware issues;

If you suspect your system may have a malware issue I suggest you check out the self help guide at the malware forum http://www.geekstogo...cleaning-guide/ if after following the guide you believe your system may still be infected you need to start a new topic there and not post any malware logs on this forum as they are not used here, provide them with a link to this thread to show them what if any steps have been taken.
Once you get the all clear from the malware guys if the issue is not resolved return here and someone will assist you.
Post back with the requested information and to let us know how you get on.

[phillpower2]

Hi Asherbee,
Lack of available storage space on your HDD will cause various issues and one of them is slow access rates.
Other things that can cause a slowdown include a fragmented HDD, having more than 1 AV program running, the amount of programmes you have both running in the background and running on start, the actual AV program itself with Norton and AVG being very demanding on system resources and finally possible malware infection.
I suggest you tidy your HDD up 1st;
1: Download and use http://technet.micro...s/bb963902.aspx delete anything that says File Not Found.
2: Use TFC by OldTimer for removing unwanted temporary files http://www.geekstogo...ds&showfile=187
3: Defrag your HDD http://www.auslogics...re/disk-defrag/
4: Let us know what AV software you are using and what programs you have linked to run on start up (press Ctrl - Alt -Del to bring up the Task Manager on boot up).
5: Run the appropriate diagnostic tools for your brand of HDD http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
6: Check your system for malware by following this guide http://www.geekstogo...cleaning-guide/ see the canned text below regarding malware issues;

If you suspect your system may have a malware issue I suggest you check out the self help guide at the malware forum http://www.geekstogo...cleaning-guide/ if after following the guide you believe your system may still be infected you need to start a new topic there and not post any malware logs on this forum as they are not used here, provide them with a link to this thread to show them what if any steps have been taken.
Once you get the all clear from the malware guys if the issue is not resolved return here and someone will assist you.
Post back with the requested information and to let us know how you get on.

[rshaffer61]

Might also just included this in your next post so phillpower2 can see what you see.

Go to Start then to Run
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see you hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply. Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard. It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
Now go to Start and then to All Programs
Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop


Attach it to your next reply

[Asherbee]

Hi, thanks for the swift replys guys, i really apreciate it.. i will have to spend some time and go through the steps you've provided, but for now, here is the screen shot you've requested, i also added another one, simply because i recieved an error message in the compmgm which seemed a bit odd.

i have used the OTL before to remove varying ammounts of malicious software with the help of you guys here

I also have Avast linked to startup, and i already have programs blocked on startup, although when i open up the blocked programs list i recieve an error telling me to restart. very odd.

and i'm assuming by AV you mean audio/video? as i have a fair few AV programs like, quicktime, VLC, realtime, Windows media, i tunes..

anyways, i shall try your advice and see if it improves

thanks again!

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[rshaffer61]

Good job on the pics except for one little thing.
It doesn't show all the info in the top window. Can you stretch it out to the right and take a new screenshot please.

[Asherbee]

Oh haha, sure thing, one sec

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[rshaffer61]

Yep 3% free space that is a problem. From here Phill can get you straightened out now. He is a great member and is very capable of getting your issue resolved.

[Asherbee]

thanks pal, you've been a great help

Just want to state that i've tried running TFC, but it stops responding, and i have to manually restart explorer via task manager

and to add, i'll probably be a while defraging and finding tools for my HDD so my replys may be a while

I'll add this screenshot of my applications in taskmanager too, if this is any help

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Edited by Asherbee, 25 March 2011 - 07:54 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Are you running TFC as Administrator as suggested? Below is the excerpt from my instructions on how to do it.

If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).

[Asherbee]

yes i run everything as admin, and to be sure i tried it a 2nd time, and right clicked etc etc lol, still no response :s

[rshaffer61]

Lets try getting rid of the version you downloaded and start over.
Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Background info courtesy of DonnaB Thank you

As for TFC, this is a tidbit of an article I found a while back by a MicroSoft MVP.

TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs). It shows the amount removed for each location found (in bytes) and the total removed (in MB).

Before running, it will stop Explorer and all other running applications. When finished, if a reboot is required the user must reboot to finish clearing any in-use temp files.
-- TFC only cleans temp folders.
-- TFC will not clean URL history, prefetch, or cookies. Depending on how often someone cleans their temp folders, their system hardware, and how many accounts are present, it can take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or more. TFC will completely clear all temp files where other temp file cleaners may fail.

[Asherbee]

Hey

i've managed to get TFC running, i guess i just had to try a few times (for some reason) but once i had rebooted my comp, my resolution changed and i had lost my connection to the internet, i had lost all sound too.. i'm assuming i had removed some vital files accidentally when i when through the : 1: Download and use http://technet.micro...s/bb963902.aspx delete anything that says File Not Found. << lol. So since then i've done a system restore, which is a pain but i'l have to start again haha.

Thanks for your time though, i have to go now, but i shall check back later for replies and advice

thanks again

Ash.

[Asherbee]

Only now have i realised that AV meant antivirus haha

On startup i have Avast, Ad-aware and the panda usb inject. i have spybot too but im sure that doesnt run on start up.

[rshaffer61]

Have you run the Auslogic Defrag that Phill advised in his post?

[Asherbee]

Yes, i've run it, but that was before the system restore, do you recommend i do it again?