Have a friend with an older laptop that has slowed down to a crawl and needs frequent rebooting. They can't afford a new computer at this time, so what can I tell them to do to speed this dinosaur up a bit?
Have tried the usual disc clean, defrag, cookie removal etc. What else can they do?

 

Ccleaner, free download available. Disable anything not esential to operation of basic functions. The applications will start if needed, they just won't run at startup.

 

i put a 1gb memory stick in an old dell and that woke it up good. also they might be able to find an affordable laptop at geeks.com or tigerdirect.com

both sites also sell memory sticks too

 

Thanks, but down here there are no geeks or tigerdirect and importation is too expensive.

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/null/Mex...at180400050005

http://www.playa.info/playa-del-carm...arts-shop.html

 

Thanks. Seen Best Buy in Mexico City on my last trip there. Waiting for them to come a bit closer to me, like right here in my city as to make a special trip to Mexico City is a super pain. Hate driving in that city, especially with my truck. In November 2012 can put Mexican plates on it which will make it easier. We have all the other big chain American names here, but not Best Buy yet, so no doubt they will be here soon.

 

Maybe order and let them ship? We need a poke you with a stick smiley.

 

first check to see how full the harddrive is. anything over about 3/4 full is bad. archive all their data to an external drive or DVD.
Consider a full rebuild. backup everything they want to keep (documents, bookmarks, saved games, everything) and do a clean reinstall of the operating system. Then, smack their hands for installing what ever software the ad on their screen tells them to install.

 

If he has all the original software and any programs he's added, reformat the hard drive and start over. If you reformat, I'd recommend doing a disc kill first. That assures all old information is gone.

 

Stan x2 on FO.

Eventually with windows, it is always better to reformat, and start from scratch. When I was appraising I used to do it every couple years. Lots of files added and deleted, over and over again. Defrag only works so good after a while.
Never heard of disc kill, but any time you can write over information that no longer has addresses, it is a good idea. NUCLEAR BOMB EFFECT.

Just make a good back up, wipe er clean and start from scratch, just be sure to only put back what you need. No need to re-clutter the directories again...

If ya need ram, order it and have it sent to my house and I'll mail it to ya. That should keep the tax mans hands out of it!!

On Edit: I am assuming they have xp on the laptop. You may try a registry cleaner I think there are some free ones online. Also check the start up folder, it may be loaded up.

 

Disc kill over writes the entire hard drive. I do it at least 3 times before I reload my software. I had a problem with hidden programs that would reactivate themselves after a reformat. Even if a anti-virus program would detect it, it couldn't delete or quarantine it. A good anti-virus program is important to keep the rif-raf out and should be the second thing you load after the operating system. And before you ever go on the internet.

 

The microsoft one care site has a pretty good reg cleaner for xp.

http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm

 

Stan,

Can you get me the specs from it? I'll be more than happy to help, just need to know what's there first. Stuff like CPU speed and type, amount of RAM and size of hard drive, what version of Windows, etc..



Kris

 

Thanks everybody for the answers. Let me contact my friends and obtain the info.

 

Here is the info I have just received. Maybe this computer should just be used as a boat anchor?

Dell Inspiron 6000
Windows XP - Home Edition
Processor 1.6GHz

7.98 MHz, 304 MB Ram