win7 HELP cant do homework laptop getting slow!

[IntegralDerivative]

pleaze help, my thinkpad edge lappy is very laggy, is there any app that i can use to speed it up?

[The Evil Overlord]

Spybot Search and destroy (free)

Registry Mechanic (paid app)

Defrag (stock in windows)

Disc Cleanup (stock in windows, least it is in win7)

Malware Bytes (available as both free and paid)

use %temp% and delete everything that can be deleted in that folder

 

There's more but that was all I could remember off the top of my head

[Nick H. Supervisor]

It might be an idea if you could provide more information.

• Did your slowdown just suddenly start happening, or has it deteriorated over time?
• How many background applications are running on average when you start your computer?
• What are your computer's specs?
• How old is the laptop?
• What sort of homework is it?

The reason for the last question is because if you're homework requires something resource intensive then you may not be able to do anything about the issue until you've upgraded the internals. If on the other hand it is slow just for opening a word document, there may be other things we can look at before thinking about hardware upgrades.

[IntegralDerivative]

It might be an idea if you could provide more information.

• Did your slowdown just suddenly start happening, or has it deteriorated over time?
• How many background applications are running on average when you start your computer?
• What are your computer's specs?
• How old is the laptop?
• What sort of homework is it?

The reason for the last question is because if you're homework requires something resource intensive then you may not be able to do anything about the issue until you've upgraded the internals. If on the other hand it is slow just for opening a word document, there may be other things we can look at before thinking about hardware upgrades.

 

My homework is usually in word or pdf. usually, the apps on are XWidget, Chrome(max 10tabs) and Word. This laptop was given by my dads office to us about 2-3 years ago. SPecs: 1.33ghz intel i3 2GB ram. It has deteriorated over time.

[manroweb]

It would definitely be worth doing some housekeeping to clean up temp files, and clean up any malware etc, but I would suspect it is low on RAM.

Can you post a screen shot of task manager's performance tab?

[IntegralDerivative]

It would definitely be worth doing some housekeeping to clean up temp files, and clean up any malware etc, but I would suspect it is low on RAM.

Can you post a screen shot of task manager's performance tab?

[cork1958]

95 freaking processes!! Is it any wonder it's slow? 10 tabs also. Sheesh!! Never have figured out why any one needs more than maybe 3 tabs, at the most, open at once. How many things can you look at or listen to, at once?

 

Crapcleaner is a must have tool for cleaning junk and the registry. DO NOT use what Dushmany recommended!!

 

Get the slim version, http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds

 

Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware are a couple of must have's also and I BET you need them!!

 

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

 

http://superantispyware.com/

[tsupersonic]

95 freaking processes!! Is it any wonder it's slow? 

 

Crapcleaner is amust have tool for cleaning junk and the registry. DO NOT use what Dushmany recommended!!

What's wrong with having 95 processes? Some people are multi-taskers, and if your computer has enough RAM/horsepower to support it, 95 processes isn't bad. It depends on what you have running. 

[n_K]

Remember to clean the vents using an air canister too.

[The Evil Overlord]

95 freaking processes!! Is it any wonder it's slow? 10 tabs also. Sheesh!! Never have figured out why any one needs more than maybe 3 tabs, at the most, open at once. How many things can you look at or listen to, at once?

 

Crapcleaner is a must have tool for cleaning junk and the registry. DO NOT use what Dushmany recommended!!

 

Get the slim version, http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds

What's wrong with whichever recommendation you disagree with? I use these once every 2 or 3 months, no viruses, no slowdowns from what I can tell, my 11 year old pc is clean and running smooth...

Please explain, as if you know of something better than what I've listed I would be interested in getting it also.

[Eric Veteran]

95 processes isn't high. Most Windows processes take up hardly any processor time because they're just sitting there waiting for an event to occur. My computer currently has 51 running and all I have open is a web browser and Steam running in the background.

 

I would run a full scan with MalwareBytes or at least Microsoft Security Essentials to make sure nothing naughty has made it's way in as a first step.

[The Evil Overlord]

What's wrong with having 95 processes? Some people are multi-taskers, and if your computer has enough RAM/horsepower to support it, 95 processes isn't bad. It depends on what you have running. 

I think it was mostly to dig at me.

My Dual Core has 74 Processes running at the moment, and is at idle

[Eric Veteran]

[Thread cleaned]

 

Please don't post comments that won't help resolve the issue. ;)

[manroweb]

I would definitely run ccleaner, malwarebytes and possibly spybot, in that order ( all have free versions ).

 

My initial thoughts about being low on RAM were correct. Run the above, and also show us a screenshot of the processes tab in task manager, in case we can spot anything out of the ordinary.

 

There is nothing wrong with any of the suggestions that have been mentioned. Everyone has different tools to do similar jobs.

[neo158]

95 freaking processes!! Is it any wonder it's slow? 10 tabs also. Sheesh!! Never have figured out why any one needs more than maybe 3 tabs, at the most, open at once. How many things can you look at or listen to, at once?

 

Crapcleaner is a must have tool for cleaning junk and the registry. DO NOT use what Dushmany recommended!!

 

Get the slim version, http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds

 

Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware are a couple of must have's also and I BET you need them!!

 

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/

 

http://superantispyware.com/

 

If you think 95 processes is a lot then you don't want to see that my PC has 104 processes. The difference is that my desktop has the RAM and horsepower to handle it.

 

In the OP case the low amount of RAM is certainly a bottleneck.

[f0rk_b0mb]

Pick up more ram. You can get 4gb of ram fairly cheap these days.

[TAZMINATOR]

Pick up more ram. You can get 4gb of ram fairly cheap these days.

 

It's not worth it if OP has 32bit of Windows.  64bit of Windows can handle 4gb RAM or more.

 

32bit can handle up to 3gb RAM...

[n_K]

It's not worth it if OP has 32bit of Windows.  64bit of Windows can handle 4gb RAM or more.

 

32bit can handle up to 3gb RAM...

*4GB, dunno where people get this 3GB misconception from, 4GB of total combined RAM can be addressed on 32 bit systems.

[daorbed9]

What's wrong with having 95 processes? Some people are multi-taskers, and if your computer has enough RAM/horsepower to support it, 95 processes isn't bad. It depends on what you have running. 

 

It all depends on the type of processes you have and services.  Too many things at a higher priority will cause even an i7 with 32GB of ram to run like crap.  The limitation is actually windows not the hardware.

 

Registry cleaners almost never have an appreciable effect.  Only if the item removed was actually something that was actively slowing the system down.  20-50 entries is a very small percentage of the registry itself.  These companies have made a lot of money from paranoia and the need to believe there is something you can run a push a button to fix things.

[redvamp128]

*4GB, dunno where people get this 3GB misconception from, 4GB of total combined RAM can be addressed on 32 bit systems.

 

Great point- plus one seems to forget that laptops also use shared video memory.

 

So more than likely that extra 1gig 256-512mb will be used up by video memory.

 

and I also would use the startup tool in CCleaner to also look at what is starting up with laptop....

[pack34]

In all honesty, it'll take less time to just nuke it from orbit and start over from scratch. Back up your files and export a list of installed programs.

 

It'll take a night or part of a weekend. In the mean time you can get your work done on a school computer.

[vcfan]

sure, 32 bit systems can address 4GB, but if ram is 4GB then it uses up the whole addressing system, and hardware has no addressing,so windows only allows 3GB of ram on 32 bit editions,and the 1GB is used for things such as device addressing among other things.

[TAZMINATOR]

*4GB, dunno where people get this 3GB misconception from, 4GB of total combined RAM can be addressed on 32 bit systems.

 

Sure it can be addressed but only show 'usable' ram ... like this:

[salterbomb]

My homework is usually in word or pdf. usually, the apps on are XWidget, Chrome(max 10tabs) and Word. This laptop was given by my dads office to us about 2-3 years ago. SPecs: 1.33ghz intel i3 2GB ram. It has deteriorated over time.

 

Unfortunately, people have become overly obsessive with their computers when it comes to performance. I have been down that road (starting with BlackViper's site in the XP days) and it's almost like being a hypochondriac. Running my own consulting/tech support side job and working in IT really helps to weed out all of the excessive chatter on what needs to be done to make a computer healthy.

 

Let's start with your specs:

 

1. CPU is good for what you do
2. Memory is okay but on the low side for today's standards and most likely low for both OS/Apps that you run for school work. Minimum for Windows 7/Office apps would be 4GB to provide seamless performance. I would definitely look into increasing your ram to 4GB or more, however, it would be beneficial to know both make and model of your laptop along with your operating system. You can get away with 2GB but honestly, 4 would be a sweet spot.

 

With your diagnosis of your computer "deteriorating over time" just means that some maintenance needs to be performed.

 

1. Built-in programs like Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter should be run. You can install third party apps like CCleaner and Auslogics Disk Defrag to do the same thing. I recommend those third party apps because they do a great job for mainentance and they are free.
2. Make sure your computer is up-to-date with both Windows Update as well as your Anti-Virus program. If your AV is a paid application and the license is expired, uninstall it and install a free version like Microsoft Security Essentials. Scan your computer for any viruses/malware as well. Malwarebytes is a great program to run in conjunction with an AV to find and remove malware from your system that is also free.
3. Updating your programs that you use would also be beneficial.
4. Driver/Bios updates can help but if you are uncomfortable with doing them, do not worry about it.
5. Messing with MSConfig to stop any startup processes is unnecessary.
6. Go through Add/Remove and remove anything you don't use anymore. Don't go crazy. Just applications you know of that you can discard. If you are unsure, google it.
7. Look at task manager when your computer is running slow to see what process is hurting your computer the most. Troubleshooting that much can help.

Those are the basics. If you are more technically inclined, you can look into event logs to check for any application errors or any disk alerts that might show up. Sometimes a slow computer is due to a disk error like a bad sector or worse, a failing hard drive.

[mattm591]

My homework is usually in word or pdf. usually, the apps on are XWidget, Chrome(max 10tabs) and Word. This laptop was given by my dads office to us about 2-3 years ago. SPecs: 1.33ghz intel i3 2GB ram. It has deteriorated over time.

 

You don't need to waste money buying more ram. For what you're using your laptop for 2GB is more than enough (and 10 tabs in Chrome isn't that taxing).

 

There are loads of bits of software you can install to "clean" your PC, but these tend to gain few noticeable results.

 

Windows over time slows it self down. You install software, this adds more files and registry data. Some software comes with lovely little helper apps that add hooks into your context menus, your startup options, etc. which all help to slow Window down.

 

This quickest way to speed up your laptop is to simply start again with a new install of Windows. Most importantly, before doing this, make sure you back up everything. All your files that you've got in your documents, picture, on your desktop, etc. and make sure you have ways to reinstall any software you use that isn't things like Chrome that you can just download again (so specifically Word).

 

Reinstalling Windows is a lot easier than it might sound, and in Windows 7 it's incredibly easy. The only challenging part is actually having the installation disc to do it with! If you don't have a Windows 7 installation disc already then it might be that you're using an OEM Windows that will have the option to create a recovery disc. 

 

If you need help finding a Window installation disc, start with what are the brand and model of your laptop?