How can I speed things up??

[ROKKET71]

Please help....I'm no computer genius.I have a nice PC(e-machines,with Intel 2.8Ghz processor,80Gb Hard-Drive etc etc.)I also have a 2Mb BT broadband connection.

It's 2 years old and in fairly constant use.


My problem is that the thing runs really slowly...I've done a de-frag(whatever that is)...got rid of loads of stuff that I don't view anymore(games,porn etc.),but it's made no difference.


I don't have any Anti-Virus software fitted,only some kind of virus filter that works with my BT e-mail address.


I downloaded the latest trial version of AVG 7.1 and ran a check......
It told me that a virus had been detected,and that I had 20 "infected files" out of the thousands that it had checked.
However,the AVG didn't remove the virus,or show me how to do so.
Do I have to buy a full version of the software before it gives out the mystery info??...do I have to use AVG??Can anyone recommend a course of action?

Any ideas are most welcome.....I thankyou in advance!

 

[Tobers]

You should also download AdAware personal which will get rid of loads of spyware.

You've probably got all sorts of crap running which you may have installed and hasn't gone away.

From a normal start up before you run any applications, do a CTRL-ALT-DEL and select task manager, select the "processes" tab, then click twice on CPU. This will give you a list of running processes with those using the highest CPU at the top. (clicking once gives you the lowest CPU processes first). The numbers are based on the %age of available CPU each process uses.

The top one should be "system idle process" - if its anything else, then you've got some process running and using up loads of your CPU. You can then google the "image name" and find out what the process is, though its often obvious e.g. "Explorer.exe", "Outlook.exe" etc.

Note the high CPU use ones down on a bit of paper.

Then, still in task manager, click twice on the "mem usage" column. This will show the running processes in order of highest memory usage first. High memory usage stops other programs using memory, and causes the disk to be used as memory instead of RAM, which is much slower.

As for the CPU ones, note these "image names" down on a bit of paper and google them to see what they are.

If you didn't start the high-CPU/memory processes manually, they'll be either in programs->startup or in the system startup config. You can just delete them from programs->startup no problem - you are just deleting the shortcut not the whole application.

If they aren't in there, they are in your windows config. This is a bit more complicated. You need a startup manager application to stop them starting in the first place. Do start->run and type "msconfig.exe". If you are lucky your PC will have this. If not you can download it from loads of places (google "msconfig.exe).

This app enables you to selectively not start applications which are scheduled to run automatically at startup. Using the list of things you noted earlier, untick them from the startup list and you'll be laughing.

Andy

 

[Fanum]

Rokket......TBH I'd start again, it'll amaze you how much faster a fresh install of windows will run .

Back everything up, do a files and settings backup so you won't need to write down all your email account details etc (then write them down anyway ) and export all your IE favourites to disc as well........then stick in the Windows CD and do a complete install, with a format for good measure

After 2 years, the system will be so clogged up with crap and dodgy registry entries etc that it probably isn't worth spending the time to fix it

 

[ROKKET71]

Thanks for your advice.

....but remember at the beginning I said i'm no computer expert?...How do I back-up all the stuff on my PC?