www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

northwales4u wrote:Do you still have the recovery CDs that came with the PC when you bought it?

danielsuperchef wrote:I agree with Rich above, if you feel a bit daunted by that then maybe you could find a local computer engineer to have a look at it for you, if they are any good they will give you a free quote, then most charge (in my area) around £30 p/h for work, doesnt sound like it should take more than an hour to 'clean up', obviously, like most quotes, it depends what they find though.

Joeman wrote:one trick that sometimes works - create a new user account on the machine and try loggin in with that. Over time your user profile gets clogged up with cr@p so a fresh user profile can get you running a bit smother.

Also run DEFRAG to defragment your hard disk. again over time the disk gets in a mess.

Also look at which applications are starting up on startup. an XP machine can run very nicely with about 45-50 processes running - use Task manager to count your processes (bottom left of the screen)

Also, with all apps closed, look in Task Manager to see what is using your CPU. (processes tab, sort by CPU column)


that should keep you occupied for a while :)

Rog (RJ) wrote:I'm no expert, but I think a ten year old PC is always going to struggle with speed. Modern applications use lots of memory and processors need to be fast. It may be time to retire the old PC and get a new one.

DIY_Johnny wrote:I install Ubuntu a few months ago and never looked back. There is a bit of a knee jerk reaction to it if you are a long standing windows user but its far more rhobust, much faster, free software and not even a sniff of a virus, which is impressive given I frequent the torrent website regularly

about an 8 sec start up time which is faaaar quicked than XP

kellys_eye wrote:Poor Aileen

Too much info I reckon.

Aileen you MUST find someone who can sort this out for you as I think you're opening a can of worms . Ask your 'kids' if they know someone who can sort it - everyone seems to know a 'geek' that lives locally. It might cost you a tenner (possibly £20?) and some geeks might even do it for the fun of it - I know I would..... (oops, have I just admitted to being a geek? ).

There's no shame in admitting when you're in above your head.

scot-canuck wrote:Personally I do reinstall windows pcs which are a total mess it usually takes less time and gives you a known clean point to work from.
My own way of doing things is to reinstall a clean version of windows, install anti-virus and anti-spyware, update windows (sometimes takes several runs) then install other software.

Of course if you have next to no knowledge of PCs, Ubuntu is another option which would negate the need for anti-virus software

chat_to_rich wrote:As the others have said, I think it'd be a good idea to try and get your computer working as well as possible before attempting to restore it back to the factory settings. The first thing to do is get anti virus, spyware and firewall installed as without it your computer will probably become infected and will slow down. Take a look at Dave's post of software suggestions now-that-s-what-i-call-software-2-t35814.html
Once you've installed the software ensure it's up to date and run a full scan of your computer. The instructions for this will vary according to the software you choose to install.

When you've scanned your machine and removed any infection, install and run CCleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/downloadto clean out any unneeded files

Next go to the Tools section of CCleaner, click on Startup, then choose the Save to text file options. Open the file in something like Notepad and post the results here. This will tell us when programs automatically start when your computer starts. Removing items from this list will help to speed up your computer.

I imagine this might be a lot for you to take in and I've only given brief instructions, so post back if you need more help/info. Once you've completed these steps we can go into more detailed optimisation if you need it.

dave.m wrote:I take it that with it being 10 years old, it must have, at the best, Windows XP installed as an operating system. Let us know if it is any different.

To compare before and after times, shut down the computer and restart it, time how long it takes to boot up to ready to use.

Firstly, open your antivirus program and update it then run a full scan. Let it quarantine anything it finds.

Next, open which ever antispyware/antimalware you have and update that, then run a full scan. Let it quarantine anything it finds.

Next, do as Rich says and install Ccleaner, instructions HERE but ignore the bits about the registry cleaner for now. Just run the Cleaner.

Next, install a defragmenter from the list at the top of the Computer Threads, Defraggler will do, and run it.

Next use the Ccleaner Startup list to disable any programs that you do not use daily. Any you are not sure of, leave enabled for now.
If there are more than about six items, make a list and post it back here.

Shut down and then reboot and time it again, compare the time.

dave

aileenynwa wrote:Hi again rich on my system properties it says i have 112mb of ram
dont think that sounds much

i really only use the pc for e-mail

when i am on the web it slows down and i get that non responsive programe thing

and error report that i dont sometime send .........hope you understand this

meantime i will look for an anti virus....the reason i have not got one is i find they make my pc even slower but i know this is my first thing to do
thanks rich
Aileen.