how can i speed up my computer?

Question

i'm new to computers and have no idea what i'm doing, but my computer is starting to run very slow. my computer told me that a virus had crept in, so i downloaded avg anti spyware and spysweeper with anti virus, the spysweeper told me that it had quarentined the malware, then i defrafmented c e and d, i also got rid of files i dont use, i cleaned the disk drive,but its still running slow. what else can i do for free that will speed up my computer?could someone please tell me in laymans terms? thank you, muriel

Answer 1

It may be that the virus did a bit of damage before you quarantined the malware, which by the way I never heard of. I do know that when it comes to viruses, prevention is key. Is it possible that you inadvertently deleted your High Speed Internet? And you did empty your recycle bin?(sorry if I am insulted your intellect) Next would be to clean your registry, there are good registry cleaners that you can down load for free. I use Abexo. I really hope this helps. If not you may need to get a computer geek to check it out.

Answer 2

Great question. There are so many malicious programs out there today that it's hard to keep up with all of the necessary cures. Today we have not only viruses, but varients, keyloggers, email worms, trojans, spyware, adware, etc., that are constantly aggrivating us. There are over 500 new problems hitting the web each day and keeping up with them is strickly dependant on you making sure that you're checking for each and every one of those and no one program will do it all. By going crazy and downloading every product you can find on the market is adding to your problems as you can only have One Firewall, One Antivirus Program etc., without causing conflicts on your computer. The five best products for these problems are FREE to the public and I'd advise you to get them. They are "Spywareblaster, Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-aware SE Personal, AVG Antivirus and Registry Cleaner. All of these can be searched for thru www.google.com If I can help in any way, let me know after scanning. Larry RadioShack

Answer 3

Well I hope my explanations are of a help to you.

A major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive.
You need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.

One way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP. It is slow but does the job rather well. Go to:
Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and then click on System Defrag to run the tool. It will take several hours so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.

A great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper 10. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the tech and user reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.

Also, another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Here's another really good Microsoft tool. Go to Start > Run > type in msconfig in the box and click OK.
This will bring up a window with several tabs at the top. Click on the “Startup” tab. It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources. Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running. Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name. Clicking on it will remove the check mark. Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK. Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.

Another good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM Pro. It is free and is available from www.download.com This program puts a little RAM meter on the System Tray and shows how much RAM you have remaining that you are not using at any given time. I think you may be surprised at how little RAM you have to run other programs. Also, once it is installed you can right click on the little meter, then click on RESTORE and it will open the RAM display window. You can tweak the settings so it will display your CPU usage also. Then just click “Minimize” and then “To System Tray” to return to the Task Bar.

What happens when you run out of or run real low on RAM is that the OS recognizes the low or no RAM situation and starts using a section of your hard drive as memory. This is called virtual memory, or a swap file. The PC is constantly writing and reading from your HD. Comparitively, it is a very slow process. Check your motherboard manual and determine how much RAM each slot can hold. It will also tell you what type of RAM you need. You can also go to http://www.crucial.com and run their analysis utility to determine what kind and how much RAM is installed in your PC. Depend on your MoBo manual to determine the RAM limits of each slot though. If you are going to keep your PC for a substantial amount of time I recommend you see if you can easily go to at least 768M for general computing. More is you are into games.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

hi muriel,you could get high speed internet are DSL to make it run faster but what if you get it and it still run slow.i found something very good to work for my computer when it runs slow.go to download.com and look under software once there look for Lavasoft AD-AWARE SE PERSONAL its simple and does the job and guess what it works well to get reed of viruses good luck to you.guess what to try is free

Answer 5

ok this is what is most liely happening, since you loaded that program, its probaly using up alot of your cpu drive, pres ctrl-alt-delete, then choose yur task manager, and look for the cpu usage meter at the bottom, if that a high number go to performance and turn it off, it that doesnt work, then come back for more details.

Answer 6

you may want to do nicely to take the advice of our pricey contributor, Enigma, who has taken the time to grant correct information. nicely done pricey female! Now, I could imagine you may also evaluate portray your gadget purple, yet, if those variety of high-quality thoughts instruct fruitless then, no offence my solid guy, yet i am going to wager your laptop may nicely be a heap of cr@p and your best plan of action is to improve it.

Answer 7

if there is nothing on your computer you need, put in the quick restore disk and it will take your computer back to the day you first unpacked it and plugged it in

Answer 8

There are many things you can do my friend. Well, you can reinstall windows. (If you have windows.) Well, that is just about what you can do for free. I myself would upgrade the computer.

Answer 9

for internet DSL for computer RAM

Answer 10

Try again, this time tell us you specs, how fast is your CPU, how much RAM etc.....