Why is my comp slow? was told 100 adwear were removed, but still slow, was told had to erase HDrive, do I?

Question

Everything I try to open comes in slowly, wether it be Internet, or Word Perfect documents. I do not believe my Hard Drive needs to be erased, as I still have 74% free space left. Is there anything that can be done, without erasing the Hard Drive?

Answer 1

- Are you using a complex screensaver - it runs in the background and eats memory. I had fun with mine, then changed it to blank.
- How many programs do you load at startup? Maybe you should check it out and ensure you are running just what you need.
To do this: cl Start, cl Settings, cl Taskbar and Start Menu.
cl Start Menu, cl Customize, cl Remove.
cl the icon for the program you wish to remove
then cl Remove.
This will prevent the program from loading at startup, but will not remove the program from the hard disk.
-Are you in a large file? If so, save frequently to restore full memory access. (Your work remains in memory until you “save” it to disk.

1.Did you run an error check? Open My Computer,
Right-cl on C:, Select Properties, Tools – Run an Error Check ( checkmark “check all and fix); then run a Defrag

2.Are you using Yahoo Toolbar? Run a full Norton Antispy.

3.From IE, click Tools, Internet Options
delete cookies
delete files (offline files)
clear history (set days to save to 0 if you want)
click o.k., and Restart

3.click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools – run Disk Cleanup

4.click Start, Run ipconfig renew (type ipconfig space renew)

All these things should be done regularly. The more frequently they are run, the less time they take.
-Note: Games and videos are mostly graphics. Graphics create large files. If this doesn’t help, you might want to consider getting more memory.

Answer 2

windows needs to be reinstalled. it does NOT maintain itself pretty well on its own, even if it's supposed to. It accumulates stuff eventually and you have to clean install. clean the harddrive as well. and try not to go to sites that put junk into your machine.

Answer 3

just back up everything important onto an external device, and clear the harddrive.