My PC is running a bit slow iv scanned it and de fragged the hard drive any other idears that will not cost me

Answer 1

http://www.zonelabs.com/ (firewall)
http://www.lavasoft.com/ (ad-aware)
http://www.safer-networking.org/ (spybot s&d)
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ (avg Anti-Virus)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/ (Crap Cleaner)
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/files/EClea2_0.exe (easy Cleaner)
http://www.download.com/ (A useful site for just about anything & everything else)

Answer 2

Use ccleaner from www.ccleaner.com and use this to get rid of the crud on your system also use the option to check for issues - this will look at the system registry and get rid of the rubbish

Also use diskclean up - from www.excutive.com - this will do a defrag outside windows ( which is alot more efficient than in windows) also this will defrag the master file table (MFT) - this can speed up your computer alot

Also do a check disk on the computer as you may have bad sectors - click start then run type > cmd > type > chkdsk /r press Y > restart the computer and this will do 5 stages and mend and bad sectors and repair on orthaned files

Also get spybot search and destroy (from www.download.com) and but spybot in the search bar - look for spybot 1.4 run and scan

Also run > msconfig > look at the start up tab > as before you can disable all BUT if you are running a anti virus make sure you did not disable it (especially if you have norton look for ccapp) if you are unsure look at the description and google the description and this will give you idea whether it is ok the disable the startup program

have a look at the event viewer to see if any process is failing and causing the computer to slow down - look for any errors (start > control panel (on the left switch to classic view if not already in classic view ) >adminstrative tools > event viewer > on the left click on system and application and scroll through the list

look at the services - some of them you do not use > ie indexing can slow down the computer quite a lot > start > run > type SERVICES.MSC > stop the indexing > also some of these services can be stopped > BUT these are applicable to what you use on your system > again look at the description and decide if you use that service and disable it > WARNING some services that are stopped can make you system unstable > again google if you want, for a better description of the service

Hope this helps

Answer 3

Are you running anything else? Run task manager and look at processes. You probably have an anti-virus taking up CPU - but thing like bittorent, the google desk top indexes your hard drive - and takes up a lot. I like google desktop - but had to uninstall this week just slowing my computer down too much keep indexing. I think the new Internet Explorer 7 may be indexing - but typical of Microsoft - I can't see any index files (doesn't mean they aren't there!)

Answer 4

download and install ad-aware from cnet.com and check for spyware on your system. Uninstall any software you are not using. Check your Windows Task Manager to check yout CPU usage and see what processes are running and taking up resources.

You can also uninstall whatever expired anti-virus software is on your system and download and install Avast. from www.avast.com. Home version is always free along with all the necessary virus definition updates. I've been avable to scan and clean viruses with this tool when Norton or McAffee did not even detect these viruses.

Answer 5

There are a lot of programs that love to start when Windows loads. These programs lay in wait in memory and can slow things down. You can view all the programs that run at Start Up by choosing Start, Run, then type in msconfig

Answer 6

hopefully you are running a firewall and also some programmes that can detect spyware and adware/ malware etc.

if not go to a site like :

www.download.com

its got free programmes that are user/editor approved.

you could try and clear your registry but thats tricky, you can also get safe free programmes that will do that for you.

you could also try reinstalling windows/ linux from a back up, but if its not a software prob and your computer is not physically damaged, the quickest and easiest way to speed up a pc is to add some more RAM. see link below


http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question175.htm

Answer 7

sounds u know the basics!
clean cache memory, temp files, cookies.
look for programs that runs in background. simple rule of thumb, more program runs at same time, slower the pc will b.
if this doesn't work, then u might look for adding memory, more hd space (take off junk programs), or replacing processor.

Answer 8

try disabling some programs fro startup and see to it that there is enough free space on c drive. After that run a free pc optimizing tool

Answer 9

how much free space is available? try deleting or uninstalling apps to get free space up there to at a minimum of 1 Gb.

also, you may have alot of apps running in the background sucking free memory, you can view these by opening task manager and viewing processes in windows xp.

Answer 10

Download free 'Spyware detector' and their 'Registry Cleaner'. I used to pay for one of the market leaders and when I tried these they found oner 500 worms!

Answer 11

Download ccleaner from download.com, it is free and cleans all sorts of rubbish from your pc and will speed it up, you can even install yahoo toolbar from it when setting it up so yahoo must endorse it or like it.