Need computer help?

Question

Anyone out there who can help me? I'm computer illiterate. Need help cleaning up my desktop(I think) Ok my computer is really slow and everytime I try to shut a window I get Internet explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close sorry for the inconvience. What should I do?

Answer 1

In addition to all of the excellent advice above, you might be close to filling your hard drive. If you can't run disk defragmenter because you have less than 15% of free space available, you'll know that's the problem. If so, and you can't easily free up space by deleting unneeded files, you might consider getting an external hard drive - they're awfully cheap now, check Newegg online - to store some of those extra files, and also to back up your most important files, since it sounds like you're the kind of user whose computer might just up and die any day because you're not really into everyday maintenance. There's a pretty good chance you have a virus or 10 slowing you down, too, unless you're running antiviral software properly, so be careful with that external hard drive - attaching it to a new computer could infect THAT computer if you haven't got the new one properly protected with antiviral software.

Once you get everything working OK, you might switch to using Firefox as your browser. You can get it free from mozilla.org It's more stable, less of a resource hog, and slightly less susceptible to viruses than bloated ol' Internet Explorer, and if your version of IE is corrupted, it'll be a new uncorrupted browser program. Plus, if you shut 'windows' rather than tabs when you close a browser page, you're probably not using the latest version of IE, and you'll find the tab feature in Firefox, or the latest version of IE, a revelation.

Answer 2

You need to clean up the PC.

Start by cleaning up your cache (tools/options in explorer), delete history and temporary files.

Run the disk cleaner utility under start/all programs/accessories/system tools.

Run the disk defragmenter utility located in the same spot.

Scan your pc for spyware and malware as suggested.

Last run a registry cleaner - see link.

If that doesn't fix it, reinstall Internet Explorer or get Firefox.

Answer 3

You can defragement your drives (C Drive,D Drive) and also remove the program or this you don't need...renew your internet explorer and use desktop clean up wizard and try not to keep too much icons on your desktop.

Desktop Clean up Wizard = right click your mouse on your desktop and go to arrange icon by and look for desktop clean up wizard.

Disk Defragment = go to start then go to accessories and then system tool...you'll see disk defragmenter and disk clean up.

Renew your internet explorer or check up some new software on www.download.com

Answer 4

go into the add/remove programs and get rid of programs you don't use

then AFTER you have done that
- go into the programs folder and delete those folders (remember delete these folders only AFTER you've done the add/remove thing)

try not clutter up your desktop (especially if you have an older pc (with less hard drive and memory) - you can usually get rid of some of the desktop icons of programs you don't use a lot that are sitting on your desktop

clean out your browser cache / history / and cookies on a regular basis

and if you download a lot of files / music / movies (and /or move them from one folder to another) you might want to defrag your computer
and get rid of duplicate copies of those files

also keep your antivirus program updated on a regular basis and run your virus scan before you open any files you download from the internet
you might also want to download

spybot
http://www.download.com/3000-8022_4-10401314.html
and / or

adaware
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html

you might also want to update your drivers (especially your network driver - chances are if you haven't done that since you bought your pc - the network driver is out of date) - you will find your various device drivers in the device manager section

you can also look in your windows help section if you need more help when no one's around (and it don't hurt to read up stuff in there - search for "how to's or troubleshoot" etc)

good luck

Answer 5

It sounds like you've added a lot of programs and some of the programs have corrupted your registry. Have you added a web browser?There is definately a conflict there. I experianced the same after installing fire fox(possibly a file corrupted durring down load) Run scanconfig from sys. install disk and uninstall all programs you dont use and all programs you installed just before you started having trouble. If you have a lot of files in my documents/brief case/ temp folders / cookies etc.. uninstall all of them If you down loaded movies etc..uninstall anything you dont use! Then run anti virus and anti spy ware( it takes less time to run after everything is uninstalled) It will definately help

Answer 6

Unistall any unused programs from Control Panel > Add remove programs

Run disk cleanup under Programs > Accessories > System Tools

check for spyware / adware. heres a couple free tools to use

adaware http://www.lavasoft.com
spybot http://www.spybot.info

Answer 7

it's not your computer, it's on the servers end and if you are running to many programs at once it will also slow down the computer if thats the case then you have to restart the computer and try to run no more than two programs. you may also want to check with your server to see if they can help clear it up for you.

Answer 8

Do as the others mentioned about clearing the internet cache and then I would suggest using Firefox instead of IE as your browser as I have noticed that Firefox is MUCH faster and more stable of a browser then IE.

Answer 9

Well Tres. sounds like you have found your help and I was going to suggest some of those things.. Clearing history, cookies and such and defrag..which I do often. So get with it. All these people have outlined in detail and very good I might add. Luck to you sweetie.

Answer 10

On a Mac, shift/control/3 takes a picture of the screen. If you press shift/control/4, you can click and drag over the area you want; the picture is taken when you release the mouse button.