Purchased a new computer with vista and its so slow, how can I fix this?

Question

the computer is an acer and is only two months old, it is very slow and frustrating.

Answer 1

Ok, buying a Mac isn't going to directly fix your problem, despite what one of your answerers is telling you. Your system is slow due to one of two problems:

1) It was slow to begin with -- then I would guess that they sold you a minimum configuration, with 512mb of RAM and an integrated video card. The easiest way to speed up Vista is to upgrade to a minimum of 1 gigabyte of RAM... most likely, if you have a basic model computer, they gave you 512 megabytes of RAM composed of two 256 MB DIMM cards. You need to find out whether you have DDR or DDR2 ram (my guess would be that you have DDR2, since its a new computer). Buy a 1 gig card... I just bought one from Best Buy a week ago for $30, so you should be able to find it for around that...

2) Your system started out fast, but got slow over the past couple months -- first, it could still be that you only have 512 MB of RAM, and the hard drive is getting fragmented so that your swap space it running slower... more likely though.. you are getting bogged down by Spyware and Adware... I would download Lavasoft Adaware and Spyware Search and Destroy (Google them, they're both free). Run those, and get rid of everything it finds.....

That should be a good start. Follow up if you need more....

Answer 2

There are a number of things you can do. If you have money to spend, you can add RAM. Windows Vista requires at least 1GB. Ideally, you want 2GB. Of course,there are things you can do without spending money. You can decrease the number of startup programs. Startup programs consume RAM and CPU cycles. For example, you don't need QuickTime or Real Player to load at startup. Another thing you can do to speed up your computer is to get rid of the eye-candy. Sure Aero looks great but it consumes a great deal of RAM and CPU cycles. Turn off Aero and other special visual effects, such as animation and drop down menus. Lastly, you can disable Windows Services you don't need. Of course, only do this if you know exactly what you are doing. You can consult Black Viper's website on Windows Services for Vista (http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm).

Of course, you should perform the usual disk cleanup and disk defrag.

Answer 3

2 things come to mind. 1. It's Vista. It just doesn't have the performance that XP has. I upgrade to Vista and the machine slowed down bad. Rolled back to XP, everything is normal.
2 Do you have Norton in there? It's a resource hog. I was working on a system and disabled Norton and the system sped up significantly.

Answer 4

This is a known issue. Microsoft has promissed to correct it by a service patch on Jan 2008. The beta version is already available on Microsoft site

Answer 5

Do a disk check. Your hard drive maybe starting to develop bad sectors. Start>My Computer>Right click Drive C>Properties>Tools>Error Checking>Check Disk Options Automatically fix file system errors and, Scan for and, attempt recovery of bad sectors.> You'll get a message that says you can not run disk check. Schedule disk check at next start. Restart disk check will run automatically. If your hard drive has bad sectors. It is just a matter of time before it fails. If your hard drive has bad sectors I would suggest installing a second hard drive or, external hard.

Answer 6

If you could post the specifications of the computer, it would help in providing a better response. Could you please edit your question to include:

1) processor type,
2) installed RAM,
3) total and free hard disk space,
4) installed security software,
5) any other programs running in the system tray, e.g. instant messaging, itunes, quicktime.

Answer 7

Try to do these:
-Add more RAM
-Scan the computer for viruses
-uninstall programs that are useless or that you don't use anymore

If none of these work, get a Mac or buy a good-reviewed PC.

Answer 8

Hey,
CCleaner is the best tool on the market to clean up your pc. Download here http://j.mp/UrAEMJ
Try it out
Good Bye

Answer 9

turn off the auto updates that vista runs. it should speed up. if not are you running any anti virus or anti-spy ware programs? those might also be the problem.

Answer 10

you could try adding more ram, that speeds up things.
buying a mac won't help.

(my vista computer with 2 GB ram runs vista perfect. better than XP)