Laptop gonna drive me insane

[Magicme]

In February I spent €200 getting a 10 month old laptop fixed and Bullguard anti virus installed.

In the last few weeks it has been going nuts again and dont want to have to fork out that kinda money again.

When I open a programme or website it takes ages to load and then comes up (not responding) before it does respond. The hard drive is very full despite me cleaning it out so I know that could be the main problem but why is the sound fecked? If I try to play music, listen to the radio, watch something on youtube, the machine sounds like it is remixing things badly. It stops and goes like it is stuck.

Doing my head in. Any suggestions?

[Pauro 76]

Maybe buy an external hard drive, (you can get some good ones for cheap) save your files to it and see how it works without it. 10 months old, is it not under warranty?

[Magicme]

Its over a year old now but think only had a 6 month warranty with it.

I think all the photos I have stored on it is what is slowing it down alright so mite just have to get an external alright to store them on or move them to the main club computer.

[tetsujin1979]

Without knowing exactly what's going on, here are some tips


What virus scanner are you using?
If your laptop came with McAfee installed, remove it (it's a resource hog) and install AVG from http://free.avg.com/
Install and run Spybot from http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html Scan your computer for malware, and remove anything that's not supposed to be there
We've started using MalwareBytes in work, I'd recommend downloading and installing the free trial as well - http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Are you using Internet Explorer, or Firefox for web browsing? IE is far less secure, and could be allowing malware attacks on your machine
Click start -> run and type "msconfig"
Click the Startup tab, this is the list of programs that launch when your laptop starts, go through each one and check it's a legitimate program on your machine (ie something you have installed, or came with it). If not. then clear the checkbox. Also if it's something you don't want to start when Windows starts (e.g. iTunesHelper, MSN Messenger) clear the checkbox. When you're done it'll tell you to restart the laptop


That last one is a bit technical, so if you're unfamiliar with Windows internals, ask someone you know who is familiar with it to take a look for you.

[Magicme]

Without knowing exactly what's going on, here are some tips


What virus scanner are you using?
If your laptop came with McAfee installed, remove it (it's a resource hog) and install AVG from http://free.avg.com/
Install and run Spybot from http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html Scan your computer for malware, and remove anything that's not supposed to be there
We've started using MalwareBytes in work, I'd recommend downloading and installing the free trial as well - http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Are you using Internet Explorer, or Firefox for web browsing? IE is far less secure, and could be allowing malware attacks on your machine
Click start -> run and type "msconfig"
Click the Startup tab, this is the list of programs that launch when your laptop starts, go through each one and check it's a legitimate program on your machine (ie something you have installed, or came with it). If not. then clear the checkbox. Also if it's something you don't want to start when Windows starts (e.g. iTunesHelper, MSN Messenger) clear the checkbox. When you're done it'll tell you to restart the laptop


That last one is a bit technical, so if you're unfamiliar with Windows internals, ask someone you know who is familiar with it to take a look for you.


I got rid of Mcafee ages ago and now have BullGuard Gamer installed by the repair dude.

The guy who fixed it told me to steer clear of registry cleaners and spybot stuff as he said they bring more problems than they cure.

I use IE so maybe I should install firefox.

I will do the other things that you suggested. Thanks. x

[Magicme]

Ok the only thing it has thrown up that I cant figure out is called WarReg_popup with an unknown manufacturer. Could this be the problem? Also some of the things look like they should be there but maybe they shouldnt like Language Application (also unknown manufacturer)

[monutdfc]

How much RAM (memory) does it have? Less than 1GB is probably too little nowadays, modern software uses a lot and if there is not enough the PC slows down to snail's pace.
If you input the make and model on www.crucial.com they will tell you the max it can take; it is easy to install new memory and can make a world of difference. I did it on my Mam's PC and it is like a new PC now.
And yes, stop using IE, it is like a magnet for viruses and spyware etc

[Magicme]

Thanks D! Doing as you suggested.

[monutdfc]

To check your memory go to
Control panel > System
Under the "General" tab (should be the first one that opens) it will tell you under "Computer:
...
... X.XXGB of RAM"

[Battery Rover]

If you want to check out processes running to see what they are go to http://www.processlibrary.com/

[Magicme]

Thank you BR.