[u3aavcuss] Re: Computer has become very slow in starting
- From: "Mike Bean" <Mike.Bean@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <u3aavcuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:20:17 -0000
Betty,
At the risk of offending your friends, these proposals do not seem a) the
right place to start and b) of little value except in certain circumstances.
Action 1: To start with I shall assume that you have a virus and malware
checker running continuously and that you keep them up to date (e.g. AVG
Anti virus and Windows Defender) - this makes it less likely that you are
suffering from viruses or trogans at play in your PC. Along with a Firewall
(there a free one in Windows XP and Vista) one can feel reasonably safe.
Make sure also that you have not over-defended yourself with more than one
product of each type - i.e. have just one virus checker, just on malware
locator and just one firewall. Having more than one of any of these can have
a very great impact on the performance of a PC. My wife's PC had McAfee for
virus checking but I had replaced that with AVG . somehow McAfee got
restarted and the PC ground to an almost standstill.
Action 2: If you PC is not new(ish) then it may not have a great deal of
disk storage. It is possible that a lot of space is either locked up or
fragmented across the disk and while there may well be space for all the
files you want to store and the hundreds of files Windows also wants to
store the may be spread ion little bits across the PC. In this case a Defrag
(Disk Defragmenter) may help BUT before you do this and the reason why you
may have such a problem is the accumulation of temporary files cause by
programs, especially Internet Explorer, not cleared and wasting space. So .
Action 3: Clear out extraneous temporary files created by Internet Explorer.
From the IE menu bar click on Tools | Internet Options .
There are many options here but the quick and easy way to free up space is
to click on the General tab and select Delete from the Browsing History
section. Without know about your use of the internet I'd suggest that you
make sure that just the Temporary Internet Files button is selected and then
press Delete. This can release a lot of disk space which can improve
performance and if a Defrag 9above) is then carried out the available space
is more efficiently used.
Action 4: Application specific problems can occur and there are a number of
areas in Outlook Express that can slow things down. I'm not an Outlook
Express user but I am sure that it is sufficiently like Outlook to suggest
that an overflowing in-box, dozens of deleted but uncleared mail items and
large attachments can slow it down markedly. I'll ask experienced OE user to
chip in at this point. The things that I mention here about Outlook Express
have the Father Christmas effect . every time you start up you have to lug a
great heap of 'stuff' into memory and shake that all into place before any
new mail can be processed or new ones created . an enormous amount of work
just to get to a single item of mail. Trim this down to what you really want
to keep in OE, rather than saving elsewhere, and things will get going
quicker. Just now I discovered that I have 749 items of deleted mail in
Outlook, many with attachments, I'd let them fester for a month or so. I've
now deleted them (odd that, deleting deleted items!) and freed up 95Mb of
wasted file space and memory space when I start up Outlook and it now starts
3-4 time faster!
These are useful and largely non-specific actions that could well make a
difference - so give them a try and tell us how you get on and we'll think
of more thing to try if things don't improve . but in that case we'll need
to know a great deal more about your PC and what you've got running there!
Good luck
Happy Christmas
Mike
PS: Clearing icons from the desk-top is rather like arranging the
deck-chairs just before midnight on the Sunday 14 April 1912 on some ocean
liner and a System Restore has no effect on temporary files/folders (but has
important uses in other circumstances).
_____
From: u3aavcuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:u3aavcuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Betty Sharp
Sent: 17 December 2008 14:49
To: u3aavcuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [u3aavcuss] Computer has become very slow in starting
Hello Mike,
For the past two months or so, my computer has become very slow in starting
up & also in loading any selected programme, eg Outlook Express & in
displaying & opening the first selected email in Inbox.
I've had suggestions from friends as to how to remedy this, as follows:
* Clear all icons from desktop & use "all programs" to access desired
programme, in lieu of icons
* Apply System Restore to remove unwanted temporary files/folders
I decided to check with you first, before doing either of the above. What do
you think? I'd be most grateful for your advice.
Kind regards,
Betty Sharp
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.19/1853 - Release Date: 17/12/2008
08:31
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