Laptop options besides DBAN

timwinters

timwinters

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So, I have a Dell Vostro 3500 running on window 7 pro 64 bit. it's getting really slow and buggy especially on start up. Sometimes (about 1 in 4) it simply freezes while starting up and I'll have to unplug it, pull the battery, and start over.

I'm running Avast and will occasionally scan with both Malwarebytes and AVG. In both latter cases, I'll shut down Avast, download AVG or Malwarebytes, scan, and then uninstall.

Any other suggestions? Or is it time to DBAN and start over? I know 4 years is long in the tooth for a laptop but I'm really not in the mood to buy a new computer right now.

As an aside, my wife has the exact same setup and has no issues whatsoever. BUT, she uses hers about 1/10 as much as I use mine...all our financial software/etc. is on mine and I play a lot more in the web than she does.
 
Blow it out and do a fresh install of the OS and required software. That should buy you a couple more years
 
...OR blow it out and do an install of Ubuntu Linux. There's a learning curve, but IMHO well worth it.

Uses many fewer computer resources (I'm typing on a computer I bought re-furbed from Lenova 6 years ago, and put Linux on, which does everything I need).

Ubuntu is super-stable, and less prone to malware, to boot.

Jim
 
Spring for a few bucks for a computer tech to tune it up.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
Spring for a few bucks for a computer tech to tune it up.

Rich
Click to expand...

I'd definitely do that if I knew of a trustworthy and knowledgeable service because staring over is such a PITA. Any suggestions on good 'chain' vendors?
 
Install and run CCleaner.
Run "msconfig" and only allow certain programs to boot.
I browse the Internet in a sandbox (Sandboxie). No issues with unwanted downloads or any type of unwanted virus.
 
timwinters said:
I'd definitely do that if I knew of a trustworthy and knowledgeable service because staring over is such a PITA. Any suggestions on good 'chain' vendors?
Click to expand...

"Chains" and franchises are hit or miss. You're usually better off with someone local. I'd ask around, especially among people who own small businesses, and ask whom they use. A lot of independents don't advertise. I didn't after the first year.

What we called "tune-ups" were mainly just maintenance that users rarely bothered doing themselves. We started by blowing the schmutz out of the machine, then assessed the hard drive (if it was dodgy, we didn't want to push it over the edge with the rest of the procedures), and then tested the RAM using either mdsched.exe or any of the bootable memory checkers.

Assuming the hard drive and RAM were okay, the rest of the visit might include some or all of the following:

CHKDSK /f
Running a malware check / removal if not already completed
Deleting garbage files
Removing crapware and unnecessary software
Uninstalling and fresh-installing needed, but misbehaving software
Removing the bazillion spyware toolbars that most people had on their browsers
Removing unneeded start-up programs
Checking the registry and cleaning if needed (it usually was)
Updating Windows, if needed
Updating frequently problematic software (like any of Adobe's free stuff)
Defragmenting the MFT on pre-Win7 computers

Sometimes we'd wind up doing other things, but the above was a pretty typical tune-up.

Rich
 
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Thanks Rich, I'll ask around. The only local person that I know personally is pretty worthless.

It may be showing up on your doorstep! :)
 
pay someone to "tuneup" your laptop?

seriously?

The OS needs to be tweaked and tuned?

While this may sound like microsoft bashing, I'm actually serious.
 
Bob Noel said:
pay someone to "tuneup" your laptop?

seriously?

The OS needs to be tweaked and tuned?

While this may sound like microsoft bashing, I'm actually serious.
Click to expand...

They benefit from it, especially if the user isn't a computer maven. Computer tune-ups were one of our more popular services.

The need for occasional tune-ups is part of the price of relative freedom, as it were, to install whatever crappy software you like. In my experience, more problems are due to third-party software than to the OS itself. The install and uninstall routines, in particular, for much third-party software are horribly written and can cause problems.

I haven't done that kind of work for a while, but Symantec's stuff and the full, consumer versions of HP multifunction printer software used to be the absolute worst software you could put on a PC short of deliberately infecting it with a virus or something very close, like many file-sharing programs. Symantec's uninstall scripts were so bad that Symantec itself actually had a special, downloadable application whose sole purpose was to remove all traces of their software from a system. It really was that bad. It put hooks EVERYWHERE.

Some problems are more OS-related, however. Filesystems get corrupted, the registry gets full of incorrect or obsolete entries that can cause errors or slow down performance, pre-Win7 MFTs get fragged all to hell, DLL conflicts arise... those sorts of things. Even a Windows system with no actual "problems" leaves a trail of completely useless crap a mile long that can degrade performance after a while, and tidying things up improves performance.

Rich
 
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timwinters said:
Thanks Rich, I'll ask around. The only local person that I know personally is pretty worthless.

It may be showing up on your doorstep! :)
Click to expand...

Let me know. I'll make coffee. I usually like the client to be present because what I think is garbage software may be something the client actually needs.

If you download CCleaner and do nothing but run the general cleaner and the registry cleaner, that alone might considerably help your PC. Removing unnecessary start-up programs would help, too, as long as you know what is and isn't necessary. You can post a list here if you like.

Rich
 
+1 for wiping and reinstalling the OS. Dealing with that now on my gaming laptop.

Running into the same annoying problems each time I do though - the mousepad on the Asus G74sx refuses to turn off even in mouse settings. There's a BIOS option to disable internal pointing devices but it only works if the right driver is installed. Picking through the list to find which one I used before.

Also this time around trying to get things to install on the HDD instead of the SSD for the OS instead of moving it around after. So far programs that are installed instantly forget where they are and I have to go into the C: and D: drives to find it and make a new shortcut. I went into regedit and changed the default location for both Program Files and x86 but still not 100% working.

I love how snappy everything is after getting all the drivers installed with a new OS.
 
Thanks Rich for all the help and advice. I ran CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and cleaned up the start-up menu and it's running a lot quicker now. It's satifactory...for now...
 
timwinters said:
Thanks Rich for all the help and advice. I ran CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and cleaned up the start-up menu and it's running a lot quicker now. It's satifactory...for now...
Click to expand...

My pleasure.

Consider a CHKDSK /f when you have a chance, as well. Or do it through the GUI if you prefer. The NTFS filesystem is pretty robust, but when it does get corrupted, performance can take a serious hit. It's worth checking once in a while.

Rich
 
I keep getting an update for the os system. It wants me to update from windows 7 to windows 10. I have an Acer Aspire laptop.

Tony
 
1600vw said:
I keep getting an update for the os system. It wants me to update from windows 7 to windows 10. I have an Acer Aspire laptop.

Tony
Click to expand...

I am not an early adopter. I suggest that if you're reasonably happy with Windows 7, stick with until you've had a chance to try someone else's windows 10 to see if you like it better.

If you do like it better, then check whether it will work with all your applications.

If so, then back up your hard drive and do the upgrade.

If you want to disable the notification, use the "Customize" option in the System Tray and turn it off.

The Windows 10 upgrade is reversible, by the way, but I've never tried doing it. Like I said, I'm not an early adopter, so I haven't installed 10 yet. I'll let other people be the guinea pigs.

Rich
 
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