Fixing a slow laptop

A laptop can become slow over time. The reasons for this include the load from tons of files and programs and even the accumulation of dust. Instead of rushing for a new one, a laptop owner can invest a little time, rudimentary tools and adjustment of settings to spruce things back to normal. For instance, if the computer has the traditional hard drive, one can purchase a reasonably priced solid state drive (SSD) to replace the old one and speed will be restored. Any other strategies are welcome here.

 

They can also check for viruses, and clutter that might be slowing down the hard drive. There are a few things that could wreek havoc on your computer, and having to purchase something would be a last resort as far as I am concerned. There are other things that could be done first. It is just one of the things that you might look to do first.

 

My laptop is slow. I have been using it since a long time and I think the slowness of the laptop is because of age, another reason could be dust. My laptop has been opened only once during a schedule maintenance. I have never considered about replacing my HHD with SSD. I will be opened to this option.

 

A cousin of mine had his old laptop formatted to clean up programs that had only been taking space and memory and contributing to the slow down. It improved his computer's speed considerably. I can't have my laptop formatted a this point but I have been uninstalling programs that I learned were slowing it down. I uninstalled the McAfee anti-virus for one. Then I've also read about adjusting virtual memory. That trick would work for a few days but after a week, I would be back to the same speed I was before the adjustment.

 

AVG PC Tune-up is a great program. I works to keep your system optimized and one thing that it does is disables programs and background stuff not being used. When something is called on, it opens it temporarily until it is not longer needed, then shuts it back down. It increases performance drastically! Highly recommended!

 

Defragging the C drive might help with computer slow down as well. It may help to compress the files and get rid of junk files. I recently had a laptop slowdown that I thought for sure had something to do with my laptop, but after through numerous preliminary virus and malware checks, I found that it was actually my ISP that was causing the problem.

 

All computers run slower and slower over time. This is not because it's getting older. Two factors are involved. One, you are getting better and better at using it, so things, which, at first, seemed fast, now seem slower and slower. Two, your hard drive, as some have already mentioned is getting full of junk. Make a habit of throwing out the trash regularly. Think of the hard drive like your closet. When you chuck things into it, eventually it becomes a mess. To find anything in the closet takes longer and longer. So throw out the junk in your hard drive. Then defrag it. Do it at least once a week. You can set your computer to shutdown after you have defragged it. Get it started. Then go to sleep. Next morning, your computer should feel zippier.

 

The best way you can fix a slow laptop is by doing some maintenance on it, for example always try to delete junk files, uninstall unnecessary programs, always run system checks, perform HDD and registry defrags and if everything fails then backup, format and reinstall the OS.

 

I have a habit of collecting images because I'm an artist. For a couple years, I forgot to clean my computer until it got really slow. So I clean my computer and it had almost three hundred thousand files on it that I dumped in the trash. It took a couple days to fully get it off my computer. Then my computer worked just fine. Other than that, you have to check for the normal virus and big files that drag your speed down.

 

Oh, dear, that's a lot of trash. Say, have you considered using services like Imgur to store your images? I have used Imgur for many years and find that it's very convenient. Other than Imgur, I also store my images in Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. This is one way to save space on your hard drive. Also makes for better security, in case anything happens to your hard drive.

 

Oh, I have and external hard drive for the images I keep. Mostly, I work on multiple projects that have multiple folders of reference material for each. I don't like online storages because I usually need my reference material when I don't have internet.

 

I know a lot of people have their opinions on why computers slow down, but me personally, I have never had a problem because of how much data I had on the SSD. My SSD had like 219 mb on it left, and the computer wasn't running slow because of that.

Even dust on the inside, I can clearly see how cluttered mines is, I even have small paper in the fan that is stuck, and it doesn't slow down because of that.

 

Generally when I reboot it seems to fix everything. The laptop will not connect sometimes in the morning and is slow and a reboot seems to fix the problem. It is just one of the issues that I have. However, it has something to do with my connetion I think, and not with the laptop itself.

 

Just for Karen Gordons problems, it may be worth loading a ram cleaner program "they can be setup to run automatically" ,if you are running your machine for long periods and loading loads of programs then this is worth a try.

 

Keeping your computer light and free of clutter is an easy way to speed up your computer. Instead of keeping your files on the hard drive invest in a good external disk or put it on the cloud. Formatting your hard drive and installing your OS every once in a while will keep your computer always fresh and clutter free.

 

I see. Nevertheless, you should consider using online storage as a backup. Everything can fail. Even the best hard drives can fail. When your hard drive fails, your data is very likely to be lost. You can set up your online storage to sync with your hard drive only when you have wifi connection. That's what I do.

 

Usually a fresh reinstallation of the operating system and all the programs will fix the slowness.
If not, then you need to find out what programs run in the background are taking up the system resources.
The above fixes are to return your laptop to its former self. Since you said it became slow over time rather than from the beginning.

There are other ways to speed things up to make the laptop run faster than it was.
You can increase the amount of RAM. And replace the hard drive with a SSD.
More RAM will make programs run smoother if you are constantly low on free RAM. SSD makes a day and night difference when load up the OS and programs. Make sure your hard drive is not too full is also another way to prevent your computer from running slow. Even SSD will slow down when it is near full. It is recommended to leave at least 20% free space on it. Delete all the unnecessary files and uninstall some programs you no longer in use will free up a lot of space.