# Laptop running slow



## horusd (11 Sep 2011)

Okay so I bought a new toshiba laptop with i5 processor and expected it to be faster. But, particularly with the internet (IE9), it occasionally runs slow or freezes. I ran a speedtest. and got 7mb download, .67 upload and a ping of 34. I;m with vodafone. 

I suspect it's a problem with either the IE9 or some settings on the laptop. Any suggestions? 

PS:
I've done scans for viruses and I've run Adaware just in case it's a problem, and I've done a registery scan using CCleaner. I've also disabled a lot of the useless stuff like Itunes from the start-up.


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## onq (11 Sep 2011)

"Format C and install Linux."

(cough!)

Ahem.

My experience with windows is that a lot of the sofware "phones home" to check for updates and "download them in the background". Stop them doing this.

Java causes a lot of write errors my machines and requires a manual turn off on the older one. You can get programs that manage what starts up and what doesn't or you can rename proggies you don't use so they are not called up by the Mother program.

My experience with windows security systems is that they can conflict with each other and slow the system down, particularly anti-virus and firewalls. Norton is famous for this, churning away in the background on everything.

I've found AVG and Comodo Firewall to be a reasonable balance on one system and they don't conflict under WinXP. Although the new Vista firewall is supposedly better than WinXP the latter sucks and so I wouldn't trust the former until its proven itself.

My experience is that scans for Virii, Adware, and Malware won't show up a system that's simply shooting itself in the foot.

Also if you're running new software or newer versions of older software in the 64-bit platform, many of these are relatively untried "in the wild" so expect "bugs".

Finally change to Mozilla Firefox and Open Office 3 products for a while and see if you notice any improvement.

FWIW

ONQ.


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## horusd (11 Sep 2011)

Thanks onq. I don't understand enough about operating systems to risk trying linux. I've disabled all the stuff at start-up that I know I can. Adaware just found a damn trojan on my system. Tho how this got there I have no idea. I'm very careful. I've removed it, and am running Malwarebytes to be sure. Should I change passwords etc?


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## nai (11 Sep 2011)

Microsoft security essentials all the way. 

If you find the Internet is disconnecting while on battery the laptop is probably set to put your WLAN card into sleep mode. You can change this under power settings.


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## AlbacoreA (11 Sep 2011)

The simplest thing is not to use IE9. I use it all day for work. But in my opinion its slower and less stable than Chrome or Firefox. Which I mainly use for everything else.


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## onq (11 Sep 2011)

horusd said:


> Thanks onq. I don't understand enough about operating systems to risk trying linux.


*heh*

Its the standard nerd response to someone with Windoze problems.

I wouldn't recommend formatting C - I'd recommend a dual boot system, which most Linux distros can handle for you. Ubuntu is free.



> I've disabled all the stuff at start-up that I know I can. Adaware just found a damn trojan on my system. Tho how this got there I have no idea. I'm very careful. I've removed it, and am running Malwarebytes to be sure. Should I change passwords etc?


Adaware and Malwarebytes are fine.

You probably need a better AV solution and Firewall, or you may not have updated it recently, or you may have run across a new variant, which is why the heuristic scanner is a must.
Do your Windows Update and download the free Microsoft malware scanner and run it and consider Spybot Search and Destroy as a double check - also free.

Also download TDS Killer from Kaspersky and tun it - very important these days as its a known issue "in the wild".

Finally don't surf as Administrator - create a new user profile with no permission to install programs.
Use that to surf then any malicious code should be similarly restricted - hopefully 

Hope this helps.

ONQ.


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## Jazz01 (11 Sep 2011)

Hi,

When you say you expected it to be "faster"... faster at what? Web access is mainly dictated by the speed of access of your connection ... you will also hit "traffic" at times when out in web land... regardless of what spec machine you have...

IE can be slow.. tries to do too much I think.. so I would recommend FireFox or Chrome... 

If your machine is slow in booting up, then try removing programs from "starting up" using "start -> run, then type "msconfig".. go to the startup tab. If you aren't too sure what to change, then don't change too much at once...

Also, check your usage of "My Documents" folder... ideally that should be kept to a minimum (size wise) - option to link / shortcut it to other disk drives is there also... Your main hard drive should be kept to a minimum in what you store in there (pics / mps / vids etc - put them out onto other disk drives if you can...)


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## AlbacoreA (11 Sep 2011)

onq said:


> *heh*
> 
> Its the standard nerd response to someone with Windoze problems.
> 
> I wouldn't recommend formatting C - I'd recommend a dual boot system, which most Linux distros can handle for you. Ubuntu is free....




Well thats certainly going to be a lot simpler than just trying a different browser.


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## nai (11 Sep 2011)

onq said:


> *heh*
> 
> Its the standard nerd response to someone with Windoze problems.
> 
> ...


 
i don't follow - are you suggesting that you're the nerd and are defending your positions regarding windows versus linux or that horusd's lack of experience with linux is a bad thing ?

seems a bit extreme to me to suggest formatting a new windows 7 machine just to use linux in the hope that the system will be quicker.

OP - can you give a few more details and we may be able to help.


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## Jazz01 (12 Sep 2011)

nai - think that this was "tongue in cheek"... classic response to someone who logs issues with windows performance... just to use linux instead... nothing else suggested / implied...


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## horusd (12 Sep 2011)

Thanks for all the responses guys. I've run the spybot search and destroy and the TDS killer, nothing found. I've also set up a separate account for surfing. I've disabled lots of stuff from the start-up. Toshiba have lots of apps and I've disabled most of them. 

I don't have much in the "My Documents" folders, but should I transfer files etc into a different disc? My main concern with the trojan is that my passwords etc might be compromised. Should I change all these?  

As for the browser, I heard that Firefox has security problems, so would Chrome be better?


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## Jazz01 (12 Sep 2011)

Re: "My Documents" - depends on what you have in there... Personally, I wouldn't keep any pictures / video / music files in there... documents, would/should be ok... assuming that they don't take up too much space..

Firefox,(AFAIK) doesn't have any security problems... but up to you what you want to use. 

Separate account for browsing? is that necessary? Sometimes it's handy to be able to surf while you do a bit of work... so a different a/c that might be overkill (again, just my opinion) 

Regarding passwords - I would change them every 90 days... depending on what the trojan that you found originally does.. it might be just gathering info re cookies... if you sure you machine is clean, & you feel something might be compromised, then yes, change your password(s). 

Happy surfing ....


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## AlbacoreA (12 Sep 2011)

horusd said:


> .... My main concern with the trojan is that my passwords etc might be compromised. Should I change all these?
> 
> As for the browser, I heard that Firefox has security problems, so would Chrome be better?



I think you are obsessing over security issues. Why on earth would you need to do all that stuff. 

Just trying a browser to look up a main stream website isn't going to give you security issues. You've for Windows 7 and a firewall. Thats going to stop the vast majority of stuff right there.


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## GuitarDave (12 Sep 2011)

Are you surfing using WiFi or LAN? If its WiFi try connect directly to the router......there can be a MASSIVE difference.


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## Complainer (12 Sep 2011)

Jazz01 said:


> Hi,
> Also, check your usage of "My Documents" folder... ideally that should  be kept to a minimum (size wise) - option to link / shortcut it to other  disk drives is there also... Your main hard drive should be kept to a  minimum in what you store in there (pics / mps / vids etc - put them out  onto other disk drives if you can...)





Jazz01 said:


> Re: "My Documents" - depends on what you have in there... Personally, I wouldn't keep any pictures / video / music files in there... documents, would/should be ok... assuming that they don't take up too much space..


What are you getting at here? Is this a disk space issue or what? Most laptops won't have a seperate disk drive, and it's not really practical to suggest that all files should be stored on an external drive.


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## AlbacoreA (12 Sep 2011)

I didn't understand the My Documents reference either. Whats the problem with that?


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## onq (12 Sep 2011)

Jazz01 said:


> nai - think that this was "tongue in cheek"... classic response to someone who logs issues with windows performance... just to use linux instead... nothing else suggested / implied...




Correct.


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## AlbacoreA (12 Sep 2011)

Linux spam. You get it everywhere.


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## TarfHead (12 Sep 2011)

AlbacoreA said:


> I didn't understand the My Documents reference either. Whats the problem with that?


 
+1



I have heard various figures bandied about for the amount of hard disk space to keep free, ranging from 30% to 70%, to support good performance. Maybe this is what the poster is referring to ?

Also, and maybe this is nothing to do with the OP's issue, we have a TOSHIBA netbook with a partitioned hard disk. The C: drive contains all that you would expect (e.g. Program Files, My Documents, etc), while the other partition (D is empty. What's the purpose of arranging your hard disk into two areas ?


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## onq (12 Sep 2011)

AlbacoreA said:


> Linux spam. You get it everywhere.



LOL! Busted!


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## Complainer (12 Sep 2011)

The D: drive may well be used for system recovery stuff. Check your system properties.


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## AlbacoreA (12 Sep 2011)

You can wipe one partition and not touch your data. Assuming you put your data on the other partition, like move your My Documents to there or similar. But as you have on your own, most places don't do that. 

In my experience the more full a disk is the slower it gets. Especially over 70~80%.

Usually I find recovery tools, etc on the C: partition. But it might different between brands.


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## onq (12 Sep 2011)

TarfHead said:


> +1
> 
> 
> 
> ...



*Partitions and linux*

I used to have a dual boot Win2K SP4 and Suse Linux system.

The boot manager conducted its own anti-virus check at every start up so that ticked the boot virus box plus an additional layer of passworded security at log on.
Windows had access to a separate small partition on which I had the Netscape temporary and history files folder for browsing.
Unlike windows, which mirrors Internet Explorer core .dat files to several locations, Netscape did what it was told.

This meant that downloaded files were quarantined at three levels

- firewall
- anti-virus
- separate drive, constantly scanned.

If the worst came to the worst, and I downloaded a virus which prevented me from deleting it, which it did twice IIRC, I had two options.

1. Format the small partition, which "nukes" the file

2. Boot into Linux and delete, which usually worked.

The latter was especially useful once when the virus had infected a few windows files through sloppy handling on my part - I could delete infected system files and copy clean files via the Linux OS.

Also it meant that I could extract data - drawing and word files - I urgently needed to work on even before the virus was dealt with, because I had set both Linux and Windows up on Fat 32 formatted disks, which Linux could read/write to.

*Summary*

A partition can be a box to put clutter in, or a box for safe keeping.
Less files being written to the partition on which the OS lives means less fragmentation and theoretically a quicker system.

A dual boot system with an alternative OS can allow access to check infected files and/or retrieve files necessary to work on even before the viral infection is addressed.
This is not the same as using VMWare or other software which allows another OS to be run in a sealed environment within a host OS - if the hose OS is compromised, there is no independent solution.


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## AlbacoreA (12 Sep 2011)

I don't really get the preoccupation with virus and malware. I see it so rarely and I'm 100% Windows and IT.  Anywhere I do see it tend to be down to poor browsing habits. So it tends to be the same people over and over, rather than everyone with a certain software config. Even the most clueless people in the family, who get me to fix their PC's don't get viruses or malware. 

The exception to that is people who can't seem to stop themselves clicking on every ad they see. Gmail is a nighmare for these kind of people.


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## horusd (12 Sep 2011)

Guys I think I got it sorted. After disabling most of the toshiba apps (which are very many) the laptop seem to be running normally. I had noticed it was slow even on opening Outlook or Excel. What gives? It was also hanging on IE9 so I wondered if it was a combination of things. I 'm using wireless, but the speedtest seems to be ok. 

The trojan bugged me (pun intended) as I'm so damn careful .  I have installed Zonealarm just to be sure, as my faith in AVG has been rocked by this. Not that they'll care as I'm using the free version!


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## AlbacoreA (12 Sep 2011)

I found Microsoft Sercurity Essentials lighter than AVG free. The latter seems to be a lot slower than it used to be. 

You really need to hunt down all services, and things that auto update from the web. everything seems to do that these days, and there usually no need. Notifications yes, but auto loading every update is just complete overkill. Even MS Office does this also. 

I just haven't found IE9 as stable or as fast as other browsers. Chrome is the fastest. But I also use Firefox, all at the same time. Depending on what I'm doing. IE9 I have to use for work.


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## horusd (12 Sep 2011)

AlbacoreA said:


> *I found Microsoft Sercurity Essentials lighter than AVG free. *The latter seems to be a lot slower than it used to be.
> 
> You really need to hunt down all services, and things that auto update from the web. everything seems to do that these days, and there usually no need. Notifications yes, but auto loading every update is just complete overkill. Even MS Office does this also.
> 
> I just haven't found IE9 as stable or as fast as other browsers. Chrome is the fastest. But I also use Firefox, all at the same time. Depending on what I'm doing. IE9 I have to use for work.


 

Leo posted a comparison of anti-virus sW on another thread. I went with AVG because it was recommended by the college I was in, and required to connect to their network. Never had a problem up til now.


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## onq (14 Sep 2011)

I tend to like Matousec's reviews

I'm running the free version of Comodo on one machine.


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