Laptop running slow

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.
 

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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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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