Slow to load up programmes!

Artistxman

My laptop was getting progressively slow to load up the programmes. Initially I was using IE(Windows) on Win XP system. I recently downloaded Mozilla firefox, AVG free antivirus, Kerio personal firewall. I also downloaded Ad aware and spybot to check my computer.

In the bottom tray..I can see Kerion, AVG as new programmes always running in addition to what I have routinely. I have a feeling that ...it might be firefox which is causing the slowness.

Wondered if others have similar problems..Is there anything I could try or shall I just uninstall firefox. Thank you

gaming_guy

firefox 2 loads quick when i start firefox on my computer

Have you got firefox 2 or 1.5?

f1charlie

Artistxman, are you talking about programs loading slowly as your laptop boots up, or a general slowness once the laptop has booted up?

For slow bootup problems, download Startup Control Panel:

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Uncheck one item at a time and reboot, and see if you can identify what is causing the problem by a process of elimination.

For a generally slow running sytem, download Process Explorer:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html

and see if there is one particular program hogging the CPU time.

wayne

are you running two anti virus scanners?this will slow down your computer a lot.and that bit of knowledge is all i,ve got in my head.lol

f1charlie

Or two firewalls? Have you disabled the Windows firewall?

Just checked, Kerio automatically disables Windows firewall. But you could check to make sure!

Artistxman

Thanks for all the replies.

1.I have firefox 2 beta

2. I already uninstalled Norton antivirus

3. Windows firewall is off as Kerion is on.

4. I used the Process Explorer...very useful...but I can't see anything specific hogging the CPU(System idle always running, IE, Firefox and the process explorer itself). I could see though when I am browsing on internet..loading up a new page will cause my CPU to reach upto 90-100%...Does this mean...I need more RAM/ Storage space and my laptop is getting old.

gaming_guy

get the full release of firefox 2 here

albertross_2

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/processmonitor.mspx

Artistxman

Thank you. I still can't work out why...my laptop is slow. Followed above steps...can't find any specific programmes hogging the system.

My friend went to PC world and apparently, somehow they altered the settings to reduce the number of programmes loading when they switch their laptop on and also added extra RAM. Mine has 240MB RAM, 1.1GHz Hard drive.

Is this worthwhile? Thanks

Chippy_Minton

Extra RAM will certainly help - 240 MB is a bit low for XP. Look on http://www.crucial.com/uk/ for RAM for your system. Buying from there and fitting yourself is very easy and cheaper than PC World.

To prevent unnecessary programs loading at startup: click Start - Run - type msconfig and click OK. On the Startup tab, untick boxes to disable items. Google the names to see which ones can be disabled safely.

Also, click Start - Run - type services.msc and click OK. Follow Black Vipers's guide to see which services can be disabled. Mirror here - http://majorgeeks.com/page.php?id=12