what's causing my slow computer

olias

Hi all,

I have a toshiba satellite pro laptop that has started to be really slow over the last week or so. I have installed no new software lately, am running no new programs, and have completed 2 types of anti virus full scans and a full malware scan, with nothing found.

Just as an example of the slow down, it was always slow to boot up (about a minute), but now takes about 3-4 minutes. Clicking on a link that used to be virtually instant, now takes 10-20 seconds to respond. Likewise requesting a webpage and it will load (slowly), but then may take 10-20 seconds of being 'frozen' before becoming useable. Internet connection is fine with speeds of around 7-9mb/s. even when not using the internet, it takes considerably longer for a program to start to run.

Any ideas what the problem could be or what I can try to improve it? Thanks

Olias

wealdroam

HOW TO SPEED UP A SLOW PC OR INFECTED PC. (a mini guide)

olias

Any reason why it could have happened over the last week or two only?

Olias

I_have_spoken

Could be the fan/vent is full of dust and the CPU has auto slowed down to prevent itself melting.

Try a good dust and vacuum

Wilkins

olias wrote: »

Any reason why it could have happened over the last week or two only?

Olias

It's possible that it's a Windows update causing the problem. Revert to previous status quo to find out.

DRP

wealdroam wrote: »

HOW TO SPEED UP A SLOW PC OR INFECTED PC. (a mini guide)

I also have (2) Toshiba satellite laptops and both slowed down to frustrating levels...

I would recommend:

1) Reinstalling windows.
2) Following the thread advice above (ie. install the free avast, ccleaner, malware bytes).

if you feel like investing to really speed things up:
3) Get an SSD drive to replace the HDD (I paid £104 for 240Gb).


My budget laptop (3 years old so not the top of the range) is a totallhy different animal now - it now boots in less than 30 seconds and i haven't experienced any freezing...

macman

What OS are you running on it? How much RAM installed?