Laptop slow and startup and shutdown

TrishaM

Please can you help? I have a Toshiba Satellite P10-722 laptop. It has always been very slow to start up and lclose down. Is there anything I can do to make it quicker? I assume that it has loads of Toshiba nonsense loading that is not necessary but don't know what to do. Have stopped some of the startup programmes but don't know if I could stop some others?. Also there are lots of programmes running in the system utility section under services can I stop any of them? It has XP zonealarm, and symantec antivirus(corporate edition).
I am sure there aren't any virus's on it coz it has been slow since the day it was bought. It has a celeron 2.8 ghz processor and 256 ddr ram. is it worth upgrading the ram and if so is it easy to do? I have given the laptop to my daughter as it has never been used and she wanted one for Xmas so this one is ideal. Would appreciate any info at all.

Shazmar_2

Download and install Advanced Windows Care V2 Personal from here http://www.download.com/Advanced-WindowsCare-Personal/3000-2086-10407614.html

Run it and when it's finished click repair any problems on the bottom of page. When this is done open the start up manager from the tools menu at top of page. The startup manager will list all prog's in startup. As a general rule you shouldn't really have more than a dozen prog's in startup. Obviously you will need your antivirus,spyware,firewall office and printer etc prog's in the list. Check the list to see what you feel are essential startup prog's (anything you''re not sure of google to see what they are for) any that are not essential can be removed from the list as they will start when you run that particular prog. Hope this helps.

TrishaM

Have done this but still takes in excess of 9 mins to load up completely. Any other ideas?

BigDaddyBlue

9 MINS?!?!?!

my laptop's nowhere near as powerful as that and it loads in 90 secs - 2 mins.

yes a ram upgrade would be helpful just for the general speed of the p.c.

can you list some of the things that are still in your startup menu and we can see if you can turn them off safely.

TrishaM

Right here goes
ezsp_Px
ccApp
VPTray
TPTray
CeEKey
zlclient
toscdspd
google toolbar notifier(This seems to join the list every now and then)
There are lots of services in the service section of the system config utility

Shazmar_2

Have a look at this page http://www.microsoft.com/atwork/getstarted/speed.mspx Follow the instructions up to and including Detect and repair disk errors. If you are running Vista also have a look at the ReadyBoost option (I'm on XP so don't know about this). Do this and see where it gets you. If it's still slow have look at the following paragraph.

I'm also pretty sure your Symantec corporate edition may be slowing you down especially as you say it's been slow since day 1, may be worth changing to one of the free antivirus such as Avast, AVG etc. I'm sure your daughter won't need the corporate edition of anything.

TrishaM

Using Windows XP and when watchng the load up zonealarm seems to take the longest, or is it the last thing to load anyway. Oh and it is symantec antivirus only

BigDaddyBlue

TrishaM wrote: »

Right here goes
ezsp_Px
ccApp
VPTray
TPTray
CeEKey
zlclient
toscdspd
google toolbar notifier(This seems to join the list every now and then)
There are lots of services in the service section of the system config utility

From what i can see they're all to do with norton antivirus. and zone alarm

Personally I use avast (https://www.avast.com) instead of norton as it uses less system resources.

toscdspd is a toshiba application that tries to make you cd/dvd drive quieter. try turning it off and see if your cd drive becomes noisier if it does turn it back on if not then leave it off.

Jay

Shazmar_2

You could get rid of ZoneAlarm and install Comodo http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/ It's free and is much lighter on system resources and very simple to use. Iagree with BigDaddy get rid of Symantec and install Avast. Again much lighter on resources and simple to use. Let us know if you get any faster.

TrishaM

changing the anti virus has made a difference approx 3 mins to load, haven't changed the firewall as I am used to zonealarm. Did disk cleanup and defrag so that should have helped as well. Many thanks for all advice.

foreversomeday

Upgrading RAM is very simple. Open the computer, (Make sure it's unplugged first!!:eek:) and look at the RAM you have bought (you should get a "stick" of it, you can buy from any computer shop, internet etc.) Make sure it is DDR. Look inside the computer, maybe take the opportunity to gently hoover out the dust! And find a component that looks like the RAM you have in your hand. Take this out, slot the new one in and start the computer up. Don't put the side back on yet. Make sure it starts up ok and then put the case back together.

Then you need to adjust the virtual memory. Click Start, right-click My Computer, click Properties, select the Advanced tab, and click Settings in the Performance section. Choose the Advanced tab, and click the Change button. Choose the Custom Size radio button and enter about twice the value of the RAM you have installed in both the Initial Size and Maximum Size boxes, click Set, and click OK.

You'll probably have 2 or more slots so theoretically you could have 2 blocks of 256 to make 512, but for a beginner replacing is easier as if you have 2 different kinds sometimes they won't work together, if they are a different speed, (to each other) they can prevent your computer from starting up at all.

HTH!