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Our family laptop is running very s-l-o-w-l-y. It takes ages to start up. Can anyone recommend a link that will tell me how to give it a bit of TLC, please.

My non-techie instincts are that it would benefit from 'defragging' and other stuff, but having googled for info I'm a bit overwhelmed. Thanks.

Have you got norton anti virus on it? Ours was running really slow and someone suggested removing it and using AVG anti virus software (which is free too). It runs likes a new computer now!

To remove it you have to do it through norton website, google it (don't just remove from the Add/Remove programs menu)

Interesting point, godisadj. We used to have norton, then almost a year ago I installed mcafee, but norton still pops up and tells me stuff (ads?). Mcafee subscription has nearly run out so i will need to look at that. And install avg, which i think we before mcafee. Interesting that I can't just do it through remove programmes though.

Make sure you have uninstalled Norton and when MacAfee runs out uninstall that too. Don't leave it running without antivirus for long, just a day or two to see what difference it makes, then install Microsoft Security Essentials and see how that goes.

Uninstall everything else, then defrag if necessary. Whether/how you defrag that depends on which version of Windows are you running?

If it's still slow after all that, more memory is probably the best thing.

I meant to say that we are using vista in my OP. To defrag do i just follow the instructions on windows help?

Use something like CCleaner which is free and frees up disc space. As for AV, download either AVG (Which slowed my pc down horribly) or Avast, and Threatfire. Both are free and seem to work ok.

have a look at this

Well, without changing hardware, there are so many free ways to speed up a slow running laptop, you can give them a try. Most of them are effective.
1) Remove Unwanted Programs.
2) Delete Any Clutter / Junk Files.
3) Clean Out The Registry.
4) Disable automatic startup of some programs.
5) Defragment your system.

Note: These are manual ways to implement, for a computer veteran,it's easy; for a computer newbie, it's hard. As a result, l recommend a PC speed up tool to you, which can help you easily and instantly speed up your laptop with just a few clicks. Wish you good luck.
Here to download: www.anysoftwaretools.com/speed-up-pc.html

selina6, I just downloaded the speed up laptop tool you recommended and it required money to work. This was not made clear at the outset. Now it's on my computer and I don't want it.