Skip to main content
Skip to main navigation
Skip to talk navigation

Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Saved Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Flip

Geeky stuff

Hellllllp! My computer is s o o o s l o w w w w w . . . .

16 replies

WanderingTrolley · 15/10/2007 20:22

OK, so I have Norton, which seems to be running ok. I've defragged, cleaned up disks, run a virus scan and error checked. I've got a vast amount of space on the disk.

On the internet, it's moving at snail-like dial-up speed, and taking forever to do anything else, whether I'm online or not.

Also, every now and then it's making big whirring noises, like it's overheating and the fan's burst into life.

I've tried reasoning with it, asking it kindly, running every scheduled task I can and still the fecker is like a petulant teenager. It's only 2 years old! (Hmmm...there's my clue, maybe...)

Can anyone help?

OP posts:

Report

Emzy5 · 15/10/2007 21:47

mybe you need some more ram?

WanderingTrolley · 15/10/2007 21:58

Thanks for reply!

How do I do that?

OP posts:

EmsMum · 15/10/2007 22:03

Are you sure theres not something running that shouldn't be? Do Ctrl/Alt/Delete and hit the Task Manager button (leastwise, thats what I do on win 2000 PC). Have a look to see if anything unexpected is using a lot of CPU and/or memory.

Emzy5 · 15/10/2007 22:04

first you need to find out what speed your ram is.

the ram you buy needs to be the same speed...

so if you have 512 you need another 512.
is it a pc or laptop?

Emzy5 · 15/10/2007 22:05

that's a good point emsmum.
try that first.

WanderingTrolley · 15/10/2007 22:11

Thanks Emsmum - I am woefully familiar with ctrl alt delete thanks to a program that starts at start up and won't feck off unless I go through the whole 'end now' and 'send error report' rigmarole, the high maintenance fiend!

Emzy it's a desktop, 512of RAM - how do I find out how much RAM I'm using and why would I need more?

Thanks again!

OP posts:

jamila169 · 15/10/2007 22:18

Norton can be a bit of a blighter, especially if your computer has been running for a while without br=eing defragged - try AVG antivirus, it's cheaper and less memory hungry.
you need to go through your programs,remove any that you no longer use (using add/remove in the control panel) then run disk cleanup (in the system tools bit, don't know if you are on XP or vista so you might have to go looking. Then.. run disk defragmenter (system tools again) after turning off your screensaver.
You can then leave it to chunter away until it's done, restart and see if it's got a bit more sprightly
you'd be surprised just how much rubbish builds up on a windows system in a fairly short time, so I'd recommend defragging once every 6 weeks or so - it won't take as long as if you leave it to start limping.
Lisa X

screaminghousewife · 15/10/2007 22:19

Ram= random access memory. It is the memory that stores info about the websites that you visit etc, so that when you re-enter them it retrieves them from your ram.
You can free up space by going onto tools (in ie explorer) and going to internet options, general, browsing history, delete.
If you need more ram, you will have to buy it and plug it into your motherboard.

Emzy5 · 15/10/2007 22:26

ya ya ya. that's what you'd need to do if it is the ram. sounds trickier than it is. you can buy ram online.

ram is also used to power all your applications (software). for example, if you have lots of programmes running (word, i explorer, powerpoint) your ram will be more stretched than if you only had one running. ime it's the a common problem to slow running pcs/laptops.

EmsMum · 15/10/2007 22:28

You might need more RAM if you are running anything that requires lot of memory. If theres more going on than can fit into RAM, it swaps some stuff out temporarily onto the disk ... which would be a likely cause of big whirring noise. But the computer can't really work on the swapped-out stuff so that process temporarily stops while something else gets a turn.

Slowness coupled with whirring noises sounds like theres a lot of swapping going on.

Cosmo74 · 15/10/2007 22:30

hard drive could be going - have you backup up your file/photos etc just incase it goes - if you click on start/programs/startup and delete anything that is in here it will stop programs loading up when you first boot your computer up and will also stop you having to do ctrl-alt-del... - the whirring noise could also be the fan - where does the PC sit - make sure all the vents are not covered - upgrading memory will help but running with 512MB on xp and if all you are doing is surfing - no other programs opened like word....should be sufficient - but memory is cheap anyhow to find what memory you need go to www.cruical.co.uk and put in your make and model and it will tell you what memory you need and how much it will be and how much you can upgrade it too.

BTW a new hard drive will only cost around £80 and that is for 120GB - just incase you need to get a new one - hate it when people who do computer homers rip people off - and that is coming from someone who works in computers!!

Good luck - but make sure you do the bakup to CD/memory key now !!!

WanderingTrolley · 15/10/2007 22:30

Thanks Jamila - I'm defragging regularly, and running disk cleanup. I've been through remove programs to the point where the pc is virtually nekkid.

Thanks screaminghousewife - I've deleted temp files, cookies, history et al and I'm still dealing with an oapc.

So, how do I find out if it's the ram that's the problem, and how much will new ram cost me?

This is brilliant people - thanks so much for this.

OP posts:

screaminghousewife · 15/10/2007 22:31

I'd second the get rid of norton thing aswell, when we had trouble with our pc, the guy who fixed it said that it was causing problems and took it off. He replaced it with AVG anti virus and Zonealarm firewall.
Fwiw, Avg is supposed to be more effective at spotting viruses than norton and mcafee.

WanderingTrolley · 15/10/2007 22:38

Oh, you're all marvelous!

OK, so whirring is down to pc shoving and rummaging through stuff. I thought it was the fan too - but it's well ventilated and it's not filled with dust.

Everthing's backed up. The start/programs/startup doesn't solve my fiendish issue, alas, but that's the least of my problems. If I suddenly disappear, you can assume my pc has sent its last post!

Ta for the hardrive tip - I'll certainly do that rather than get a whole new pc, if it comes to that.

Norton is, indeed, something of a pig.

OP posts:

jamila169 · 15/10/2007 23:18

you could have a look inside the case and if you've a spare bay at the top, stick another 80 gig drive in as a slave, copy important stuff to it and get ready to install windows on it if your main drive does the dying fly - less painful than the damn thing breaking on you (mine did that -last time i buy a Maxtor drive it was only 2 years old)
look on Dabs.com for memory - there's also a utility on the net that can tell you what sort of memory you have - crucial I've noticed a difference since my last rebuild when I went up to 1gig from 512

clerkKent · 16/10/2007 12:50

It sounds more like a hard disk problem than RAM. If you have Norton Utilities/SystemWorks, you could try CheckIt, or DiskCheck.

If it is a laptop, see if the case feels hot anywhere - that would be overheating. Is performance any different when it first starts up (and is cool)?

If it is just the Internet that is slow, and other applications run fine, then it could be a software/virus problem. Try another browser.

Flip

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.