my computer is so slow it takes forever to load up and to get on the internet, i have done disk fragment and it is still slow what can i do to speed up the process or do i need to do a full system recovery

LAURA, March 2007

Not sure about sonicstage or mp3 rocket. Best thing to do would be to move all of your mp3s over to your new drive and delete them from your main drive. Any other larger files you might have should also be the first to move (for example, movies, pictures, etc.).
Make sure that you actually delete the files once you have copied them over (emptying the recycle bin if you send things to it). would be a good idea to empty the recycle bin anyway.
Ideally, you want about 5 gigabytes free on your main drive at least (no more than 10 will be necessary).
Make sure that you do actually install, update and run spybot s&d and adaware as mentioned in my other message as these kick ass. Install and update the two first (after you've moved your files etc.) and then reboot your pc in safe mode (press F8 as your computer is booting, keep pressing it until your boot options pop up). Safe mode will give the two programs better access to potential problems and allow them to delete more problematic files. If you are asked to restart at any point, do it.
If this helps, let me know, if not, there are more lenghtly processes we can go through, so, again, let me know.
If this does fix your machine, then allowing your main drive to defrag over night might add some slight improvement as you will have moved a lot of files, so defragging (re-organising the physical arrangement of the files) should make a small difference.
Another BIG ISSUE is that of the things that start when your computer starts. Make sure tha unnecessary programs such as MP3 rocket, sonicstage, Limewire and MSN are NOT set to start up automatically when your pc starts. Check out the options / preferences of each of the programs to find out how to do this. doing this will not stop you using the programs in the future.
Good luck for now, Dave

PR1N6L3M4N, March 2007

Thanks PR1N6L3M4N for you advice on the free firewall and antispy and all the others.

I've just loaded them all on the Toshiba but I didn't know if it was too much to have them all.

I've got Sonicstage on my computer with tons of CD's loaded but unfortunately the MP3 player only holds a fraction of them.

I also use mp3 Rocket to download music (maybe not a good idea) so you can imagine my computer is running rediculously slow. I have checked for errors and performed a disk defragment but it did warn me that I did not have enough space to perform it properly but I did it anyway.

I've just bought a Maxtor Basics 320 Gig Hardrive and I thought I could just transfer all my music and photo's to it.

The Sonicstage has a Backup Tool. Is this the same as transfering it to another computer?

Will I then be able to open and use Sonicstage as before with it on the external drive?

Jennifer, March 2007

Defragging is the most over rated thing i've ever seen lol.
The most likely cause for this slow down is a virus / spyware / adware.
Without a firewall, a pc can grind to a halt within a day of being connected to the internet, but even with a firewall, spyware can accumulate and gradually slow your pc down.
Visit http://www.computeractive.co.uk/downloads/
From here you can download: -
"Zone Alarm 7" (A free and very good firewall). Don't download this if you already have a firewall.

"AVG 7.5.446" (A free antivirus program). Again, don't download if you already have an upto date antivirus. If you choose to replace an old antivirus program with this one, download the AVG file, disconnect from the internet, uninstall ur old antivirus and install this new one. Connect to the net and download all available updates.

"Spybot Search and Destroy" (Anti spyware/adware). No matter what security you have on your computer, download this too. This will fix most of your problems, if not all of them (you will have more than one problem on your computer).

"Adaware" (Another anti spyware/adware program). Again, it's important to download this tool as it will remove what ever spybot can't (and vice versa).

Once downloaded, install and update each program (might take a while, but make sure that you do update them, this is important).

Perform your scans and check the files you want deleted (inn alomst all cases you will be wanting to delete all the dangerous files found, so right click and click 'select all' (or similar) and then 'fix problems' (or similar).
Good luck (I'll be checking this page to see if you have any further problems).

Dave

PR1N6L3M4N, March 2007

Hi Laura,
Like you i have just spent two days, scanning and repairing with everything i know, it took 4hrs to defragment, i got into the help page and it said: go into Tools, Internet Options, you should be in the General Tab. Delete Files, click ok. ( i just chose the one i was sure of deleting ) click Restore Defaults ( i couldn't find that ) click Apply, then ok. Restart computer . after that it seems to be quicker, i've emptied files that i don't want as well, hope you get on ok. I was worried that i would have to have someone to mend it, i'l have another try with the defragmenting tomorrow.

Sandra, March 2007

The defragmenter that you get with Windows isn't very good so you may need to use it more than once to get the disk defragged properl. Next you probably hyave lots of programs loading at startup. You can kill some by uninstalling them using the Windows add/remove progams uitlity. You can also stop program from loading at startup by using a utility like Autoruns. Beware DO NOT stop things that you don't understand because you can wreck Windows. Finally you don't say what PC or OS you have but assuming Windows XP SP2 you need at least 512MB memory to run it in or it will run slowly.

t, March 2007