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Very slow PC at start up

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
My computer has become very slow when i first switch it on, its very frustrating as it seems to take about half an hour before its really usable.
Once it starts running normally it will be fine for the rest of the day.
Any ideas please.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What operating system are you using? Have you done basic housekeeping like removing old, unwanted files from the hard drive and then defragging it? Is there still plenty of space on the hard drive?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It might be that you have a ridiculous amount of programs that are loaded up when the PC first starts up.

    Go to Start --> Run and type in msconfig and then okay.

    A little screen will pop up. Choose the Startup tab. In that screen you can see all the programs that are loaded up when you first startup. Alot of the time you get programs you dont really need starting up, which then makes the PC slow etc.

    So have a look at the list of programs there, dont stop things like your virus scanner etc and if you're not sure what something is just leave it. But things like MSN, Itunes etc you can just disable from that startup list.

    If in doubt just google it :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Get more ram.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It could be:

    - Your computer needs defragmenting. This can be done in Windows by going to Start, Accessories, then System Tools, and then Disk Defragmenter.

    - You have too many files on your desktop. This can slow the computer down.

    - You may need more RAM.

    - You have too many programs chosen to load at startup.

    More likely than not, it's points 1, 3 and 4 that may be the problem.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I wouldn't have thought the number of files on the desktop would be a big issue. But the other posters are definately right about the number of startup processes, a lot of programs from self important software makers, like Apple and Adobe, think that you MUST want their program loading up when you log in to your computer. You can stop this by deleting unwanted programs from the Start -> Programs -> Startup folder or doing what Goodfella said.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not just program startups, way before all that, you have driver loading which slows down boot times. Disable most drivers by uninstalling or using msconfig.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well, I would do the following and see how it goes..

    1) Uninstall any applications you don't need
    2) Change Windows to classic view
    2) Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 if you use that, or Firefox 3.6 if you use that.
    3) Stop every other program loading at start up by pruning the Start -> Programs -> Startup folder
    4) Disable indexing by Windows Search
    5) Uninstall Windows Defender, replace it with Avast! Free Edition
    6) Avast! Free Edition will take care your anti-virus needs as well
    7) Don't use Outlook 2007, or Outlook in general.

    There is some more information on speeding up Windows Vista on the Microsoft website, basic and advanced respectively.

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Optimize-Windows-Vista-for-better-performance

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Ways-to-improve-your-computers-performance

    My post in RubberSkin's similar thread..
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its Windows xp. It is a fairly old computer now, not sure if that has any bearing.
    I have removed all the things i dont use and have done a defrag and disc clean up.
    I have done the "msconfig" that GoodFella suggested but the list it produces means nothing to me and i dont want to delete something important.
    I am terrible for keeping things on the desktop i have loads of files on there.
    Is RAM expensive maybe i would be better putting the money towards a new Laptop.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My post in RubberSkin's similar thread..


    I will try what i can from your list, will let you know if it helps.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Louisek wrote: »
    Its Windows xp. It is a fairly old computer now, not sure if that has any bearing.
    I have removed all the things i dont use and have done a defrag and disc clean up.
    I have done the "msconfig" that GoodFella suggested but the list it produces means nothing to me and i dont want to delete something important.
    I am terrible for keeping things on the desktop i have loads of files on there.
    Is RAM expensive maybe i would be better putting the money towards a new Laptop.

    I still have XP on my home system and it works fine. Most programs for a while will still work with XP, so to me it's fine to keep it.

    The only other points I can think of are the processor. When is it slow? Is it only so during start-up?

    The msconfig command will work, but we would have to know which programs are to be removed for this to work. How fast is the processor and how much RAM have you got? The processor speed is usually given as Mhz.
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    About the startup processes in msconfig:
    There's a column that shows where the actual file is, that should be a tip about what it is. Also, you can google the name of each process and you'll probably find out what it is exactly.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Download a prog called Tuneup! Utilities. Will sort out most problems for you.

    http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When did you last wipe and reinstall? Windows is better than it was years ago, but it still goes stale after 18 months or more of use...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    When did you last wipe and reinstall? Windows is better than it was years ago, but it still goes stale after 18 months or more of use...

    Yeah tell me about it! When I was on Win 95/98, I had to reformat every few months :-) My Windows 2000 lasted 3 years before a reformat, and XP lasted 2 years. Windows 7, my current OS, is nearly 8 months and still going strong.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yup, they are hugely improved. My HTPC is running Win7 - just did a clean install yesterday, got it all set up, then did a backup I can restore in future... :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    it sounds like (given it gets better after half an hour or so) to be a virus scan running at start up - in which case I'd not recommend changing it.

    To avoid the problem, don't shut your computer down very often (it's bad for them, you know)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have tried a few of the things suggested and once it is running normally it seems to be faster than it was but it has'nt cured the slow speed for the first twenty minutes or so.
    Big Gay suggested it could be a virus scan i wonder if i have a dodgy one that i don't know about, i will google the codes in the misconfig list and see if there is anything in there.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah like a few people have mentioned, how much RAM has it got?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Could just reinstall, that's usually all it takes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    GoodFella wrote: »
    Yeah like a few people have mentioned, how much RAM has it got?

    256MB thats not very much is it?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not really.

    Probably about 3 Gigabytes minimum.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Louisek wrote: »
    256MB thats not very much is it?

    Are you sure? Go to control panel --> System.

    It should give you a run down of what your system has.

    256MB is waaaaaay too small, depending on how old it is mind you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kira wrote: »
    Not really.

    Probably about 3 Gigabytes minimum.

    Not for XP. 256mb is still on the low side, but plenty of systems performed decently with a quarter gig when XP was released. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    256 is ridiculous.. go to www.crucial.com and run the online scanner.. upgrade to at least 1GB and you'll see a huge improvement.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I tend to over-spec for the OS because I like things fast:

    Windows 95 - PII 350MHz, 128MB RAM
    Windows 98 - Thunderbird 1400MHz, 512MB RAM
    Windows 2000 - P4 2.8GHz, 1GB RAM
    Windows XP - dual core 3.4GHz, 2GB RAM
    Windows 7 - quad core 3.4GHz, 4GB RAM

    I missed out Windows NT4, Me and Vista for obvious reasons :-)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have tried all sorts now and although generally it is running faster i still have this problem for the first twenty minutes or so.
    I have given up now and asked my friendly (some would say over friendly) geek to come and have a look, over the phone he seems to think something is running in the background and laughed at my lack of RAM he thinks it is probably using all the ram just to try to run normally i think thats what he meant anyway.
    So he is goingto reformat me and increase my Ram which he says will make it run like new.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think u should fully optimize ur PC...as may be registries also responsible..which slow down ur PC as they takes a big space in background...there is this one application named Advanced System Optimizer..which can definitely help u in optimizing PC..as has loads of features.. like..
    Registry Cleaner
    Registry Optimizer
    Disk Tool
    Disk Optimizer
    System Cleaner
    System Protector
    Driver Updater..
    i m also using it for regular maintenance for my laptop.. it a best tuneup tool i used so far..! i haven't face any prob..after using this application..!!
    It increases my PC performance effectively..booting time reduces from 5 to 2to3 min.!!
    U can download it 4m Cnet site.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You've probably got a lot of crapware on your system running everytime you start up. Msconfig start up tab should help you stop your computer running unnecessary programs at start up. If that doesn't work you could try to reinstall your OS but make sure you back up everything before you do it as it will wipe everything, but you should notice significant system performance improvement once completed. Again improving your RAM will help too but it will not help get rid of any crapware that's more than likely causing the problem!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    noog wrote: »
    256 is ridiculous.. go to www.crucial.com and run the online scanner.. upgrade to at least 1GB and you'll see a huge improvement.

    you sound like someone who makes their living selling hardware .. Yes more memory would help but it doesn't address the problem if the original poster says it can take as long as 30 minutes to start up windows and be usable.

    Their problem is much more likely to be software related - I'm pretty shocked your solution is a hardware based one and not to disable start up programes from the OS.

    The person that suggested MSCONFIG gave a much more direct solution.

    I would suggest this program which it 100% free, would delete a lot of temp files and allow the user to control startup programs

    http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I had the same problem :banghead: with mycomputer and I've added more RAM.

    Now it works faster, but I think I definitively need a new one.
    :yeees:
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