Laptop starting to have slow display

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

I have a two year old laptop...battery was already replaced once.

Lately I notice that when I close it (so that it hibernates) and then open it, it can take a full minute for the display to come back. I've also noticed that sometimes when I type, my typing just stops and I have to wait for the computer to catch up.

Are these both signs that the laptop is going to crash any day now? (Are they signs of different things?)

I have McAfee installed as well as Xblock and both are running. I have never had a problem with either of them before this. I don't do anything else to "clean" the memory as I don't really know how.

Thanks for any help!

Sharon

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Too many possibilities - some not good

When that type of slow down hits it is usually one of a few things - some not so bad some rather major.

The not so bad - but still hard to correct:

- Spyware. You need to run more than just McAfee & one anti-spyware to attempt to catch it all. I use Spybot, AdAware, Windows Defender, the free scan at Spywareguide.com (all free) and, if really bad, the paid Spysweeper from Webroot.

- Too many auto start programs. Many things you don't need to have loaded all the time decide to load themselves which slows down boot up or restore. Examples (but far from all) are Adobe Reader, Office, Real Player, iTunes and many more. Use the startup folder, msconfig, the advanced mode of Spybot and Hijack This to identify & remove those items. Many hide and can be hard to find and remove.

- Memory. If you have 512 and are running XP you need to add at least 512MB more. If you have les than 512MB you are being killed by swapping. Add RAM

- Your registry may have grown to a large size. There is no real repair for this except to totally reload Windows. Don't use the registry "repair" programs as most do more harm than good and don't really fix anything.

Then there is the bigger problem. Many times a general slow down can be a sign of a failing hard drive. If you hear the drive "clicking" or see a lot of the activity light flashing all the time it may be having to make multiple attempts to read your data/programs. That will fail eventually and in the meantime makes the machine painfully slow. If it is failing get it replaced while you can still save your installation/setup/files - don't wait until it fails or you have lost them or face an expensive recovery.

You may want to get your pc checked by a reliable tech - not the Geek Squad type.

[3kids4me Super Moderator and Super Mom Find all posts View Profile Close 3kids4me]

Thanks. I ran Spybot and will download AdAware.

I do notice that Adobe reader runs from my start-up. If I delete that, will I need to manually click on it whenever I try to open a .pdf file in a browser?

Thanks!!

[timeos2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close timeos2]

Thanks. I ran Spybot and will download AdAware.

I do notice that Adobe reader runs from my start-up. If I delete that, will I need to manually click on it whenever I try to open a .pdf file in a browser?

Thanks!!

No, it will still start automatically. The "pre-load" they do is just to make it happen faster but at a cost of slower boot up.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I've been told that lots of files on the desktop also slows things down, so I now try to keep things in folders more. And this may be a Mac-specific utility, but when I "repair permissions" it usually speeds response time.

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

You might also try running Disk Cleanup and then Disk Defragment- they can be found in your programs file under accessories, then system tools.