Waay too many problems since I started using Windows 7

@greg, I guess I re-enabled because I 'thought' (my bad) I'd read that they 'shouldn't' be marked as disabled during uninstall & my memory is about 2 seconds long so was afraid I'd forget while I went in search of info on some that I didn't understand. Actually, I don't think I did uncheck all just for that same reason.

And yes you're right, I need to slow down, focus in one or two areas at a time & start bombarding the board with questions.

Jacee said:

If IE9 is slow to open web pages, then it could be WOT ... This 'add-on' is intended to inspect a web page for malicious code.

Your ISP could be another reason for slowness. Test your Bandwidth http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/

Thank you Jacee, I should have been more courteous & followed thru with this right away. I did make a screen shot after I read your post, and again just a few mins. ago. I don't know why they're different, they're from the same place.

whs said:

Just a couple of remarks regarding earlier points:

1. You absolutely should have an external disk (at least 500GB). A PC without an external disk is pretty useless. The day you get into trouble (and that day will come) you will have no good way to get yourself out of the tight spot unless you have images. And image often - I make an image 3 times per week so that I don't lose a lot when I have to reset the system.

Here is the best free imaging program I know: Imaging with free Macrium

2. As far as the startups go, you can disable ALL of them except for your AV program and those that you may have started yourself - e.g. sidebar (gadgets).

3. In Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools there is an IE (no add-ons). Run that for a test and see whether that is slow too. If yes, there is probably a wrong setting in your AV program.

Thank you whs, should I do #'s 2 & 3 at the same time or test them seperately?

And can you give me some help about external disks please. I live in a very small town with only one store to buy such an item so I'm probably better off shopping online & wouldn't know what to look for.

gregrocker said:

Why did you re-enable startups you had turned off in msconfig? Did you have problems? You say it got speedier. You can indeed uninstall programs listed there that you don't want, but you should still leave them disabled so they don't leave any remnants running at the time of uninstall.

Instead of bemoaning how little you know in every post, why not spend the energy asking a few questions so you learn more?

grits said:

whs said:

Just a couple of remarks regarding earlier points:

1. You absolutely should have an external disk (at least 500GB). A PC without an external disk is pretty useless. The day you get into trouble (and that day will come) you will have no good way to get yourself out of the tight spot unless you have images. And image often - I make an image 3 times per week so that I don't lose a lot when I have to reset the system.

Here is the best free imaging program I know: Imaging with free Macrium

2. As far as the startups go, you can disable ALL of them except for your AV program and those that you may have started yourself - e.g. sidebar (gadgets).

3. In Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools there is an IE (no add-ons). Run that for a test and see whether that is slow too. If yes, there is probably a wrong setting in your AV program.

Thank you whs, should I do #'s 2 & 3 at the same time or test them seperately?

And can you give me some help about external disks please. I live in a very small town with only one store to buy such an item so I'm probably better off shopping online & wouldn't know what to look for.

I would expect whs (and gregrocker) is saying to do #2 and then see how well IE does when you follow #3. Don't undo #2 until you can make a determination in how IE responds. If IE performance improves your problem was likely due to one of the startups that you disabled in #2, if not it may be a setting in your AV causing you problems (remember you left your AV enabled in step #2).

You might check with your ISP to see if the internet speed you got from jacee test corresponds with what you pay for. It looks slow, but I don't know what you pay for. Report back on what you find to help continue troubleshooting.

DeaconFrost said:

The first issue is that you bought an eMachines system, which was already mentioned. The second was, I assume, that you left the default Windows install on there. OEM systems always run like crap out of the box. That's why, for many of us, the very first thing we do is to wipe the system clean and reinstall Windows 7 ourselves. The end result is a much faster, more efficient system.

Man isn't that the truth. Factory built OEM machines are typically built with inferior components and cheap china made hardware, No offence intended here to anyone. As if that isn't bad enough they purposely install bloatware to make sure the machine runs as poorly as possible. I just don't get that. They say it keeps the cost down but is that really worth the trouble and head aches it causes people? Bottom line is that Windows 7 simply is NOT the problem.

Of course anyone who knows anything about PC'S would have also built their own machine for much less money and with much better components without the bloatware. Factory warranty's are not a good enough reason to purchase OEM machines. Lack of knowledge on how to build your own machine is the only valid reason for not doing so.

My last dual core machine cost me 200 bucks to build but I already had the dual core CPU, already had the 8800GT and the hard drive. Asus board 50 bucks, 8GB GSkill DDR3 memory 50 bucks, Roswell power supply 50 bucks, Roswell case...you guessed it 50 bucks. And that machine just flies.

Here is a tip for the OP, Windows updates has many drivers and other fixes that are catered exactly for your machine. Most slowness problems can be fixed by just going to Windows updates and removing all OEM bloatware.

chev65 said:

Of course anyone who knows anything about PC'S would have also built their own machine for much less money and with much better components without the bloatware. Factory warranty's are not a good enough reason to purchase OEM machines. Lack of knowledge on how to build your own machine is the only valid reason for not doing so.

With eMachines you could get quality stock parts assembled competently for less than the cheapest retail price of all the parts. This was the principal behind the company when it was founded and carried it until Gateway bought it and plunged it deeper into the bargain basement, same as Acer appears to be doing now.

There are many people on these forums who are not hardware oriented but do just fine helping with Win7 - heck, that's even what they named the forums!

The vast majority of users can look in the Sunday ads and buy everything they'd possibly need in a PC for just a little more than the cost of the full version OS.

Then they can come here and learn how to Clean Up Factory Bloatware or Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and have a system that performs every bit as good for them as a hardware hobbyist's does for him/her.

gregrocker said:

With eMachines you could get quality stock parts assembled competently for less than the cheapest retail price of all the parts. This was the principal behind the company when it was founded and carried it until Gateway bought it and plunged it deeper into the bargain basement, same as Acer appears to be doing now.

There are many people on these forums who are not hardware oriented but do just fine helping with Win7 - heck, that's even what they named the forums!

The vast majority of users can look in the Sunday ads and buy everything they'd possibly need in a PC for just a little more than the cost of the full version OS.

Then they can come here and learn how to Clean Up Factory Bloatware or Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 and have a system that performs every bit as good for them as a hardware hobbyist's does for him/her.

+1 for that! The vast majority of users aren't worried about squeezing every last bit out of it such that they need a stopwatch in order to measure performance. On top of that, as far as parts quality is concerned, these folks often have equipment that's years old. Just cleaned up another very old machine, someone's 2002 Dell machine complete with one of the bad capacitor motherboards. But everything still works on it, HD included. Ten plus years old now! Been telling them for a couple years that they're gonna have to upgrade (XP). They'll probably hang on to it until just before 4-2014 or that HD or motherboard finally dies.

I apologize for my slow response, I'm still trying to work my way thru' the other suggestions as time permits. Some of it will require more study. I do have the startups disabled.

I'm not sure at this point if I should 'rep' anyone or not since I'm not done.