My Dell laptop is dead slow. what to do?

Punitha · 14 Jan 2011

It is having slow start up and shut down problems.Also all applications are running slow.
specifications:
Base Inspiron 14R (N4010) Direct Base
Processor Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor (2.13Ghz, 4Threads, 3M cache)
Memory 2GB (1 X 2 GB) 1 DIMM DDR3 1333Mhz
Hard Drive 320GB 5400RPM Hard Drive

I am using windows 7-64 BIT OS. I bought it 7 months before. I have used mcafee,avg and CA antiviruses. Currently i am using microsoft security essentials. I have done registry cleaning using wiutilities. Removed all temporary files. Changed to maximum no of processors in msconfig. Removed unwanted start up programs as well.

What should i do now??
Shall i extend my RAM?
planning to change to NOD32 antivirus?
your suggestions please?

Hikertrash · 14 Jan 2011

With all the different anti-virus it wouldn't surprise me if remnants were left behind slowing things down. Regardless, if it were my laptop, I'd back up my docs, photos, music etc and reinstall Windows. Pick one AV and stick with it. I recommend Avira or MSE

jaypels · 14 Jan 2011

first thing i noticed is your RAM.. minimum requirements for 64bit win7 is 4gb.. if you want to keep 64bit, add more RAM.. if it is ok with you to change it into 32bit, your current specs would run with no problem at all :)

dreamer · 14 Jan 2011

@punitha i have exactly same laptop as u have except i have 3 GB RAM

like others said before me your laptop is slow coz of remnants of many anti virus u downloaded plus your RAM is bit on the less side for the smooth running of windows 7.

i suggest u reinstall windows 7 with installation CD but before that backup all your data.

for me i use MSE and comodo firewall and everything works fine

unifex · 14 Jan 2011

Punitha said:

Changed to maximum no of processors in msconfig.

I should warn you that this might actually slow you down.

Assuming that you mean that you actually went to the boot tab of msconfig, checked the Number of processors box, and then chose the number from the drop down menu, then I recommend to undo. This means, go to msconfig and make sure that the box Number of processors is unchecked.

Basically, the problem is that new Intel processors are hyper-threading. For example my laptop has the i7 processor. This is a quad-core, but with hyper-threading the number of virtual processors is 8. The msconfig does not know about it and the maximum number there is still 4. But if I choose 4, then the OS sees only 4 virtual processors, i.e. 2 physical cores. As a result, the system runs significantly slower.

Apart from that, reinstalling the OS is always an option, if you have time for that. Multiple AV is certainly a bad idea, and although you seem to be running just one for now, make sure that you don't have another "real-time" anti-malware or Windows Defender or something like that, one real-time security application is certainly enough.

It was mentioned several times on the Forum that with 2GB the 32-bit OS runs better than the 64-bit OS. Indeed, 2 GB is the minimum required amount of RAM for the 64-bit OS according to Microsoft, so maybe running at the minimum is indeed not the best solution.

Hope this helps.

gregrocker · 14 Jan 2011

I would clean reinstall with 32 bit following these steps to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Use MSE or Avast 5 with Win7 firewall for least performance hit.

As mentioned the change of AV's along with the use of a registry cleaner likely has corrupted your install. Most other Reg Cleaners besides CCleaner are sales operations with no real genius, which is what you want if you're analyzing the Registry. You may have done other tweaking, too, which is a sure way to mess up Win7 - which will not tolerate compound tweaking.

Windows office · 15 Apr 2013

Dude as a 9 years experience in microsoft stuffs i suggest that get a fresh copy of that window and if that wont work take it to nearby showroom