Sorry this is Vague: Need help with Laptop Please

[TDKMate]

Sorry the title is vague but I don’t have much to go on. I have a relative coming over on Mother’s Day and he wants me to fix his Toshiba laptop (PSLY5U-00Q01T) because “it’s running slow.” That’s all l have to work with.

My biggest problem is I don’t ‘fix’ computers and I know nothing about laptops in particular. I Googled the specs for it and apparently the thing doesn’t even have a USB port (!?) but is suppose to have an optical drive.

I need help on helping him please. I imagine I should burn some kind of ‘rescue’ disk so I can run some diagnostics, but what do I put on it? I can think of MalwareBytes and CCleaner but I’m not sure I should install stuff on his laptop, it may complicate things. How about some sort of antivirus scanner? And I’m sure I’ll find tons of junk on it that’s useless and messing things up…

I appreciate any tips and tricks you have!

 

[samuria]

first job is run msconfig and see whats running at startup

 

[TheDeerDude]

WinDirStat can can help you visualize what's taking up space on the hard drive, and delete it. Download WinDirStat

Disk Cleanup is also a good start - run it as an administrator to clean up more stuff.

You could also uninstall any software they are no longer using that is taking up space.

CCleaner is a good idea.

Scanning the laptop with Malwarebytes will help you remove any malware and PUPs, so also a good idea.

Like @samuria said in his post - using the MSCONFIG utility will allow you to see what programs run at startup and disable unnecessary ones

If the laptop has no USB ports, you could use the optical drive to transfer files onto it. Any utilities that you install, can be easily uninstalled after you have finished.

Hope that helps

 

[TDKMate]

Hi All. Some good tips! Thanks. Any good AV programs that could run from the CD/DVD?

 

[Botard]

Hi All. Some good tips! Thanks. Any good AV programs that could run from the CD/DVD?

Hi TDKMate,
mcAfee stinger runs DVD drive is good to try. It can detect and remove malware and viruses. I don't use it yet, but I think the tech are using this kind of program for their job. Make sure you download the latest version in a clean PC.

 

[TheDeerDude]

Hi TDKMate,
mcAfee stinger runs DVD drive is good to try. It can detect and remove malware and viruses. I don't use it yet, but I think the tech are using this kind of program for their job. Make sure you download the latest version in a clean PC.

"I don't use it yet", "I think the tech are using this kind of program" then I would suggest that you do not recommend it, not to mention it's a McAfee product.

welp now I feel bad lol sorry, I just have a strong dislike for McAfee in general

 

[Botard]

"I don't use it yet", "I think the tech are using this kind of program" then I would suggest that you do not recommend it, not to mention it's a McAfee product.

That's completely fine. It just a word I used had nothing more to say, so don't take it literal. Clearly, the bolded words implies a suggestion not a recommendation. But, thanks for clarifying, my English is suck.

Personally, I used comodo rescue disk but the advantage of stinger is a standalone free tools ready to scan and remove the threats no need to update the virus definition each time you run it. MajorGeeks has a video and recommend it.

 

[TDKMate]

Hi All. My out of town relative finally brought over the laptop. I spent a few hours on it on Mother's day, and he had to leave. He left the unit with me, though. I had time last night to work on it some more.

It turns out he got it from friend who got rid of it because it ran so slow. It's about 10 years old and hasn't been updated in years. It took so long on first boot that I thought it was broken for good. I ran msconfig but didn't really find much. But it did have a ton of what I figured was conflicting stuff. I installed MalwareBytes, CCleaner and surprisingly they came up clean as did MS MRT.

So I started uninstalling all the junk he had on there, started with the 3 year old AVG, figuring it was trying to phone home. And down the long list of software that potentially was doing the same. I used Revo Free to do so and totally wiped it, running CCleaner after each uninstall.

Oh, it was painfully slow process... I kept Task Manager open on the Processes tab and noticed that one, of many, svchost would use 88-98% CPU cycles. Not sure if I should, I ended that one task and things, obviously got faster. Being an old 2 core AMD CPU, it's just not fast anyway.

I lost count on programs I uninstalled, but it had to be at least 15-20 (multiple video editors, multiple email clients [he uses gmail], Skype, card readers, and more).

So now it'll boot in less than 3 minutes, but shortly after, I still have the svchost problem pop back up. At least that's a little better as before all the uninstalls, the svchost problem started right when the computer did.

So I'm thinking the next step will be to install Avast AV then hook it up to the internet and let it do all the outstanding updates. With the svchost problem, it might take a day or two, though, as I don't have the time to watch and keep canceling the task...

Any other ideas or suggestions?
.

 

[Snick]

Use Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Uninstall Programs
How to Uninstall Programs and their Leftovers using Revo Uninstaller Freeware

HitmanPro 3.8 on-demand scanner
HitmanPro 3.8 (64-bit)
You might want to run
CCleaner on default settings to clean/remove junk
Also
Disk Cleanup : Extended - Windows 7 Help Forums - Seven Forums

 

[mrjimphelps]

Defrag his hard drive - now that you have deleted a lot of junk from the hard drive, it is a good time to defrag the drive. If it is badly fragmented, it will run slow.

• Restart the computer into Safe Mode - defrag runs a lot faster in Safe Mode, because not much else is running in the background.
• Open File Explorer. Right-click on C: and choose Properties.
• Click on the Tools tab.
• There should be an option for Defrag or for Optimize. That will get you to Defrag.
• Run Defrag a few times, till the drive is as defragmented as it will get.
• Restart into normal mode.

Another thing you can check: How much memory does the computer have? Typically, the more the better. However, if he has 32-bit Windows, the maximum useful amount of memory is 4 GB. (Actually, a bit less than that.) If he has 32-bit Windows, and less than 4 GB, suggest to him that he increase it to 4 GB. If he has 64-bit Windows, increase the memory to 8 GB, if he doesn't already have that much. Lots of memory can make a noticeable difference, especially if he has 64-bit Windows.

To check the amount of memory, and whether or not his Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit, open File Explorer, and right-click on Computer. Choose Properties. This will show you a screen which will answer both of these questions.

 

[SIW2]

1.What is the make and model of the laptop?

2. What edition and bit version of windows is it running?

3. What version of windows did it come with originally?

4. Does it have a COA key somewhere on the laptop. If so, what version and edition of windows is the COA key for?

5. Is there a recovery partition on the hard drive? What does it contain?

6. Please post a screenshot of disk management.

 

[TDKMate]

[FONT=&quot]

Defrag his hard drive - now that you have deleted a lot of junk from the hard drive, it is a good time to defrag the drive. If it is badly fragmented, it will run slow.

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] snip[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Another thing you can check: How much memory does the computer have? Typically, the more the better. However, if he has 32-bit Windows, the maximum useful amount of memory is 4 GB. (Actually, a bit less than that.) If he has 32-bit Windows, and less than 4 GB, suggest to him that he increase it to 4 GB. If he has 64-bit Windows, increase the memory to 8 GB, if he doesn't already have that much. Lots of memory can make a noticeable difference, especially if he has 64-bit Windows.

To check the amount of memory, and whether or not his Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit, open File Explorer, and right-click on Computer. Choose Properties. This will show you a screen which will answer both of these questions.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Hi mrjimphelps. I ran defrag as suggested. I was surprised that defrag said it was only 4% fragmented. I was also surprised in that it did six passes and took only about 1 hour.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Yes, it’s only 32 bit and only 2GB ram. Since I dabble in photo editing, yeah, the more memory the better.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot].[/FONT]

 

[TDKMate]

1.What is the make and model of the laptop?

2. What edition and bit version of windows is it running?

3. What version of windows did it come with originally?

4. Does it have a COA key somewhere on the laptop. If so, what version and edition of windows is the COA key for?

5. Is there a recovery partition on the hard drive? What does it contain?

6. Please post a screenshot of disk management.

#1 & 2: please see the above attachment.

#3: I assume what is has on it now.

#4 & 5: I’ll have to check. Windows does say it’s active so I’m assuming it’s legit.

#6: I’ll take a screenshot the next time I fire it up (it’s put away at the moment ).


Edit: ops, sorry, I just notice the Windows version isn't on the above attachment: Win 7 Home 32 bit.

 

[TDKMate]

dup post: delete me...

 

[Snick]

If you have a Hard Drive, not SSD, Windows defrags by default!

 

[mrjimphelps]

You definitely need to go to 4GB of RAM. 2GB is simply not enough for Windows 7 to run well. It is very easy to add memory, and it won't take you long to do this, so this is a good thing to try first.

Try out the computer with the additional memory. If you still aren't happy with the performance, you could replace the hard drive with an SSD (solid state drive). To do this, you will need to transfer everything from the hard drive to the SSD; you'll then need to make sure that TRIM is active on the SSD.

In my experience, you get more of a performance boost by adding memory than you do by installing an SSD; also, it is a lot easier to add memory than it is to install an SSD. So that's why I recommend that you add the memory and then test the machine to see if it is good enough. I believe you will be happy with the performance when all you have done is add the memory.

 

[mrjimphelps]

4% fragmentation is not bad. By defragmenting the drive, you have helped performance a little, but not a lot. If there was a lot more fragmentation, say 50%, you would get more increase in performance by defragging the drive.

It would be a good idea to make sure that defrag is set to automatically run on the computer. Here's how to do this:

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/configure-disk-defragmenter-schedule-in-windows-vista/

 

[Layback Bear]

You have got some very good advice.

When it comes to adding ram, make sure you get a match set of ram (2 x 2 gigs) or 1 4 gig memory module. Check the manufactures specs for ram.


Because your laptop came with a very slow hard drive (5400 rpm), a ssd will do marvelous things to speed things up.
Before transferring things to the ssd, I recommend making sure the system is clean from all junk/infections.
A little free programs I use is Malwarebytes and Eset on line scans.


Download Tools and Utilities ESET

Free Antivirus Replacement & Anti-Malware Tool | Malwarebytes


Let us know how things work.


Note:
Get permission from the owner to do such things.


Jack

 

[Megahertz07]

I would backup all data on an external disk and launch a Factory Recover. It will format the C: drive and install Windows from an image on the recovery partition.

If svchost is running at high rates, it's probably Win update trying to find updates or even has a problem. Try to turn it to never check on WU page and to manual under Services.

 

[Snick]

In regards to ram, Crucial has a tool, Compatible Memory - RAM & SSD Advisor Tool | Crucial.com, which will scan your system and provide recommendations. It doesn't have to be the same manufacturer, just identical type. I have two different manufacture's ram in one of my laptops, exact same type, works flawlessly!

My recommended AV’s, malware scanner, adware scanner, pup scanners
Avast Free this is what I use, Anti-virus.
BitDefender Free Edition don’t use but highly recommend
Malwarebytes Premium (it’s a free 30-day trial) If you utilize the free trial, it includes MB anti-exploit & MB anti-ransomware & will remove the standalone versions that you can obtain and install through the below links.
Malwarebytes Free this is what I use, one of the best all-around scanners, period.
BitDefender free, don’t use, but highly recommend, there is also a paid version.
SuperAntiSpyware free, this is what I use, there is also a paid version that runs real-time.
ADWCleaner Malwarebytes recently purchased from Tools.lib, available on both websites
HitmanProx32 scan is free, and one time trial virus removal, you can use Revo Uninstaller
to remove it and trial cookies if it finds malware to remove, then you can use the trial again.
HitmanProx64 scan is free, and one time trial virus removal, you can use Revo Uninstaller to remove it and trial cookies if it finds malware to remove, then you can use the trial again.
Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit this is what I use, real-time exploit protection, drive-bys, ssl injection, etc.
Malwarebytes Anti-Ransomware this is what I use, real-time ransomware protection.
TDSSkiller this is what I use, rootkit scanner.
VirusTotal online multi-AV scanner. If you download the app, it adds entry to right-click context menu. You can right-click on the file you wish to scan, and a couple clicks sends the file to them for analysis.

Nic