Old Windows 7 System. Slow. Can I clean it up without losing apps?

SJMaye · 02 Apr 2019

I have a friend with an old Windows 7 laptop. It is very slow. I would recommend doing a factory reset, but she has installed MS Office 2013 and cannot afford to lose it. She does not have the disks as it was installed as a part of a volume license. Last time I messed with this I had difficulty trying to reactivate MS Office even though I had the license key.

I believe Office is the only thing she is concerned about. Does anyone know how to save Office or reinstall and re-activate it successfully?

wither 2 · 02 Apr 2019

Hi-

One thing you can do is go to Accessories, System Tools and select Disk Cleanup. When it says how much disk space it can recover, check the boxes for Temporary Files and Recycle Bin. Let it run. When done, reboot the system. Then, I suggest doing a defrag. I assume the system has a hard drive vice a SSD.

Another thing that can be done is to run msconfig.exe. In the Startup tab, disable things that don't need to be running at startup. This doesn't affect how most software performs. You can do the same thing in Services but you would need to have a fair knowledge of her system to determine what things don't need to be running.

To help with the latter, it would be beneficial to open the Task Manager and look at what processes are using the most memory.

Of course, one could run a good registry cleaner.

Since she has a concern with losing Office 2013, I suggest setting a system recovery point. In addition, it would be beneficial to use something like the free Macrium Reflect to create an image somewhere off the hard drive. One normally needs a Macrium boot disc or USB device to do the recovery. The help for Macrium will detail the procedures to do that.

SJMaye · 02 Apr 2019

Hi Wither,

Thanks for the thoughts. Ideally, I would like to do a full refresh of the OS. I thought Windows 10 could do this witout affecting the other programs on the PC. Can Windows 7 do this as well?

Megahertz07 · 02 Apr 2019

Repair Install will reinstall windows without loosing programs or data. You launch Setup from windows.

Instead of running WU and install more than 200 updates, run Simplix.
Simplix pack allows you to update Windows 7 SP1 (x86 x64) and Server 2008 R2 SP1 live operating systems. It can be installed in any language. Includes all critical, recommended, and security updates and updates for all versions of Internet Explorer.
Download Simplix UpdatePack 7 - MajorGeeks

Also install Framework 4.7.2

torchwood · 02 Apr 2019

Hi

The major issue here is the loss of Office, with a Volume licence -- Where did it come from!!!

might be beneficial to run the Genuine tool, to see which server its being activated from

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52012

Roy

johnhoh · 02 Apr 2019

SJMaye said:

Ideally, I would like to do a full refresh of the OS. I thought Windows 10 could do this without affecting the other programs on the PC.

Win10 can only do this IF you have the original installation media, OR Office 2013 came with the machine originally. But in any case, Win7 does not have a "Reset" option like Win10.

But in my opinion re-installs are way overrated. It is not hard to make any win7 system just as fast as the day you got it.

do start > run > appwiz.cpl > press enter, then uninstall all programs you don't want

use Autoruns to uncheck a bunch of things windows is starting at bootup. Its common for a system to have 100-200 line items and that's after hiding microsoft line items.
Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

use SpaceSniffer to delete folders you do not need
SpaceSniffer download

no matter what, get your total disk space usage to below 75% on your boot drive. And if you are NOT using a SSD boot drive, do a defrag.

use Device Cleanup tool to delete all drivers for non-present devices
Tools for Windows

do start > run > cleamgr > press enter, to run the win7 disk cleanup tool.

SJMaye · 03 Apr 2019

torchwood said:

Hi

The major issue here is the loss of Office, with a Volume licence -- Where did it come from!!!

might be beneficial to run the Genuine tool, to see which server its being activated from

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52012

Roy

No worries on the Genuine nature of the software. This computer actually belongs to Habitat for Humanity. The software was donated to them from Microsoft. Somehow using a volume license.

Long ago I was able to buy MS Office on the cheap through my employer. I believe it was also through volume license. Not sure. At the time I had no problem reinstalling it as long as I had the software key. It was recently I have run in to problems reinstalling even when I have the software key.

SJMaye · 03 Apr 2019

If I knew I could reinstall MS Office without a hitch I would like to do a fresh install.

SJMaye · 03 Apr 2019

johnhoh said:

do start > run > appwiz.cpl > press enter, then uninstall all programs you don't want

use Autoruns to uncheck a bunch of things windows is starting at bootup. Its common for a system to have 100-200 line items and that's after hiding microsoft line items.
Autoruns for Windows - Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Docs

use SpaceSniffer to delete folders you do not need
SpaceSniffer download

no matter what, get your total disk space usage to below 75% on your boot drive. And if you are NOT using a SSD boot drive, do a defrag.

use Device Cleanup tool to delete all drivers for non-present devices
Tools for Windows

do start > run > cleamgr > press enter, to run the win7 disk cleanup tool.

Seems plausible. I will check with the lady next time I am at HFH.

RoWin7 · 03 Apr 2019

johnhoh said:

do start > run > cleamgr > press enter, to run the win7 disk cleanup tool.

It's cleanmgr.