I have a relatively old computer (2004 Vaio) and its been running slow as hell for a while now. Virus scan brings up nothing, but I still might have something slowing it down. Anyway, is there anything I could do to speed it up. I have already disabled all programs at start. I was thinking about wiping the hard drive clean and just reinstalling Windows XP on it and nothing else? What do you guys think?
Reformatting and reinstalling Windows is the quickest way to go, yes. If you've got all your necessary files backed up, it's better than spending hours trying to troubleshoot an issue. Go for it.
To add what Desides said, if you do restore your OS, it wouldn't hurt to set a schedule to defrag your hard drive. It also might not to hurt to invest in some more RAM if your laptop can handle it. I would imagine yours can support at least up to 2 GB and I'm sure it's not maxed out yet... I could be wrong though.
reformatting is the best way but might want to check what you are running as if you are running demanding programs that would cause a slow down. You can also screw with the virtual memory and the number of pages it uses, but you may not want to do that lol
old computer = (yeah you guys know i'm gonna say it). linux. bit of a learning curve but for the average user there's nothing linux can't do that windows can. and it can go lighter than windows could ever dream of.
How would you reformat and reinstall Windows? I'm not too smart about computers so I don't have a clue as to how I would go and do that. I'm not sure how you back up files either, honestly. My computer is about as slow as Rosie O'Donnell's time in cross country running.
do you have the original windows disc? backing up your stuff just involves moving it to another drive that you won't be reformatting. I have also backed up my stuff by zipping a ton of it and sending it to my email addresses lol
I don't have the original Windows disc anymore. Could I back-up my files by saving it to a USB drive for example? Sorry if I sound like a complete ****** lol.
yes , but it all boils down to how much you are saving. You can try this: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/bott_03july14.mspx Heres a general explanation on how to back up your computer: http://www.wikihow.com/Back-up-a-Computer and you can try this to retrieve all your files after