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laptop taking too long to boot up
nick205 - 22/12/09 at 09:24 PM

My trusty old HP/Compaq laptop running Windows XP Pro seems to take forever to boot up these days.

I've installed and removed numerous programs over it's 5 year life and it does get used every day for anything up to 10 hrs, but has always been stable and very reliable. I've checked regularly with McAfee, Malwarebytes and spybot to make sure it's free from any nasties.

Is there anything I can use to check everythings running properly and speed the boot up up a bit???


jamiebenger81 - 22/12/09 at 09:30 PM

Click on the start menu and run.

Type - msconfig

Goto the startup tab and untick some unused programs, Also a good thing is to goto the services tab, tick "Hide MS Services" and remove any not required services.
Delete all temp files and give it a defrag.

Thats normally a good starting point anyway.


mookaloid - 22/12/09 at 09:38 PM

ccleaner - (google it) helps sometimes


bmseven - 23/12/09 at 07:00 AM

After 5 years the best option is going to be a complet format and reinstall of the OS
Should be easy if you have the HP restore disk.

Just remember to backup docs/favorites etc


BenB - 23/12/09 at 09:50 AM

Yup. A new install works for me. I've tried various registry cleaners but none seem to help half as much as a clean sheet.

Usually you'll find when you do a clean install the computer works much faster, then as all the updates get installed along with flash, shockwave etc etc it slows down a bit. But you're still usually a fair bit faster than before the fresh install....


blakep82 - 23/12/09 at 12:38 PM

quote:
Originally posted by jamiebenger81
Click on the start menu and run.

Type - msconfig

Goto the startup tab and untick some unused programs


how do you know which ones you don't need? they've all got weird names
one in mine hasn't got any name at all!


mistergrumpy - 23/12/09 at 02:17 PM

Fallen at the first hurdle there me. I clicked the start menu (the windows picture) but there's no run menu so have given up and will just have to keep waiting patiently.


britishtrident - 23/12/09 at 02:18 PM

Download and run HiJack this and use it clear out a lot of the rubbish.


rustyk - 27/12/09 at 08:01 PM

You could try running the disk cleanup wizard as well and get rid of all the temp files. Don't bother compressing old files though.

That and run a defrag if you haven't for a while, or ever.

I think both are under Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools. On windows 7 now and can't remember!