Comp gurus: Learn me on speeding up my laptop

[WRXtranceformed]

So the recommendation is to uninstall my virus software? What do you use for virus protection? And does Spybot and Teatimer work with Firefox or does it only work with IE?

[Evan]

xp doesnt really need over 1.2 gig to run smoothly unless you are doing lots of multitasking. its a dead-end laptop so I wouldnt put more ram in it unless its under $20 for a 1 gig stick.

doing a complete reformat/reinstall is going to speed it up more than anything. I have an XP CD if you need one. You should be able to pull the license key out of that one before you wipe it.

[WRXtranceformed]

Ah word thanks bro! Yeah I just found out that I'll be getting a laptop from my buddy's company that he's starting up and that I'll be jumping on board with, so this laptop will be downgraded to personal use only. I was running some multimedia sales presentations and quoting programs on it that were running slower, but I won't really need to run them much anymore.

The cheapest I can find that RAM is like ~$36 shipped for 1 gig. I'm not going to buy it if you dont think it will make a difference though.

[ViPER1313]

download and install SpyBot S&D and make sure it installs TeaTimer and all IE things.

TeaTimer is a process that monitors for registry/system file changes and prompts you to permit/deny every time. You can whitelist/blacklist things to automatically be dealt with. Basically, anytime you're not installing a program or changing something with the system, but TeaTimer pops up something, you're gonna want to hit deny - it means a virus or some background task is doing things without your permission/knowledge.


from the start->run menu, run 'msconfig' and go to the StartUp tab. I would uncheck:
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DVDLauncher] "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\DVDLauncher.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdateManager] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sonic\Update Manager\sgtray.exe" /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AppleSyncNotifier] C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleSyncNotifier.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [lxdnmon.exe] "C:\Program Files\Lexmark 2600 Series\lxdnmon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [lxdnamon] "C:\Program Files\Lexmark 2600 Series\lxdnamon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Ad-Watch] C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\AAWTray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [cdloader] "C:\Documents and Settings\Lee\Application Data\mjusbsp\cdloader2.exe" MAGICJACK
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [RegistryMechanic] C:\Program Files\Registry Mechanic\RegMech.exe /H


And delete anything from Start->Programs->Startup

Then reboot and see how things go. If you go the SpyBot route, you'll discover what apps incessantly try to run at boot until you tell them otherwise (iTunes for instance, it will try to add itself ad nauseam until you go into the application and tell it no, same for QuickTime).

Get rid of Ad-Aware and Registry Mechanic. Actually, go through your Add/Remove Programs and get rid of everything you don't actually use. That may clean out some other stuff you weren't aware of as well.

This is a good list to start with, I would also check and remove:

O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe

Go to Start/Remove programs and see if you can remove Bonjour (its BS installed by ITunes)

I might not remove
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [lxdnmon.exe] "C:\Program Files\Lexmark 2600 Series\lxdnmon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [lxdnamon] "C:\Program Files\Lexmark 2600 Series\lxdnamon.exe"

they might be needed by your printer. As always, make backups. You can disable these items in HiJack This, Sypbot S&D or msconfig.

I also recommend running this program -

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it's free and will remove a ton of temp files from your computer.

Also, 1.26 gig of ram is more than enough for XP. Your largest speed gain would be to get a faster HD.

[Apoc]

So the recommendation is to uninstall my virus software? What do you use for virus protection?

I haven't run an AV in probably 5+ years... I just practice smart computing. IMO, they're some of the worst things for computer performance.

I'm with Evan. Reimage the computer and don't look back. If you want an ISO to burn onto a DVD, let me know. You'll still need your license key but at least you won't need to borrow a piece of physical media.

[WRXtranceformed]

Awesome, thanks for all the advice guys. I've deleted said programs and if I can grow a sack I'll try reformatting at some point soon.

[stevegula]

Yea, most AV companies aren't keeping up with the latest viruses anyway.

Just don't download stupid shit.


I'm surprised to hear you didn't like MagicJack. I've got a coworker that swears by it. Although, I'm sure as with anything YMMV.

[WRXtranceformed]

I think the quality of your MJ experience depends on the speed of your internet connection. Ours is woeful at the office, and nobody could hear me on the phone. Maybe it would work better with more bandwidth, who knows.

[Mike]

Alright awesome, the program told me that I've got a 1 gig card and a 256mb card and recommended another 1 gig card to replace the smaller one.

Found this on newegg: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208015">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820208015</a><!-- m -->

Have any of you guys installed laptop RAM before? Is it tough?

usually cake. depends on your model, but sometimes you need to take the battery out, sometimes you just pop off a panel, sometimes there are a few screws involved. could be ny combination of those too, but it's always pretty easy.

always take the battery out. Always ground yourself before manipulating RAM.

f that. i never do. have never fried anything

[ViPER1313]

I really don't think it's worth reformatting. Once you install all the SP3 updates again it will be as slow as it is now.

Check one other thing though (I have seen this happen on a ton of Dell laptops that came into CampusNet for some odd reason, causes the HD to read slow as hell when it happens) -

Right Click on My Computer and click Properties, go to the Hardware tab, click Device Manager, open up the tab that says IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, and double click "Primary IDE Channel."

Click on the "Advanced Settings" tab - the Transfer mode for Device 0 should be "DMA if available" and the Current Transfer Mode should be something like "Ultra DMA Mode 5." If both read as stated, you are fine. On the other hand, if the Current Transfer Mode reads something along the lines of "PIO mode 4", you need to right click on all the devices under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and click "Uninstall", then when they are all gone restart the computer (Windows will automatically reinstall them on reboot.) If the HD was set to PIO transfer mode you will get a huge performance boost.

[Apoc]

I really don't think it's worth reformatting. Once you install all the SP3 updates again it will be as slow as it is now.

You saw all that bullshit he had on there, right? No chance it would be as slow as it is now.

I reformatted a 4 y/o machine at work and even after all the Windows updates it was 5x faster (I benchmarked)... and that's a machine that doesn't have all the bullshit people put of their personal machines.

[ViPER1313]

I really don't think it's worth reformatting. Once you install all the SP3 updates again it will be as slow as it is now.

You saw all that bullshit he had on there, right? No chance it would be as slow as it is now.

I reformatted a 4 y/o machine at work and even after all the Windows updates it was 5x faster (I benchmarked)... and that's a machine that doesn't have all the bullshit people put of their personal machines.

Really, the amount of programs he was running was minimal:

McAfee, AdAware, Java Runtime, ITunes, Printer Drivers, and a few other tray icons and speed loaders to launch other programs more quickly. Worst case I would say 500mb of ram usage.

I run more programs at launch on all my machines with less ram, they are not slow. If you do some maintenance every once in a while and tweak XP so it doesn't frag your drive constantly (disable file backup, disable file indexing, set the swap file to a fixed size) then you should never experience a slowdown.