Time to buy a new laptop?

[White Christmas13]

Now guys it might be an easy problem to fix but since I am an computer illiterate

I don't know how to fix this problem. My laptop runs a windows seven home

premium and I have problems starting the computer (very very slow at start up)

when i turn it on it get's to the stage showing me the windows start up symbol

and then it hangs in there for ages before it continuous to the next stage for me

to sign in and do what ever I want to do. I tried all the little things what I know

deleting programs from the start up and so on but it still takes about 15 minutes

before the comp decides to start up the laptop is only 2 years old and has not

been used a lot of times since I had an other one before which got to old.

There is heaps of free space on the hard drive and not many programs.

So what can I do to speed up the start up?

The laptop is a E-Machines E528 any help would be appreciated

[crabdog]

Run some anti malware/virus programs (Malwarebytes etc) and see if anything nasty is detected.

If it's not malware related I'd suggest a fresh install. I'm fairly certain there are no major problems with your hardware so you really shouldn't need to buy a new laptop. Backup any documents and files you want to keep, format the hard drive and reinstall Windows. If you don't know how to do that yourself take the laptop to your local computer shop and have them do it for you.

[White Christmas13]

Yes I did run antivirus and anti malware but found nothing nasty at all

[NeverSure]

How long has it been since you ran defrag? The last computer I saw that was that slow had never been defragmented. It took it several hours to defrag, but after it did, it was fast.

After you defrag it, reboot and defrag again. It won't get it all on the first pass, but the second defrag will be fast.

Now if your version of Windows has it, set the defrag scheduler for at least once a week. I'm running 8.1 now and am forgetting some about 7, (which has different abilities with different versions) and I've almost forgotten XP.

[White Christmas13]

Yes my comp is set to defrag every week ones and if I try to do it manually it does not defrag a lot so I guess that is not the problem

[manarak]

I would bet the harddisk has issues - another possibility is a flaky RAM module.

check the SMART values for your hard drive

check if the correct amount of RAM is detected

another thing I thought about is a cluttered desktop - in previous windows versions, it loaded items of the desktop into memory, I don't know if it still does it, but it is worth a shot:

so if you got a lot of stuff on your desktop, move everything to a folder on your hard drive and see if that helps

[GuyL]

I would recommend you to scan your computer with Advanced System Care Free Edition: http://download.cnet.com/Advanced-SystemCare-Free/3000-2086_4-10407614.html

Just be careful during the installation process because it comes bundled with a variety of PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), but the core program is great for repairing and optimizing your computer. If it doesn't solve your problem, a further analysis has to be performed (autoruns, nasty malware, etc.) but it would be difficult to guess what happens exactly without having a direct look at your computer.

[ETatBKK]

good advices above, yet the most important now - backup or copy your data somewhere, before you go into these try and error mode.

first, I would do a defragmentation, if no success, make a clean re-installation, or ask someone doing it.

[lazygourmet]

Backup your data on an external drive.

And reboot with Ubuntu 14.04LTS...

[Thaimaishoe]

Backup your data on an external drive.

And reboot with Ubuntu 14.04LTS...

Then once you have done that, if it takes a long time to boot as well, go to a command prompt and type

dmesg | less

This will show you the messages during boot up, including hardware detection. Look for errors or messages that say something timed out.

Actually, before even going this far, I would go into the bios during boot, and make sure all the ram is present and accounted for, the disks are listed, the time on the computer is correct... generally go through and make sure all the info looks correct. If you are not getting any errors during the POST tests, this should all be fine, but it doesn't hurt to check (provided you don't go changing settings you don't know about! :-)

BTW, if Linux boots quickly, like it should, then most likely it is a software problem with Win.

IF you do decide to install Linux, I would recommend Kubuntu over Ubuntu, as it is a more familiar interface for someone coming from Windows.

[White Christmas13]

Well guys I tried every thing you mentioned (sort of)

scanned the computer with advanced system care fixed

a lot of problems but still the same I guess I need to

get it checked out by an professional thanks for all

the good advice

[Turkleton]

There are gazillions of options which can cause this behaviour.

But since nobody knows which programs (incl. malware)/services are installed, I would suggest the following:

Buy a new hard-disk and an external USB case for your existing old one.

Don't bother with backups.

Do a clean install on the new disc and see what's happen.

If everything is ok, connect your old hdd to the PC and restore your data.

And not forget to make sure, that "System Restore" is running properly.

Just in case....

[Pib]

Sure sounds like you have some software loaded that really bogging down the system...most likely zero to do with hardware issues...it's most likey software related.

Buy a brand new computer...mess up the software somehow and that new computer can be just as slow.

[jimmybkk]

What antivirus are you using? Some are known to be very heavy on resources. Try disconnecting from the Internet, disabling your antivirus and rebooting. See if that makes any difference.

Run Scandisk.

Have you got as much RAM as the machine will take?

One thing that can really slow a system down is if your drivers are not up to date. Try updating from Device Manager first, and if that makes no difference download the latest drivers from the manufacturers websites (Intel, AMD or whoever...) and try installing those...

Good luck!

[Pib]

What antivirus are you using? Some are known to be very heavy on resources. Try disconnecting from the Internet, disabling your antivirus and rebooting. See if that makes any difference.

Run Scandisk.

Have you got as much RAM as the machine will take?

One thing that can really slow a system down is if your drivers are not up to date. Try updating from Device Manager first, and if that makes no difference download the latest drivers from the manufacturers websites (Intel, AMD or whoever...) and try installing those...

Good luck!

I meant to mention that also, especially for a Celeron CPU based computer (which I think the OP has) or slow internet connection as antivirus programs many times start downloading updates when the computer is first turned on. And many/good antivirus programs have at least daily updates. While these files are being downloaded/installed and/or if your internet connection is slow, it can really slow down a low powered computer like many Celeron CPU based models.

[curtklay]

1. Back up all your data.

2. Throw the <deleted>' Emachine out the window.

3. Buy a Mac.

[thai20144]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Edited September 23, 2014 by thai20144

[curtklay]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

As per Microsoft Tech Support.

[vento]

if its a reasonable specced LT, maybe buy an SSD drive and get the operating system re-installed with the new SSD drives.

if you HD is of normal quality (not already a SSD drive) it would be a world in difference.

[Pib]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

As per Microsoft Tech Support.

Mac's come with a 30 minute video teaching their owners how to use the on and off switch.

[thai20144]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

As per Microsoft Tech Support.

Mac's come with a 30 minute video teaching their owners how to use the on and off switch.

And you forgot to mention that you have to pay $9.99 to download this video from ITunes.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Just need a back up and a clean install. Unfortunately, the OP has probably already handed his machine over to someone, after the sage advice he has received here.

[ldnguy]

Did it get slow over time or did it suddenly slow down one day. Try restoring Windows to a version when the laptop worked ok.

[DiDiChok]

I'd suggest you tidy up old files by deleting them too. You do this by clicking on Start / Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Cleanup then put a tick in all the boxes and click on OK.

As it's Windows 7, I would also delete everything that can be deleted from folders C:\Windows\Temp and C:\Users\Your-user-name\Appdata\Local\Temp and that usually speeds things up quite a lot. It's amazing how much detritus builds up in those folders. If Windows says it can't delete a file, I don't worry about it.