How to get my laptop to run faster.

Dixie

Dixie

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My laptop has been running bloody slow lately and it's irritating me. It is an Acer Aspire 3680 Win Vista Home Basic - SP1 - Intel Celeron Processor, 512MB RAM, 32-bit OS.

The main programs that I use on the computer are
FF, Open Office, Sony Picture Motion, Zone Alarm, AVG Free, Seagate (portable hard drive), iTunes, NTI DVD Maker 7, and that's about it.

It takes it roughly 30 minutes to boot up which resembles the time it took to get my Win3.1x to boot up WAAAAAAAYYYYY back in 1992.

I have removed some items from the laptop such as movies and pictures, I have removed programs I do not use, I have run a complete virus scan using AVG, Zone Alarm, and Windows Defender, I have defragged the computer a dozen times or more in the last year, and it still runs slow.

Other than doing a complete system restore all the way back to the day of purchase, is there a way I can get my laptop to run at speeds that are more normal such as not taking more than 5 minutes to boot up versus the current 30?
 
Uninstall AVG, Windows Defender and Zone Alarm and install this instead:
http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
Update and scan it full. Remove any virus it can find.

Now, click start>run> type 'msconfig'
Unselected all in the startup tab but leave only anti-virus checked from the one above.
Clean the registry with CCleaner. Keep cleaning and remove the files until it's gone.

Disable System Restore then enable them back which will delete all the backup it saved which slow your computer down.

Reboot your computer, it should be faster.

And not last, defrag it and sit back. This will take long.

You are done.
 
Last edited:
Whoa! You have real issue with Memory RAM... Vista actually require 1GB Memory RAM, I highly suggest you upgrade RAM from 512 to 2GB instead of 1GB..

Plus, Your Processor is slow. But like I said, you need upgrade 2GB Memory RAM, then your Laptop will running smooth and improvement. :)

Anyway your laptop is a real awesome! its is better than netbook.. :)

Good Luck with your sweet laptop..
 
Dixie said:
My laptop has been running bloody slow lately and it's irritating me. It is an Acer Aspire 3680 Win Vista Home Basic - SP1 - Intel Celeron Processor, 512MB RAM, 32-bit OS.

The main programs that I use on the computer are
FF, Open Office, Sony Picture Motion, Zone Alarm, AVG Free, Seagate (portable hard drive), iTunes, NTI DVD Maker 7, and that's about it.

It takes it roughly 30 minutes to boot up which resembles the time it took to get my Win3.1x to boot up WAAAAAAAYYYYY back in 1992.

I have removed some items from the laptop such as movies and pictures, I have removed programs I do not use, I have run a complete virus scan using AVG, Zone Alarm, and Windows Defender, I have defragged the computer a dozen times or more in the last year, and it still runs slow.

Other than doing a complete system restore all the way back to the day of purchase, is there a way I can get my laptop to run at speeds that are more normal such as not taking more than 5 minutes to boot up versus the current 30?
Click to expand...

I have just responded from another thread, Nathan pretty much had stated what need to be done.....Vista does not run too good with only 512 MB of ram.....

By the way, I still have a Acer Aspire just like yours (my kids use it) and yes, it was a bit slow with Vista, so I added another 1 GB stick of RAM and sped it up a bit. I was able to try out the beta version of Windows 7 and it seems to be speedier than Vista. I think you also need to turn off the sidebar if you plan to keep only 512 of memory.

You might want to try this all in one solution...

Tweak and Optimize your Windows Vista - Vista Manager

I have tried it before and it seems to work sufficiently......it has a 15 day trial to get what you need done....
 
Naw, fuck it all, throw it out and get a new laptop
 
Probably, you have junk stuffs in your computer cause slower.

Increase RAM will not help much speed. Won't notice big different speed.
I never like Intel Celeron Processor. One thing, people can afford to buy lower price like Celeron or Netbook's Intel Atom.
Celeron & Atom are slower than regular Intel P4 or Duo Core.
Best way to wipe out your junk stuff - re-format/re-install OS.

Most time, I do reformat HDD then re-install everything.
 
Wow! I thought my 8 minute boot time was bad. In my case, Windows decided to change my hard drive setting from DMA to PIO. So, whenever Windows access the hard drive, the computer would slow down.

If you want to be daring, here is a small guide how to check/change settings:

Troubleshooting: Enabling/Checking DMA in Windows Vista, XP, 2000, Me, 9x - Club MyCE

I am not a Windows expert, and I no longer use Windows, so I wouldn't want you to lose everything on your HDD. But, I suppose there is no harm in checking to see if your HDD is using DMA.
 
Guys, know why?


512MB ram are usless to today's technology and today's latest Operating systems. That laptop is useless.
 
Useless indeed but I needs it for schoolwork. And yes 512 MB RAM is ridiculous but as I told Jacob once before - I bought the po'boy model. I'm going to wait and see what Win7 is doing before I rush out and purchase a new machine.
 
JClarke said:
Guys, know why?


512MB ram are usless to today's technology and today's latest Operating systems. That laptop is useless.
Click to expand...

I agree regarding 512mb. But, if the laptop ran well in the past with the same OS, then it shouldn't take 30 minutes to boot. I would test it out using a linux live cd, but I don't want to get too technical. One step at a time. :)
 
I tried Nathan's advice, I got a fast start up alright but I was unable to get online, so I just went back and reset it and I'm back to where I started from. I didn't want to do a lot of tweaking on my own for fear of losing my entire OS although I do have OS disc in my safe, I just don't feel like learning how to install an OS tonight.

As far as unselected items, nathan, they were all unselected to begin with. you could select a few things, then apply the changes, or you could enable or disable all then apply the changes. If I knew exactly which boxes to check and which boxes to leave alone that would be a help. There's so much shit abbreviated on that list I can't tell which program it is running or what service it is with.
 
JClarke said:
Guys, know why?


512MB ram are usless to today's technology and today's latest Operating systems. That laptop is useless.
Click to expand...
So upgrade the RAM. What's a couple sticks of DDR2 laptop memory sell for? A small fraction of a new laptop.
 
Yes, upgrade (double) your RAM especially for Vista definitely!

Shouldn't cost you more than $150 to upgrade RAM, I think.

Also recommend to dump Open Office cuz it's a big program and it sucks... it slowed my pc considerably so I uninstalled the Open Office and replace it with MS Office... much better and runs faster.
 
Glenn said:
So upgrade the RAM. What's a couple sticks of DDR2 laptop memory sell for? A small fraction of a new laptop.
Click to expand...

exactly.. my macbook came with 2 GB of RAM, and i upgraded it to 4 GB. i didn't have to buy a whole new laptop, it's very easy to switch RAM sticks.
 
web730 said:
Yes, upgrade (double) your RAM especially for Vista definitely!

Shouldn't cost you more than $150 to upgrade RAM, I think.

Also recommend to dump Open Office cuz it's a big program and it sucks... it slowed my pc considerably so I uninstalled the Open Office and replace it with MS Office... much better and runs faster.
Click to expand...

i believe you have the option of installing certain openoffice components. i have the whole thing on my computer, and it runs just fine. i'd rather not buy something where i can get a similar thing for free (and legally, of course ;)).
 
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