Every now and then someone comes along and mentions that they’ve had problems with their computer, I’m usually given the task of fixing it. It’s annoying at times, but at the same time, I don’t mind.
I’ve worked in IT all my life, and whenever I come across an IT problem, I always try to fix it and beat it. I generally like the challenge more than anything else. My brother fixes my car for me and I usually have a bash at repairing the computers. I should charge, but I don’t care that much, it’s just a hobby more than anything else.
Recently my brother gave me a slow computer to fix, and I mean terribly slow.
It had all sorts of pop ups appearing on the screen, was taking ages to load up, wouldn’t sign into any programs and generally was taking forever to do things.
I decided to carry out an investigation on the laptop itself, and upon first boot up, it wouldn’t even open programs when I was clicking on them. It was then later on about 10-15 mins later it would process all the system tray items {see below}
One of the good things I like when it comes to fixing a slow laptop, is when the person who wants me to repair it gives me permission to remove what I want. Basically I have full control and allowed to use my best judgement.
The person wanted me to retain all their pictures and still let them sign into emails, but that wasn’t an issue. I was going to back up the pictures first to make sure everything would be 100% safe, but then I noticed the size of the pictures folder was around 9GB and thought fuck that. The pictures wouldn’t be harmed anyway and I later on noticed that there was a program running in the system tray which had backed them up anyway (albeit it was a chargeable one). They also asked me to give them an updated antivirus that was free (my personal favourite is Avast)
Anyway, the first few things I noticed with the computer were the following…
- It was terribly slow (duh, really)
- System tray was taking forever and had a load of items to load
- Google Chrome was generating profile errors
- There was a large amount of software, and adware installed
- Lots of “toolbars” for internet browsers
I went about tackling the laptop in a systematic manner. The first thing you should look at when fixing a slow laptop, is what is loading up when the computer starts up. The system tray was my first point of call. The computer has to load up everything in the system tray before it boots into Windows. I could have done a selective start up but decided to see what I was working with
These are what I was thinking
- Fix the slowness issues
- Install an updated antivirus / malware removal program
- Clean the PC
After all the icons loaded, I decided to remove the programs and all the shit registry entries they had created. Time to whip out the old revo uninstaller portable. Running from my USB pen. I set about removing all the system tray programs not relevant to the laptop. These included “adverts”, “tool bars”, “search”, “offers” and general miscellaneous programs designed to help you. Revo uninstaller rules because you can pick out the registry entries so there’s not loads of left over uninstall data on the PC and helps keep the slow laptop nice and tidy
Once I removed these I then set about fixing Google Chrome, the profile error was bugging the piss out of me. I renamed the default folder and let Google create a new one. There wasn’t much in terms of backups for bookmarks but copied these over anyway just in case they were wanted. This fixed the browser issue.
After removing all the copies amount of programs and rubbish. I installed a free version of Avast Antivirus with the latest definitions. Additionally to this because I could tell the laptop had a crapload of junk on it, was installing Spybot Search and Destroy, Hitman Pro, JRT and Malware Bytes Anti Malware. After removing these programs to remove all dodgy entries, I additionally used autoruns to get rid of any related startup data that couldn’t be removed.
After I was finished cleaning the PC I installed some remote control software and ran a virus scan to make sure it was fully cleaned.
In summary when fixing a slow laptop these are the tools and procedures I used
- Revo Uninstaller – Removed any bad programs and registry entries
- Avast Antivirus – Reinstalled a new updated antivirus
- Autoruns – Removed any startup entries not relevant
- Windows Temp – Emptied the directory
- Junkware Removal Tool (JRT), Spybot, Malware Bytes – remove malware
- Windows Task Scheduler – Cleared out old entries
- Removed any browser toolbars (conduit, searchQU, etc)
After this was all done, I was finished fixing a slow laptop. The laptop when first received took in the region of 10-15 mins to fully load everything. When the new laptop was done it was booting up in the region of around 2-3 mins fully after logging into Windows (was Vista so didn’t exactly help)
Overall I was pleased and it satisfied the clients needs without affecting them too much
