Cleaning up my dad's laptop

Forums › Laptops and mobile computers › Cleaning up my dad's laptop

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michaelmurfy

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#1457539 26-Dec-2015 19:54

I'd personally recommend cleaning the fans / heatsinks and re-applying the thermal grease on the CPU/GPU. Should make it run a bit better again.

Also ensure it has enough ram. I've seen some cheaper Windows 7 machines built with bugger all ram.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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jmh

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#1458003 28-Dec-2015 08:18

Thanks for you help everyone. There was a ton of malware on there which I removed and it did make a difference. It looks like his virus scanner is slowing things down a bit but he's just paid the 3 yearly subscription so I've left it for now. Did uninstall Norton though. I also attached an ethernet cable to the modem which made a big difference to his internet speed. He has Windows XP and no disks - I suspect he got a reconditioned PC rather than a new one last time, and it was a while ago, so I have suggested he needs to think about getting a new one. He can afford it, but is really tight.

I didn't have time to give it a good clean out - I'll do that another time.

Anyway, the result is it is faster, but still a bit sluggish. Will probably meet his needs though.

Batman

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#1458081 28-Dec-2015 12:11

his has a paid antivirus and he has malware? hmm ...

2 things - uninstall the antivirus despite him paying for it; replace it with either avast free (Do not check any options other than web shield) or MSE.

no 2: make him use chrome instead of IE (for speed. IE is sloowwww)

andrewNZ

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#1458132 28-Dec-2015 14:15

No antivirus can overcome the average user's mistakes. There is a very good chance that the paid AV is better than Avast free.
If someone clicks the "shutup and let it install" button, the AV is going to let it through.

"make him use chrome instead of IE" is a poorly thought out statement.
You can't "make" a user use anything. For a large percentage of people, using something slow that they know is a far better option than trying to learn a new product.
IE on Win XP is terrible, but it does the job.

The geek community needs to recognise that they typically aren't representative of the general population. Just because a product seems better to you doesn't mean it's better for the average user.
Stop and think about how the user will handle what needs to be done.

Batman

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#1458137 28-Dec-2015 14:42

It really depends on what the OP wants to achieve.
To achieve nothing, do as Andrew said.

1. Trouble with paid antivirus = very resource hog. Aka slooooooowwwwww.
Fast= avast, with the exact same outcome. 20yo Holden v8 vs 2015 aurion.

2. Trouble with ie ... just fine on some sites, slower on other sites, will not move on selected ones. But he could stick with ie.

3. The best gain you will get after removing all adware, junkware, malware, without reinstalling OS, is to migrate to a SSD. Speeds will improve around 10 fold overall.

PS Win 7 needs around 2GB RAM to breathe. Anything less it starts to asphyxiate. RAM sticks could be cheap. If say it has 1GB, just buy a 2GB stick and stick it in an empty slot or replace the smaller RAM stick.

andrewNZ

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#1458350 29-Dec-2015 08:31

How can you possibly claim the paid AV is a resource hog when you don't even know what it is !?!
It might be Avast, which you're so busy recommending.
ALL AV will affect speed noticeably on a WinXP laptop.

I personally don't like Avast. I stopped using it when they started bundling what I consider scamware in with their product.

And that's the thing, there are a whole bunch of AV products out there that perform at a pretty similar level these days. It's really down to personal preference for the most part.

Also, I'm led to believe that the bad old days of bloated AV are gone.
I haven't experienced a paid product for many years so can't pass judgment myself.

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Batman

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#1458358 29-Dec-2015 09:02

Good point. I just assumed it's Macafee. Haven't been on Avast for a while, but if that's true it's a shame. There must be a light AV that isn't also baitware? MSE?

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