really slow!

[dannyjay]

Reformat tbh - again I usualy re-build mine after 6 months or so, but have about 4 HDD's so I don't lose anything.

[Mark51p]

i have a spare hard drive so can move what i need to save onto that.

hwoever, WTF do i need to save and how do i reformat it?

[grantlowery]

Originally Posted by Mark51

i have a spare hard drive so can move what i need to save onto that.

hwoever, WTF do i need to save and how do i reformat it?

Things you need to save are important documents, program files and drivers.

to format, you need an OS installation disk, which should have come with your system, you put the disk in boot into the CD drive and follow the steps.

[Penn]

I'd forget the drivers and download them all to ensure you've got the absolute latest versions.

Most important ones are your chipset drivers for your motherboard.

[grantlowery]

network drivers to as you wont be able to download them if you havent got your ethernet driver lol

[Penn]

Originally Posted by grantlowery

network drivers to as you wont be able to download them if you havent got your ethernet driver lol

Should imagine it'd be onboard as it's a laptop so mobo drivers should do the trick.

Only thing i'd be careful about is any power management software the laptop might use, check you've got it handy for when you re-install.

[Aaron]

get a plug in hard drive

and then
save all date
u need on it
then reset to factory settings
then u have what u need on ur hard drive
and it will get rid of everything you dont need

meaning
more space
more power

and u can just copy it back onto ur comp wen its been reset
or keep it plugged in
and it will just be like a memory card on ur phone
but for your computer

[neilandhisvtr]

christ what do you lot do to your machines to need formatting every few months...

installing and uninstalling programs will leave a lot of crap on your machine, and downloading dodgy software will fill you up with spyware.

download "spybot" for a start and run a full system scan, then "advanced windows care v2" - both available from download.com. never heard of your AV package, tbh bin it and go with a reputable one, i use "avast" its free (see above website again) and doesnt hog resources like some. if you havent already install vista SP1 too that fixes a load of speed issues.

you can also turn off the "superfetch" service - basically this kinda preloads commonly used programs to speed up loading time. however hogs a fair amount of resources. go to control panel, administrative tools, services. find "superfetch" and disable it. then reboot.

by default vista should have a system managed pagefile, id stick with that tbh. increasing it too much will have a negative effect.

do that then let me know.