# Computer Question



## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

Windows Vista operating system in my laptop. When clicking on desktop icon it is taking FOREVER no matter what the icon is for. Example is clicking on my Firefox icon or Ebay icon or ANY icon...grrrrr..... Anyone?
I do regular maintenance on my laptop but it doesn't change this issue.


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## raynardo (Jun 8, 2007)

there may be processes running in the background that a borrowing/stealing valuable processor time.
a. hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to start the TASK MANAGER and you can see what's running. By clicking the top of the CPU column you can change the order, from using the most to using the least (just click it again to change that order).
b. take a look at the things that are "eating" the MOST processor time and see if you recognize the programs that are doing it. If you don't recognize them, enter the name of the process into a GOOGLE search and you'll learn what that program is.
If the programs "eating away" are legitimate programs like antivirus, disk defragmentation, and/or updating programs you may have to either grin and bear it.
But if you've got a bunch of Firefox add-ons and the Google desktop you'll find Firefox becomes extremely slow to start up.
It never hurts to run a good (or even another) antivirus/antispamware program. I highly recommend MALWAREBYTES because it thoroughly takes care of both and is free (the free version isn't an active checker, you need to manually run the program). Many times computers are deeply infected and their owners are not aware of it. For example, I recently fixed a computer that McAfee said was not infected - but Malwarebytes found and removed over 120 "bad" processes.
Last but certainly not least, you may have to "degunk" your computer - that is removing superfluous programs from your computer via the ADD and REMOVE PROGRAMS from your CONTROL PANEL. If you're not comfortable doing this, you may want to hire a tech to do it.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I agree with raynardo's comments above.

Have you rebooted recently?

What type of programs do you have running in the background?

Are you confident your anti-virus is updated and has ran recently?

I've moved about 7 of my home PC's to Win 7 and I can see a huge improvement. You might consider this a good time to upgrade your OS...or a sign from above for a whole new laptop.


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## ORvagabond (Apr 17, 2009)

You might check your laptop memory ast Vista is a memory hog. 2 gog min but would recomend 3 or 4


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

raynardo said:


> there may be processes running in the background that a borrowing/stealing valuable processor time.
> a. hit CTRL-ALT-DEL to start the TASK MANAGER and you can see what's running. By clicking the top of the CPU column you can change the order, from using the most to using the least (just click it again to change that order).
> b. take a look at the things that are "eating" the MOST processor time and see if you recognize the programs that are doing it. If you don't recognize them, enter the name of the process into a GOOGLE search and you'll learn what that program is.
> If the programs "eating away" are legitimate programs like antivirus, disk defragmentation, and/or updating programs you may have to either grin and bear it.
> ...


I disable Firefox add on and it is much better.Thanks! I use Malwarebytes already so I am good on that, amazing program isn't it? I use the add remove already and removed any that I knew I could. What I am not good at is ctrl alt delete and stopping processes, so darn confusing.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

AKvagabond said:


> You might check your laptop memory ast Vista is a memory hog. 2 gog min but would recomend 3 or 4


not sure what you are saying! would recommend 3 or 4 what?


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

sooo...can I uninstall Vista on this laptop and install Win 7??


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Doxie-Doglover-Too said:


> sooo...can I uninstall Vista on this laptop and install Win 7??


You could, going from Vista to Win 7 is a snap. Just insert CD...and follow instructions.

You can either upgrade from Vista to Win 7, which leave all your programs in place...very easy. You can also create an entire new install. This removed EVERYTHING from your computer. While this seems like a bad idea, I'd say it is your *best* solution. This way you get a clean install and all the old junk is gone. Sure you have to reinstall software, but it will be clean and FASSSST.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

Oregon_Camper said:


> sooo...can I uninstall Vista on this laptop and install Win 7??


You could, going from Vista to Win 7 is a snap. Just insert CD...and follow instructions.

You can either upgrade from Vista to Win 7, which leave all your programs in place...very easy. You can also create an entire new install. This removed EVERYTHING from your computer. While this seems like a bad idea, I'd say it is your *best* solution. This way you get a clean install and all the old junk is gone. Sure you have to reinstall software, but it will be clean and FASSSST.
[/quote]
Can I get Win 7 as a free download? not going to buy it, I'll just stick with Vista which is running sooo much better since I got rid of the add ons


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

Doxie-Doglover-Too said:


> sooo...can I uninstall Vista on this laptop and install Win 7??


You could, going from Vista to Win 7 is a snap. Just insert CD...and follow instructions.

You can either upgrade from Vista to Win 7, which leave all your programs in place...very easy. You can also create an entire new install. This removed EVERYTHING from your computer. While this seems like a bad idea, I'd say it is your *best* solution. This way you get a clean install and all the old junk is gone. Sure you have to reinstall software, but it will be clean and FASSSST.
[/quote]
Can I get Win 7 as a free download? not going to buy it, I'll just stick with Vista which is running sooo much better since I got rid of the add ons








[/quote]

Sorry, it is not free. Unless you know someone at Microsoft who can get you a deal.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

Oregon_Camper said:


> sooo...can I uninstall Vista on this laptop and install Win 7??


You could, going from Vista to Win 7 is a snap. Just insert CD...and follow instructions.

You can either upgrade from Vista to Win 7, which leave all your programs in place...very easy. You can also create an entire new install. This removed EVERYTHING from your computer. While this seems like a bad idea, I'd say it is your *best* solution. This way you get a clean install and all the old junk is gone. Sure you have to reinstall software, but it will be clean and FASSSST.
[/quote]
Can I get Win 7 as a free download? not going to buy it, I'll just stick with Vista which is running sooo much better since I got rid of the add ons








[/quote]

Sorry, it is not free. Unless you know someone at Microsoft who can get you a deal.
[/quote]
I'll call Bill


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Doxie-Doglover-Too said:


> You might check your laptop memory ast Vista is a memory hog. 2 gog min but would recomend 3 or 4


not sure what you are saying! would recommend 3 or 4 what?
[/quote]
He's talking about the amount of memory (ram) that is installed in the computer. Need at least 2 gigabytes, but more is better. The bad thing is that unless you are using a 64 byte operating system, anything over 3 gigs is useless. Unless you know what I am talking about, it would be best to take the laptop someplace and have them look at it. As far as installing more ram yourself, it's not that hard or expensive but them again some of the mom and pop computer stores will install it for you cheaply.

As you have learned, some add ons don't work as they should. I nice feature that has been around since Win ME is the restore function. If you have added something or all of a sudden some strange things happen, go to help and then restore and go back to a time before the computer started getting flacky. Another thing to look at is to make sure there is some empty room on the harddrive. The computer needs some space to put information as it's working, if 
there's not room, the computer becomes slow and you start loosing information.

As far as Win 7 is concerned, it is superior to Vista, faster, more stable and safer, but if you're happy with what you've got, it's not worth the $120 to upgrade. I've got a couple of older XP computers that do what I want them to do and eventhough I would love to have a new computer, these do what I need them to do so I can't justify buying a new one yet, I am looking at what I want to have in the OB when we go full time in a few years. Looking at a high end 17" HP with an Intel i7 and everything so I can use it as an extra tv as well as a computer. But that's down the road.


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