NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Forums - General › Wife's laptop just took 8 mins to boot, what can i do to make that go faster?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Wife's laptop just took 8 mins to boot, what can i do to make that go faster?

post #1 of 28
7/21/06 at 2:46pm
Thread Starter 
Wife's laptop from work is 3 years old, and just took 8 mins to boot up. First thing i thought id do is go to the STARTUP menu and take out all these apps that startup everytime she turns it on.

My question is-

How do I get to that startup menu? It's a DELL Latitude D600.

Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:02pm
Defrag. You may also need to reformat just to speed it up. Sometimes after you reformat, it will feel like a brand new machine.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:03pm
Keep it away from her?
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SMP_Homer
Keep it away from her?


its her work laptop.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:17pm
If it's her work laptop, reformatting is out of the question. I would definitely suggest a defrag... Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Defrag. You also might want to run something called CleanUP! It's freeware and you can download it from anywhere (just type it in Google) Also might want to check for Spyware. Perhaps download Avast, and have it scan.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:22pm
I would suggest she get a newer laptop from work. Companies usually replace them every 2 years but you gotta make a request. At least my job is like that
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:26pm
I still believe that reformatting is the best option, just make sure you back everything up before doing it
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:38pm
Reboot into safe mode for the defrag, I've had problems before with the process getting stuck.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:41pm
Is it a company provided laptop or her own personal laptop that she uses for work?
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 28
7/21/06 at 3:43pm
Let's see....

Delete any unnecessary progs
Definitely download the free virus/adware progs out there and run (AVG Anti-Virus, SS&D, Ad-Aware)
Also run Registry Cleaner (RegSupreme works best IMHO)
Then Defrag

Also, delete all that pr0n your wife has been storing up
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 28
7/21/06 at 4:00pm
Go to Run in your start menu, then type in msconfig. After that go to startup and then uncheck the no necesssary stuff.
-Ham
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 28
7/21/06 at 6:22pm
You can tru Microsoft Bootvis to analyze your startup, works well with me even with my old Tecra....
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 28
7/21/06 at 9:25pm
Yes as mentioned above make sure its not full of spyware, adware, viruses etc. No laptop should take 8 minutes to load...

My friend has a desktop amd k2-350 (equiv P2-300mhz) with 256mb ram and it loads in about 90 seconds.

You should also delete unwanted programs (bloatware). This is normally bundled with laptops. Go to control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.
Delete some stuff you don't need.

If all fails a fresh install is best, if your wife's company allows it! I bet it loads in 70 secs or less after a fresh install.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 28
7/21/06 at 11:27pm
Accidentally drop it off of your roof a few times. If it doesn't survive, you should get a newer one. You could get a work laptop for around $800 or less if you're just doing simple tasks like word processing.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 28
7/21/06 at 11:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RUNNINHORN
Wife's laptop from work is 3 years old, and just took 8 mins to boot up. First thing i thought id do is go to the STARTUP menu and take out all these apps that startup everytime she turns it on.

My question is-

How do I get to that startup menu? It's a DELL Latitude D600.

Thanks
Either run services.msc
-or-
(this is much more likely what you want to start with)
msconfig

Both from the START->RUN menu. Type in either services.msc or msconfig
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 28
7/21/06 at 11:43pm
You can also add more memory, so the laptop won't have to swap to the hard drive as often. This can dramatically speed up boot times if you have too much running and too little RAM.

A faster hard drive would help aswell, but that may be out of the question. I've heard of many people upgrading old laptops from 4200rpm drivers to newer 5400/7200 rpm drives and say it's like a new machine.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 28
7/22/06 at 10:38am
new ram will really help
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 28
7/23/06 at 12:03am
1.defrag
2.Ram always helps ALOT 512mb+ at lest on winxp
3.Virus scan, & spyware cleaner
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 28
7/23/06 at 10:24am
If the laptop was provided by her employer, then tell her to bring it in to their IS/IT department, report the slow boot times, and have them deal with it.

It is NOT worth tinkering with a work laptop that isn't yours. Let's say you find out the cause of the problem is this process that does a lot of hard drive scanning and network traffic. You think it's spyware, you remove it. All of a sudden, your wife gets a call because her laptop no longer registers on their network, because you just disabled a tracking program they use to track their IT assets.

Let the IS/IT department handle it. They know what is un/necessary on their company laptops. They have the budget to replace or install new parts. They also are the ones that shoulder the liability if something gets seriously screwed up.
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 28
7/23/06 at 5:07pm
delete pls
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Notebook Forums - General
NotebookForums.com › Forums › General Notebook Discussions › Notebook Forums - General › Wife's laptop just took 8 mins to boot, what can i do to make that go faster?