external hard drive
 

Hi All,

I'm not a computer guy so I come to you. I have recently bought a HP notebook and I do a lot of work on it saving file etc...

I noticed that it has become really slow now. If I get an external hard drive and transfer my files to the external hard drive will this make my note book run faster again?

thanks

Unless you've used up all your space already, this is unlikely. Did you recently install lots of new programs? Do you run an anti-virus? Possibly your system resources in being eaten up by something else.

No.

I have about 150 or more PDF files in my note book already.

Yes I do run an anti-virus as I use avast and spybot do this make a difference?

Before buying try these steps (Assuming you are using Windows 7):

Start>Search for Disk Cleanup and run it
Start>Search for Disk Fragmenter and run it

See if that helps. If it doesn't and you must buy something you are probably better off upgrading the memory as almost all laptops come with half of the maximum memory that the laptop can handle.

Edit: Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter also exist in windows XP just gotta look for them

Unless you have all of the PDF files open at once (or if the PDF files are gigabytes in size) you are fine. PDFs are not very resource-intensive for the most part.

describe how / when / what it's doing when it's slow

Slow does not mean full hard drive..

Computers being slow could relate to lots of scenario's. IE Malware/Virus, Disk defrag, system updates, too many windows open for the system to run.. When a system is slow that means the resources are being used up.. first start with a disk defrag and malware/virus scan.. Then go to run and type msconfig and see whats being used at startup.. Uncheck all the unessary software and it should speed up your system...

So I'll chime in being a avid user of avast. I have no clue what spybot is, yet I know if your running avast at High Protection instead of normal, it decreases your speed substantially. I've customized my avast to not look through programs that I never use and to use a Light scan on specific sections and programs because I know when I get a virus or not. I good thing to use aswell to speed up your computer could be a registry cleaner.

Same thing Dragon-88 is mentioning, with "msconfig" it's specifically for start-up, you could try a program called "HiJackThis", I wouldn't suggest it to someone who doesn't know much about computers but it might help. If you download that program and run a scan, post a PrintScreen image and maybe I can help abit more.

get a SSD instead of external hard drive, so much faster..

No matter how fast your drive is if it gets loaded with spyware/virues/crap it's not gonna make a difference what it is. SSD is not the solution to everythin :P

ok I did this still nothing, it's really slow when I start the computer, before it takes 1-2 mins now it's taking at least 5 mins to boot up now. ANything else I should do?

whats your computer specs?? & did you do a msconfig or a hijackthis?

LOL 5 minutes sounds normal for my computer.

It's probably your startup programs or AV/firewall.

I haven't read through the whole thing, but maybe try this:

http://itexpertvoice.com/home/what%E...-in-windows-7/

thanks for the info I will try this out.

Note book battery
 

Since I'm having some problems with my note book. I noticed that my battery needs replacing already as it's been less then a year having my note book. It doesn't charge as it shows 100% and it only lasts for 30 mins. as it an HP. Has anyone have the same problem?

Could just be a battery calibration problem... like the battery is still holding two hours worth of charge, but it "thinks" it only has 30 minutes...

It's possible to recalibrate it... what you have to do is disable all the low power actions so that it doesn't automatically shut down or hibernate when it thinks there's 5% power left.

Charge it up completely, and then just let it run until it actually runs out of battery... and it's best to repeat this a couple times.

It's not guaranteed to work, but it does in many cases.

What Anti-Virus are you running, first of all?

Check ur warranty its either 6monthes or 1 year for batteries.

it stays at 100% and it automatically shuts off without any warning...

Even if you disable all the lower power actions?

If so, then your battery is truly shot.

I looked at my receipt at Future shop as I bought my note book in June but doesn't say anything about the battery as it's a HP. Any thoughts???