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PC technical question (vanity)
Former Fetus

Posted on 10/21/2012 12:29:48 PM PDT by Former Fetus

So, here I am again, the technologically challenged FReeper, with another "life or death" question.

My husband is ready to throw his PC through the window. It is slower than molasses in January, it freezes... We used to blame Vista for it. But lately I've noticed something when I run Microsoft Security Essentials on both his and my pc. Even though I have lots of pics in my pc, class notes, power points... it scans right under 650,000 items in less than an hour. My husband does not have ANYTHING installed, except the OS, IE, and Microsoft Office. But at the end of the scan it says there are about three times as many "items" in his pc and it takes over 2 hrs to scan. Obviously this is what is slowing down his pc so much. I tried cleaning the cache but it didn't make any significant difference.

Can anybody suggest our best course of action? We do not know enough to go item by item through his hard drive and remove anything unnecessary. What can we do?

TIA


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: harddrive; pc; vista
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1 posted on 10/21/2012 12:29:54 PM PDT by Former Fetus
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To: Former Fetus

Back up the data that you know you want to keep, format the hard drive and re install Windows, then your security software. Finally, scan your backup, and reinstall your data if it’s clean.


2 posted on 10/21/2012 12:33:58 PM PDT by Melas (u)
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To: Former Fetus

I’d recommend WinDirStat to investigate the file system:
http://windirstat.info/


3 posted on 10/21/2012 12:35:20 PM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Former Fetus

Run defrag and ScanDisk to look for and correct errors on your HDD.


4 posted on 10/21/2012 12:35:27 PM PDT by South40 ("Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance." - Barack Hussein Obama - Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009.)
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To: Melas; Former Fetus

>>Back up the data that you know you want to keep, format the hard drive and re install Windows, then your security software. Finally, scan your backup, and reinstall your data if it’s clean.<<

That’s the best advice you’ll get. It is really your only choice.


5 posted on 10/21/2012 12:35:43 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (We canÂ’t just leave it (food choice) up to the parents. -- moochele obozo 2/12/2012 (cnsnews))
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To: Former Fetus

If that is all he has on his computer, his best move would be to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the OS and office.


6 posted on 10/21/2012 12:36:19 PM PDT by dangerdoc (see post #6)
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To: Former Fetus

Or if you’re not prepared to go to that much trouble, try this. Start Windows Explorer. Right click on the C: drive and select “Properties.” Click the “Disk Cleanup” button and do what it says. That should take off all kinds of temporary and other files that aren’t needed and free up some space.


7 posted on 10/21/2012 12:38:05 PM PDT by Tarantulas ( Illegal immigration - the trojan horse that's treated like a sacred cow)
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To: Former Fetus
Advanced SystemCare Free
8 posted on 10/21/2012 12:41:52 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: Former Fetus

First, if you have an external drive, copy all folders w/ important files/data to it.

(Vista? Yuk.)

Do you have a separate Utilities Program?

Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk CleanUp->Disk Defragmenter.

If you have Norton/Symmantec, Run PC Tune-Up: use File CleanUp & Disk Optimization.

Reformat is last resort.


9 posted on 10/21/2012 12:45:29 PM PDT by Carriage Hill (The 0bummer Penguin & Bidet Joker: We played this country like a harp from hell.)
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To: Tarantulas

That’s not likely to do much. Just for giggles, I just checked my desktop, which has never been cleaned and it’s reporting that if I run Disk Cleanup, I can reclaim 295mb of storage. Out of 2 terabytes of storage, that’s not worth the trouble even if it only takes seconds.

Anything from Vista forward, there is little reason to run disk clean or defrag utilities. Those are leftovers from the Windows shell over DOS days. The more modern OS’s do a wonderful job of housecleaning with no user intervention.


10 posted on 10/21/2012 12:46:22 PM PDT by Melas (u)
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To: Former Fetus

I use Glary Utilities and it works good. Free- give it a try.

http://glary-utilities.soft32.com/free-download?gclid=CKDt9qbvkrMCFQiCQgod0mMA7A


11 posted on 10/21/2012 12:47:33 PM PDT by Mark (Don't argue with my posts. I typed while under sniper fire.)
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To: Former Fetus

CCleaner is a great program for cleaning up Windows.
Very safe and easy. You see a marked speed-up.

Last time I updated I had to uninstall something (Chrome maybe?) that came with it so I quit updating it.


12 posted on 10/21/2012 12:48:07 PM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: mrsmith

CCleaner is free.


13 posted on 10/21/2012 12:52:49 PM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat Party!)
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To: mdittmar

Ditto. I was going to recommend Advanced System Care too. After downloading, run deep scan and do what it says. You might lose something, but the software does establish a rollback point.


14 posted on 10/21/2012 1:01:08 PM PDT by Truth29
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To: Truth29
Best PC fixer I've tried so far,and I've tried them all.

I use CCleaner for a quick cleaning.

15 posted on 10/21/2012 1:05:26 PM PDT by mdittmar
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To: mrsmith
And so is Auslogic disk defragmenter.

Ccleaner is better than Disk Cleanup.

Auslogic is better than Microsoft's disk defragmenter.

By "better" I mean faster, more comprehensive and does a better job.

Get Ccleaner here.

Get Auslogic here.

Both free.

16 posted on 10/21/2012 1:07:42 PM PDT by upchuck (Porn, cheaper than dating.)
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To: mdittmar

I have the full version of this program (Advanced SystemCare). It does a very good job of cleaning up your hard drive and making it run better bu it’s also possible that you have a virus. ACS has an antivirus program yhst is okay but you might try some other antivirus programs like these:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2388652,00.asp


17 posted on 10/21/2012 1:14:27 PM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: Former Fetus

I have a laptop with Vista and learned, through bitter experience, to do nothing on that computer but download podcasts of Rush’s show and listen to them while exercising. Even with this tiny task it crashes. If I listen to more than 2 hours I get a message that “memory is low,” which is absurd since I do absolutely nothing else (no open Windows with Excel, Word, e-mail, etc.). Vista is hopeless. Nothing will help ...


18 posted on 10/21/2012 1:18:15 PM PDT by HateBill (Too productive for Obama's America)
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To: HateBill

Vista is garbage!


19 posted on 10/21/2012 1:38:49 PM PDT by bicyclerepair ( REPLACE D-W-S ! http://www.karenforcongress.com (I AM UNREPRESENTED))
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To: Former Fetus

Get a Mac.


20 posted on 10/21/2012 1:40:09 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (In the game of life, there are no betting limits)
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