problem

Pat D. Almighty

Got my laptop a few weeks ago, and after a few days, it was taking 6 minutes for Windows to start up, and the sound is choppy, not only on music, but on the windows chime at the start.
Brought it to PC World and did a scan, found viruses and 'cleaned' them, or so they said. It's still doing the same though. Still slow and the sound is choppy.
I was recommended to do a re-boot and clear the system. Now, I don't know much about computers, so could someone explain what that is and is it worthwhile doing? Would that put everything back to the way it was?

Ruu_Old

What anti-virus scan have you got on there? Could you post some system details of your laptop or the make/model so some of us can find out, help you better with the issue?

Pat D. Almighty

I'm using Ewido Anti-Malaware. That did a full scan on the laptop and found and deleted the infections, and cleaned the infected files....or so it said. I have a Compaq Presario. Thanks

Ruu_Old

That will work for the spyware but might not work fully for anti-virus. Download a copy of AVG anti-virus, avast! or Anti-vir and scan in safe mode. How much RAM have you got?

Pat D. Almighty

I've got just over a gig of ram (i think). Will the AVG fix the problem?

Ruu_Old

A gig of RAM should be plenty and unless you download and install a heap of things over the 6 weeks. It might help narrow it down and see whats causing your computer to run so slowly. Try running Windows Defragmenter also. What have you got running when Windows is loading?

Pat D. Almighty

There's nothing running when Windows is trying to load up. How do I scan in safe mode?

Makaveli

Reboot the pc and press F8 before you see the Windows loading screen, it will give you access to a boot menu, select safe mode.

It will boot into safe mode and everything will look strange (low resolution, low colour). Just run your scan then. When it completes reboot as normal.