Dell Laptop Awful Slow

LegacyUser

Ok have an Inspiron 8600, Its killing me guys. i have spybot , McAffee , Windows defender. No Virus . Have a 40GB Drive with about 15GB free. Its awful slow , what can i do to speed it up. I would give you all the Specs for not sure how to get them:eek::eek::eek:

ant043

clean reinstall did wonders for my old inspiron. Its running like the day it was bought

AlmightyCushion

Yeah try a format and re-instal. If that doesn't solve it then it could be a hard ware issue.

kaizersoze

And dump MacAfee while you're at it. Actually do that first and you'll see an instant improvement.

LegacyUser

cool , well i will try and do that.Sure it wouldnt be the amount of music i have on it?

Should i really get rid of MacAfee???? How do i format??

AlmightyCushion

Moved from laptops.

kaizersoze

robdcu wrote: »

Sure it wouldnt be the amount of music i have on it?

An overly full hard drive can slow things down but 15 gig free is fine.

robdcu wrote:

Should i really get rid of MacAfee????

Yes. It's a woeful resource hog and can grind even the best specced machine to a halt. If you format you'll loose it anyway so do it first to see the difference.

robdcu wrote:

How do i format??

Step by step guide here: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/work/installwindowsxp.aspx
To get a Dell to boot from the CD, hit F12 at when the big Dell logo is on the screen and select your CD drive from the list.
If you have an original Dell windows CD, you won't be asked to enter your product key or activate.
Remember to backup your files first and have your driver CD to hand as this procedure will wipe everything.

LegacyUser

i gave my laptop to a fellow who took 20GB of my 40GB Drive and put it as a seperate E drive . I want it back to the original only C Drive with 40 GB, But how do i do this?

Also if i uninstall MacAfee wouldnt i be prone to more virus with no protection ???

Cheers

AlmightyCushion

Uninstall mcAfee and install avg or avast. They will do a much better job.

unnameduser

in what way is it slow. starting up, internet, all the time?

IanCurtis

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Uninstall mcAfee and install avg or avast. They will do a much better job.

Agreed 100%

I've got an inspiron 1521...got rid of McAfee after a month and installed AVG instead.
The performance is so much better now.

It used to take nearly 5 mins after booting before I could use it properly, with McAfee doing its thing while slowing the yoke up.

Defo do that first before trying a full reinstall.

LegacyUser

dont think i have the cds i got at the start, any way to reinstall without the CD??
slow the whole time, even knocking off!!!

kaizersoze

Did you remove McAfee?

LegacyUser

ya i did but i still wanna reinstall windows:D???