? for PUTER TECHIES

[pacrat]

I have an ACER ASPIRE 3 laptop that took a dump. 😥 It has a 1,000 GB HDD, 8 GB of ram, and an AMD dual core processor.

Until recently it was incredibly fast. At least to me.

Being a 76 yr old retired splinter picker. I'm non tech oriented. And in need of advice. So I came to the CG brainiacs.

Over the last 2 wks it started turning into a slug speed at best machine when it comes to booting up and loading anything. Now I go to sleep while it takes a 1/2 hr to boot.

I ran some Norton scans and they said I had many [registry issues]. Will this free download fix it. Or is this just a marketing PIMP trying to sell me more supposed protection? And microsoft scan says Google Chrome is slowing down the machine. But that could be just to get me to dump CHROME and switch to their EDGE browser.

Is this a good/decent/or poor free fix for my issues. https://www.pchelpsoft.com/

Or ay ;east worth a try?

I'm on the wife's LENOVA laptop to post this.

Any help/advise appreciated.

EDIT; Would uninstalling Chrome then redownloading it help/fix???

[C.G.]

I have an ACER ASPIRE 3 laptop that took a dump. 😥 It has a 1,000 GB HDD, 8 GB of ram, and an AMD dual core processor.

Until recently it was incredibly fast. At least to me.

Being a 76 yr old retired splinter picker. I'm non tech oriented. And in need of advice. So I came to the CG brainiacs.

Over the last 2 wks it started turning into a slug speed at best machine when it comes to booting up and loading anything. Now I go to sleep while it takes a 1/2 hr to boot.

I ran some Norton scans and they said I had many [registry issues]. Will this free download fix it. Or is this just a marketing PIMP trying to sell me more supposed protection? And microsoft scan says Google Chrome is slowing down the machine. But that could be just to get me to dump CHROME and switch to their EDGE browser.

Is this a good/decent/or poor free fix for my issues. https://www.pchelpsoft.com/

Or ay ;east worth a try?

I'm on the wife's LENOVA laptop to post this.

Any help/advise appreciated.

EDIT; Would uninstalling Chrome then redownloading it help/fix???

You did not mention which operating system. Usually the programs that promise to fix things do not work very well. I would start by removing all unnecessary programs. I don't care for Norton either, it screwed up my W98 long time ago by screwing up my registry and i've never forgave them for that.

[Preston-CLB]

I agree with CG.

Which OS and version are you using?

These apps that purport to fix the registry or to update drivers often cause more problems that are difficult or impossible to fix. Stay away from them.

Hard drives need free space for virtual memory and other uses. If your drive is getting full, that will slow things down.

**You can move any old user files, especially images which eat drive space to an external drive.
**Uninstall any programs you no longer use.
**Most likely you have programs that run at startup, which slow things down. The only apps you need at startup are your anti-virus and any ACER drivers. Many of these programs can be started manually when you need them.

There is very cool program called CCleaner from Piriform Software that is free. You can set it to scan for temporary files, old prefetch files. internet history files, etc.. It has other tools, as well. It won't delete or fix anything unless you opt in for it to do so. Be sure that you are installing the Piriform app. I have used CCleaner for years and have never had issues. There is a paid version that has more tools and features.

I hope this helps,
-P

[67Cuda]

I have an ACER ASPIRE 3 laptop that took a dump. 😥 It has a 1,000 GB HDD, 8 GB of ram, and an AMD dual core processor.

Any help/advise appreciated.

If it has an HDD and not a SSD, the HDD may be taking a dump. At the very least, backup whatever data you don't want to lose.

I'd put in a SSD and reinstall the operating system. They are fairly reasonable cost wise. ~$50

[ibanezfoo]

If it has an HDD and not a SSD, the HDD may be taking a dump. At the very least, backup whatever data you don't want to lose.

I'd put in a SSD and reinstall the operating system. They are fairly reasonable cost wise. ~$50

Old HDs you can tell if they are starting to fail by using your ears. They will start making abnormal clicking or thunking noises. Not always, but most of the time.

[high_revs]

8gb ram? get more along with a new ssd.

there are free tools out there to move your data from your old drive to a new ssd-based new hard drive. so you won't have to reload windows on a new drive. i used mini-partition wizard to clone S.O.'s drive to ssd. also do check your laptop specs if you can move to a ssd, or if it already comes with it or at least has a slot for it. you didn't say how old and there are older formats of ssd out there. my 2014 bought HP desktop tower and dell L521x laptop had mSATA that was not compatible with other physical formats/connections. download your acer's manual to see the specs what you can use or upgrade to.

[Preston-CLB]

Pacrat, before you go spending time and money on a new primary drive. Check the web for free tools that will verify if your current drive is still heathy.

If your current drive is still good to go, please look at the steps I outlined in my post above. In addition to those steps, run a scan with your anti-virus/anti-malware app to ensure there is nothing nefarious going on.

One other thought: does the laptop get overly hot when in use? Can you hear its fan running? If the machine is overheating, this will cause performance issues because the CPU will 'throttle' its speed to prevent damage to it.

There is a cool little free app called "Speccy" also from Piriform Software that will give loads of info about your machine, including temperatures, drive health, RAM, motherboard, and your graphics card. It is easy to install and to use.

Keep us posted as to your findings.
-P

[sonofeugene]

Thats just a 300 dollar computer. Buy a new one and copy your files to the new one.

At 300 dollars, its a very disposable computer.

[sonofeugene]

And get a better computer next time.

Also, 8 GB of RAM is barely enough to run Windows. It’s easily overwhelmed.

I have a Lenovo 17” laptop with 64 GB of RAM, a 2 TB SSD drive, and a nVidia graphics card. I run Solidworks CAD on it. And its hooked up to my 30” Apple monitor.

[Preston-CLB]

Thats just a 300 dollar computer. Buy a new one and copy your files to the new one.

At 300 dollars, its a very disposable computer.

He's right, you know.

You could take some steps to speed up your machine to give you time to save some funds and research purchasing a new laptop with better specs and current tech. I haven't looked at what's available these days but be sure to base your specs on your real needs.
-P

[hermosabeach]

Ctrl+alt+del
open task manager
it will show what programs are running
what % of memory and hard drive are in use and by what programs/ aps

cc cleaner is a good free program.

you want to identify the issue. See if this helps you spot what the problem is. if it shows you only have 4gb of ram, you will know one chip died.

also how full is your hard drive? Hopefully less than 80%


And if you don't have a back up drive- for the love of your data- pick one up and back up all files

[remusrm]

Not sure where you located but if you are close to my area of Claremont/La Verne I could help you out for a cup of coffee at a local Starbucks. Most likely your browser is full and I would clear the cache but save the passwords! But as others have said, might be time for a new computer, I recommend Costco and they have great deals under 500$. I would get at least 16 GB of memory and 1 Tb of storage.

[arrix]

From the start menu, type CMD to open a CMD prompt in Administrator mode and type CHKDSK /R C:

image.png

[amd64]

If it has an HDD and not a SSD, the HDD may be taking a dump. At the very least, backup whatever data you don't want to lose.

I'd put in a SSD and reinstall the operating system. They are fairly reasonable cost wise. ~$50

+1 this. Switching from HD to SSD is quick, inexpensive upgrade.