Tuesday 21 July 2020

Oh So Slow.



Over the past couple of weeks, my laptop had become unbelievably slow; it was almost like going back to the days of 'Dial-up'. Lady M (who had become increasingly bored with my constant moaning) suggested that it was because so many holidaymakers had come here with their laptops, iPads, etc, and that as we are at the end of the line, it was inevitable.

I was neither convinced, nor happy.

Rather than call on my tech-wizard friend Craig, I thought I'd throw caution to the winds and have a look 'inside' by myself.

I found all sorts of rubbish, which I uninstalled, and 'Lappy' is now back to 'normal' speed. 

For reference this is what I did: First I opened 'Settings', then clicked on 'Apps, uninstall etc', then searched through all the unwanted stuff that seems to have installed automatically over the past 6 months or so. Some of them, such as 'Candy Crush Something' contained hundreds of Mb's and were blocking the system. I cleared out loads of stuff. You simply click on the App, then click on uninstall.

Of course you can't just delete any old thing, just stuff that you know isn't essential to the running of your machine. If you can't differentiate, it's probably best to have someone with you who knows what's what.

Now my laptop is a pleasure to use again. I had become so frustrated, that I'd seriously considered buying a whole new machine, so I've saved myself a few hundred quid!

It's probably not a bad idea to see what's lurking, even if your machine is working OK.

43 comments:

  1. I do that frequently on my phone but not so often on the desktop.

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    1. I wish I knew how (or why) these things get there.

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  2. Candy Crush. I can't imagine you playing candy crush, maybe one of your visitors thought it would be a lark to install it on your laptop.
    Alphie

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    1. I know the name 'Candy Crush', but I'm not sure what it is... some sort of game. No-one is allowed to use my laptop... I think it must have arrived with 'updates'.

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  3. Well done you. I go through devices and clear out stuff every so often. What I don't like is on my phone and table apps that I don't want, never use but are part of what is loaded when you buy the device and can't be removed without doing something only experts should really do. It is a couple of names, but the one that comes to mind is that you have to root your phone. I'll refrain from adding anything more.

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    1. I'm no expert, so I left a lot of stuff that can probably come out. I'm too worried that I might remove something essential.

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  4. Mine is slowing up Cro and I suspect I may have the same problem. But my skills not up to doing that. I do have c cleaner so might run that through again to see if it makes any difference.

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    1. I'm sure your son would make swift work of it. It doesn't take long, and he'd probably be able to spot all the rubbish quite quickly.

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  5. Well done. I'm always amazed at how much rubbish can be deleted and am tempted to try and get rid of those apps Andrew was talking about.
    My grandson is a computer whizz but tieing him down is the problem.
    You've given me a reminder at least to go and see what I can get rid of now

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    1. Just take out the stuff that you really KNOW is junk. You'll probably find several rubbish programmes with very high Mb's; they seem to be the best to eliminate.

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  6. I do my phone regularly which is the main thing I use.

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    1. I don't have a smartphone, but I'm wondering if I should get one. They seem to be almost obligatory these days.

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    2. If you are happy without one then don't. They get addictive, computer in your hand.

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  7. I have to have a good sweep out every three months or so. tmp. and temp. files are the worst as are Windows updates. There are plenty of videos on Youtube showing what can be deleted and where it lurks.

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    1. I think I shall try to do the same. Every few months I shall have a good look to see what's surreptitiously arrived.

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  8. My last phone was so slow and I got into the habit of checking and deleting things, I still do it with this my new phone, so far I've not done anything I will regret. On my computer I have a system which shows me what I am using and what's not been used, so I can remove dorment stuff.

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    1. I think there's a setting that will delete all but the default settings, but there's so much I've downloaded myself which I would hate to lose.

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  9. It seems to me that here too it is the right time to clean the computer.

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    1. I shall make a note in my online diary, to do it every few months.

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  10. Well done! My laptop is with my tech Wizard brother, I will be glad to have it back!
    I have to be careful doing a system clean on the tablet as it can delete things that you don't want to lose but have not looked at for a while.

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    1. That is the fear; that you'll lose essential things on the hasty click of a mouse.

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  11. Luckily for me, husband is good at doing this sort of thing. I use a desk-top, but it still gets sluggish from time to time.

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    1. As you say, you're lucky. I'm hopeless at such things.

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  12. I now have a shiny, new laptop as the husband seems intent on trashing our previous one, which is now his. I shall guard it closely so that his rubbish doesn't end up on there and slow it down - or worse!

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    1. Toss a coin. Heads he goes, Tails he keeps the laptop.

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  13. I am reasonably computer savvy but lots of it goes over my head. If my computer starts to run slow I remove all the history, restart it and it’s much quicker. I think someone told me to do that once ! Good that you are up to speed again Cro. XXXX

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    1. I usually delete the browsing history as I go along, but I don't think it would slow down the speed as much as the unwanted programmes.

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  14. Ahh, you are a techie, Cro. Besides saving money, I bet you have a renewed sense of accomplishment in yourself. When I worked, there was little that frightened me about technology and I was always looking for the next best thing. Now I get scared about pressing anything in fear of losing everything.

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    1. I'm not really a techie at all, which is probably why I was so pleased that my efforts were rewarded.

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  15. I'm always fiddling about with my desktop computer, emptying the waste bin, C-cleaning it etc. I agree with Andrew, earlier on in this thread, it's all that stuff that's pre-loaded on your phone or computer that you can't get rid of which is really annoying. Why doesn't somebody make a phone with nothing on it apart from a screen and the ability to actually make a phone call/internet on it and then leave it to the owner to download whatever other apps he wants on it. And then stop sneaking in all this other junk along with the updates.

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    1. Some of the silly games that they preload can be the worst culprits. Get rid of them.

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  16. Good advice Lord Magnon. Another thing that can block up your machine is the background storage of images and of internet history. Like a car, a computer needs a good service once in a while.

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    1. I'm sure the tens of thousands of stored photos must slow things up; but I'd hate to lose them. Perhaps I could store them all on an external drive, to make extra room.

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  17. I like to use AVG antivirus software and they have a cleaning mechanism, much like a defrag that works well. I used to defrag my work and personal computers until work decided they wanted to control that defragmentation process. Essentially the defrag takes all the odd bits, puts together what needs to be put together and tosses what doesn't. I think of it as seeing a large pile of papers pell mell all different chapters, or books even. The defrag reorganizes the giant pile into proper chapters and books so you've got things tidied in the end.

    I finally got a smartphone last year. In one of the numerous updates, i got a message telling me of things i haven't used and can delete. I deleted gladly. I don't use my phone all that much and tried playing games on it for literally 20 minutes. Just wasn't my thing so the games went.

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    1. Defragging is mostly automatic on new computers. I used to do it on my older ones. I wish my laptop would be as helpful; I'd love to know 'officially' what's unused!

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  18. I have a helpdesk man who does all this stuff for me. He gets me breakfast and does the gardening too.

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    1. Does he oil the wheels on your bike as well? Sounds like he's a keeper.

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  19. I went on a housekeeping safari like that myself, simply because an app irritated me, and while I was at it, I blasted a whole bunch of them.

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