Slow Laptop....Do I need more RAM?

[Jellybeans27]

Hi all,

 

I have a HP Pavillion dv9000 laptop with the following specs:

 

Windows Vista Home Premium SP1

AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-58

1.0GB RAM

Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS.

 

I've bought the laptop brand new in December 2007, and have maintained it well. Never had any problems or overloaded it...only had a few games installed and thats it.

 

However, over the last 12 months or so, it's been EXTREMELY slow on startup, sometimes taking 6 or 7 mins to startup from when I press the power button. I thought it might have been the startup programs, so cleaned them up, and also uninstalled all of my games and any software that takes up a lot of space on the HDD. I've also defragmented a lot. None of this has made a difference.

 

The thing I don't understand is why it suddenly got slower and it hasn't done it before?

 

Is this a RAM issue, i.e. do I need to upgrade to 2gb? Would it make much difference and solve my problem? I would like to go higher but I believe it can only take a max. of 2gb.

 

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Will.

[BeeCeeBee]

Increasing your RAM will make things run faster but a lack of RAM in this case does not account for 6 or 7 minute startup. Somehing else is causing that. I would look at the possibility of an infection.

 

I do not see any reference to scans performed as part of the process you followed to nail things down. What antivirus and/or anti malware programs are you using?

[Jellybeans27]

That's what I thought - the main lag is after putting in the Windows password,, it then stays on a black screen for quite a while.

 

Sorry I didn't mention anti-virus etc. I only use AVG Free at the moment, I do one scheduled scan every week. I also use CCleaner but obviously that's unrelated to anti-virus.

 

What do you recommend I do?

 

Thanks for the help.

[BeeCeeBee]

The first thing I would do is have this looked at by someone on the security (malware removal) team . I am sure they will read this and give you some instruction.

 

That being said, AVG (while certainly not my favorite) is not enough. You need a good antimalware program as well (perhaps 2) Again, I would wait on this because it will probably be included in any attempt to disinfect your computer.

 

It would also be helpful to know how you are using CCleaner. If you ar using it to fix, clean or "Optimize" your registry that may also be the cause. CCleaner is great for cleaning out the general stuff such as Temp files but once you start using it on the Registry without knowing exactly what you are doing, it can cause you all sorts of pain.