My daughter's W7 Dell Inspiron laptop is running like a dog (and it was relatively ok when new) and I've been trying to work out what the W7 equivalent of run/ms-config is so that that I can nuke a lot stuff from starting up. Can anyone tell me what the W7 equivalent is, and where it lives??? Tried running a copy of Spybot (as well as AVG) and nothing shows up, and I'm pretty sure it's an accumulation of rubbish over the past 18 months. Also, there's a copy of Mcaffee on the laptop that doesn't show up in "install/un-install a programme" anyone know the best way to remove that? Is there a tool for that, or is it hidden somewhere? Any general tips on clearing out bloat from W7 (32bit) would be greatly appreciated. The laptop is about a year old and "relatively" up to date.... Many thanks.
MSConfig still works in Windows 7. If a program doesn't have its own uninstaller in the start menu or control panel, you might want to look in the directory it's installed. Also, download CCleaner. You could use that to handle startup/uninstalls.
Ah, I'd been searching for ms-config, not msconfig! That works. Already run ccleaner and removed a bunch of stuff. Also removed AVG and going to replace it with MSE. Currently re-running Spybot. Thanks for the suggestions - any others welcome...
try malwarebytes antimalware, i replaced spybot search and destroy with it, and haven't looked back, oh i use a paid for version, that runs in the background, effectively doing what spybot s&d does, but less annoying
Also, because it's a laptop, it might have never been able to do a defrag. Execute a defrag, and change the scheduled time for a defrag at a time most likely where the system will be turned on. For a DEEP defrag, I suggest O&O Defrag. It's not free, but just get the trial version (full feature), run it (will take several hours... disable computer form going to sleep/hibernate, and let the laptop over night because it will easily take 3 to 5 hours (leave the computer idle when you do it, to prevent any conflicts)). O&O Defrag not only defrags the HDD, but also moves files around to have boot section of Windows, and system files closest to the center of the disk for the fastest access, and then sort the rest in order of the most used files. Once your HDD is fully defrag.. your essentially set, you can use Windows defrag from now on to maintain everything, and uninstall O&O Defrag. I purchase O&O Defrag, and I use it once a year only. By that time, you'll probably re-install Windows (so you can re-run the trial version), or get Win8. I did see a speed increase on my laptop (160GB 5400RPM, Dell Latitude E6400, Win7 64-bit, 4GB of RAM, Nvidia GPU) and desktop.
Do you have any sense of how it compares to the Piriform Defraggler (although the boot section/OS and system files part sounds very clever - think I'll try it)?
I find Defraggler just being a normal defrag software with the usual basic feature. Is it bad? Well I ask, does it corrupt your data? No, then it's fine. Personally I use Windows built-in one, because it's the only one that doesn't break Restore Points, which allows me to go back in time on a file, folder, drive (Right-click on a file > Properties, and go under "Previous Version" tab, and wait for moment for it to populate the list). Double click on the list item to view it, hit on restore to restore the file/folder/drive Oh talking about this, to make the process faster for O&O Defrag, as (like all defrag tools) other than Windows), the restore points will disappear after the defrag, I would delete and disable restore point (Computer > System Properties > System Protection. On that panel, select a drive, and click on the "Configure" button. Then select on the panel that will show, Turn off, and Delete. Do this for every partition/drive on the list that has it turned on. Restart your computer and your done. Don't forget to turn it back on.).
