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Why is my computer lagging and going really slow?

Anything I click ends up not responding, even the task bar. Nothing is opening and I can't even open my virus protection to run a scan. I have a Windows 7 that is a year old, I still have a lot of GB and I'm not sure what the problem is.

3 Answers

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  • doug v
    Lv 7
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Trust me, turning off the machine and waiting a couple hours and turning it back on will not help.

    Eliminating unnecessary Startup programs is, however, a good start. And if that clears things up for you, great!

    But if it doesn't, here's another problem you could be running into (and there could be others I don't know about - I only came across this one a few days ago...):

    Open Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) and see if Explorer.exe is using 20, 30% or more resources (and here we're talking CPU, not RAM). If it is, there are other, non-startup issues. Here is a resource to deal with this if it is your problem. It's a little techie, and if you're unsure, see if you can get some help with it. But the steps are spelled out, and they include suggestion to make a Backup of your HDD first (you do that already anyway, don't you? HDDs do fail you know...):

    http://www.thetechinfogroup.com/blog/Annoying-expl...

    This does include a download program to install (it's very small - just over 1MB), and multiple steps. I have yet to try this but will be soon on a friends verrrryyyy ssslllooowww machine (also Win 7 w/4GB RAM & dual core2.7ghz CPU). Let me know how it works...

  • ?
    Lv 4
    8 years ago

    I've answered several people having the same problem. The issues are that there are things running on your PC in the background that are using up your system resources (ram). Usually there are programs that launch when you start your computer that run in the background or run in the background after you launch a program like iTunes (which is a resource hog).

    To fix this:

    Open Command Prompt (it's in the accessories folder under start/all programs)

    A black window will open. Type in msconfig. Another window will open up (it'll say System Configuration)

    There's a tab called System Startup, open it and you'll see a list of programs that start and run when you boot up your computer.

    Uncheck programs you don't need to run at startup like iTunes, Adobe, Skype, and others that you don't need to run. In other words, if it's no problem to double click a program to run it, then uncheck it. If you aren't sure what it is, do NOT uncheck it.

    After you've unchecked all the unnecessary programs, reboot your computer and all should be good.

    You can also hit CTRL/ALT/DLT and disable programs currently running but to really fix this, you've got to reduce the # of programs running at start up.

  • 8 years ago

    Sometimes my computer does that.All i do is x-out and wait about 2 hours to get back on. Normally it's still a little slow.You might want to wait a day if you want it to go faster.Do you use the computer allot? If you do then your computer is probably slow because you don't let it rest enough.

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