What can I do (for free) to make my laptop run faster?

[Alex]

It is getting slower and slower after nine months from new.
I use a dongle with T mobile.
Things are taking ages to open, it freezes up. I have AVG virus protection.
Uploading photos (non digital, but scanned) into Facebook takes ages, and is hit and miss.
Sometimes it is fine. I just get the impression I must be able to get better performance?
Any help welcome.

[Benjamin]

This is a free malware remover that could speed up your computer, if its because of that.
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-An...04572.html

[Anoop 8]

You want to go though the instructions in these three articles. That would definitely help

1.http://tech-hutblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/disabling-unnecessary-windows-services.html

2. http://tech-hutblog.blogspot.com/2007/04...uters.html

3.http://tech-hutblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/some-hard-disk-fixes-to-speed-up.html

[hennonb]

you didnt specify your operating system . if it XP get this app called start up control panel from http://www.mlin.net and install it and then open it. Uncheck everythign in there that will speed up your start up and remove any programs that are running unnesesarily

[vplumme]

I also have a very slow laptop that I just use for internet service and can understand what you are going through. I only have 128mgs of ram, but have 4g wireless adapter card from Clear. Because I know a lot about windows services and what is required and not required, I was able to stop these services from running when startup and while the system is on. For example, because I don't have a printer installed, I won't need to use the spool.svc, so I killed it from starting up automatically with windows.

I have attached a document to help you understand what services can be stopped to optimize your computer. In addition to stopping these services, uninstall any and all un-needed programs you no longer use, remove items from your Startup Folder so your computer can load faster, and if you're using windows themes - kill those too as they can cause your computer to load slow and perform slow. With my services stopped and only having 128 megs of ram, it performs as if I had a gig of ram. Amazing what services aren't needed that slows your computer down. Good luck.

http://www.optimizingpc.com/optimize/win...vices.html

[Sattamander]

First place I would look is your hard drive. How much free space do you have? If you are down to let's say 500 MB then it's time to start deleting files. Your computer needs room to work and if you don't have enough room it can drag you down big time. Clean out unnecessary files and copy off files you don't have an immediate need for to CD or DVD. Once this is done defrag your hard drive.

You might also want to check out what's running on your laptop. A lot of programs load TSR that run all the time and really don't need to be running. This can eat up your RAM and most needlessly. Go into Task Manager and check out what processes are running and start removing those that don't need to be running 7/24, for example Quicktime and Adobe Reader. You may have to go online to get info on what the processes running actual do. The site I use is Process library:

http://www.processlibrary.com/

Ccleaner is a free pgm that can help you clean up unneeded files and give you access to the ability to shut down unneeded processes. It can also clean up your Registry.
http://www.ccleaner.com