Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

How to Speed Up My OS and Internet Surfing

Jul 4, 2014 7:23PM PDT

I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit ACER Notebook PC with 6GB Ram. I don't have many programs(maybe 10-15) and have AVG plus Spybot and CC Cleaner, which I use regularly. I had Malwarebytes, but irregardless of the source fdrom which I downloaded it, I only got 30 days trial, before they cut me off. Is there a simple way to speed up my slow-as-molasses operating method or a magic program I can buy to do it?

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Bingo.
Jul 5, 2014 12:07AM PDT

Thankfully you lead with something that has slowed some PCs. Spybot's Teatimer can indeed conflict and create a slow PC.

There is no and never has been a simple way to speed up a PC back to its former glory unless you consider restoring it to it's factory condition. That may be asking a lot but for now you did reveal something that has deployed the drag chute. Uninstall apps that run all the time until you find it.
Bob

- Collapse -
Answer
No
Jul 5, 2014 12:24AM PDT

No. Put simply there are three, and only three, things that will improve overall performance to any significant degree. Any software program that claims to magically make your computer faster is a scam and should be avoided.

1: Faster CPU
2: More RAM
3: Running fewer programs

SSDs are nice, but really only speed up disk read tasks to a significant degree, so I don't include them.

You have 6GB of RAM, which should be sufficient to run 10-15 programs and Windows 7 assuming we're not talking 10-15 copies of major games. And 10-15 programs isn't even that much to have running, again assuming they're not really large programs, so that just leaves us with the missing component from your story: the CPU. Something you're not going to be able to upgrade to any cost-effective degree on a laptop. My guess would be you have some rather low end CPU which is barely sufficient for running Windows let alone anything else.

Another possibility is Spybot's teatimer component, which throttles processes. The idea was to prevent malware from hogging a lot of CPU time and making the computer unresponsive, but it had unintended consequences of slowing down the legitimate programs on the computer as well and to the best of my knowledge, the Spybot developers have never fixed it. Frankly Spybot is a program that's time has passed, so you'd probably be better off without it. Same with CCleaner, which doesn't really do anything you can't already do pretty easily with built-in tools for Windows. Anything having to do with "cleaning" or "fixing" the registry is something to stay far away from. CCleaner was a great tool once upon a time, something of a specialty tool aimed at people who knew what they were doing and understood the risks associated with different options. Now too many morons who fancy themselves some kind of computer expert have "discovered" it and either the CCleaner developers sold out or simply responded out of being annoyed at all the people complaining about how it ruined their system when they shouldn't have been using the program in the first place. It's like putting someone who couldn't even replace a bike chain on a single-speed bike in charge of a nuclear reactor. Either way, what was once a great scalpel of a tool is now seen as a panacea by most.

As for Malwarebytes, I believe there are free and paid components to it and the paid components, like the resident scanner, have a 30-day trial. The free components, such as manual scanning, still work indefinitely. Personally, I figure if you have regular need for a program like malwarebytes, it's time to stop and evaluate what it is you're doing that makes it necessary. Most times, a few very simple changes to some of your habits and program selections will result in the near total elimination of malware creeping onto your system.

I really need to update this list some day, but the do/don't list is still pretty relevant. It's not overly difficult to keep your system running well for long stretches of time.

TIPS FOR A PROBLEM FREE COMPUTING EXPERIENCE
============================================

The more of these suggestions you follow, the fewer problems you should have. They won't solve any existing problems you have, but if you follow them all you should be able to avoid virtually all problems in the future.

Things you should NOT do
--------------------------------
1: Use Internet Explorer (1)
2: Use any browser based on Internet Explorer (e.g. Maxathon and MSN Explorer)
3: Use Outlook or Outlook Express (2)
4: Open email attachments you haven't manually scanned with your virus scanner
5: Open email attachments you were not expecting, no matter who they appear to be from
6: Respond to spam messages, including using unsubscribe links
7: Visit questionable websites (e.g. porn, warez, hacking)
8: Poke unnecessary holes in your firewall by clicking "Allow" every time some program requests access to the Internet (3)
9: Click directly on links in email messages
10: Use file sharing or P2P programs
11: Use pirated programs

Things you SHOULD do
-----------------------------
1: Use a non-IE or IE based browser (4)
2: Always have an up to date virus scanner running (5)
3: Always have a firewall running (6)
4: Install all the latest security updates (7)(Cool(9)
5: Delete all unsolicited emails containing attachments without reading
6: Manually scan all email attachments with your virus scanner, regardless of whether it's supposed to be done automatically
7: Copy and paste URLs from email messages into your web browser
8: Inspect links copied and pasted into your web browser to ensure they don't seem to contain a second/different address
9: Establish a regular backup regimen (10)(11)
10: Make regular checks of your backup media to ensure it is still good (12)

Being a considerate Internet user & other online tips
----------------------------------------------------------------
1: Do not send attachments in emails (13)(14)
2: Do not use stationary or any other kind of special formatting in emails (13)
3: Do not TYPE IN ALL CAPS (15)
4: Avoid texting speak or "l33t speak" (16)
5: Do not poke sleeping bears (17)
6: Do not use registry cleaners/fixers/optimizers (1Cool(19)

Offline tips and suggestions
----------------------------------------------------------------
1: Avoid buying Acer, HP. Compaq, Gateway, and eMachines computers (20)(21)(22)(23)
2: Avoid sub-$500 systems that aren't netbooks or part of some limited time price promotion (24)

Notes
--------

(1) Sadly sometimes this is unavoidable, so only use IE when the site absolutely will not work with any other browser and you cannot get that information/service anywhere else, and only use IE for that one specific site.
(2) Outlook and Outlook Express are very insecure, and basically invite spam. The jury is still out on Vista's Windows Mail, but given Microsoft's history with email programs, extreme caution is advised. Possible replacements include Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, The Bat, and dozens of others.
(3) When it doubt over whether or not to allow some program, use Google to find out what it is and whether or not it needs access to the Internet. Otherwise, denying access is the safest course of action, since you can always change the rule later.
(4) On Windows your options include: Mozilla Firefox, Seamonkey, Opera, Flock, Chrome, and Safari. I would personally recommend Firefox with the NoScript extension for added security, but it the important thing is to pick one and use it instead of IE.
(5) AVG Free and Avast are available if you need a decent free virus scanner
(6) XP/Vista's firewall is probably good enough for 99% of all Windows users, but other options include ZoneAlarm, Outpost Firewall, and Comodo. If you have a router with a firewall built into it, there is no need for any of the aforementioned firewalls to be running.
(7) Microsoft's usual system is to release security updates every second Tuesday of the month.
(Cool Use of Windows Update on Windows operating systems prior to Windows Vista requires Internet Explorer, and is thus a valid exception to the "No IE" rule.
(9) Service packs should ALWAYS be installed. They frequently contain security updates that will ONLY be found in that service pack.
(10) You can go with a full fledged backup program, or simply copying important files onto a CD/DVD/Flash drive.
(11) I'd recommend a tiered backup system. For example, you might have 5 rewritable DVDs, and every day you burn your backup onto a new disc. On the 6th day, you erase the disc for Day #1 for your backup, and so on so that you have multiple backups should one disc ever go bad.
(12) Replace rewritable CDs and DVDs approximately every 3-6 months.
(13) These dramatically increase the size of email messages (2-3X minimum) and clog up email servers already straining to cope with the flood of spam pouring in daily.
(14) If you want to share photos with friends/family, upload them to some photo sharing site like Flickr or Google's Picasa Web and then send people a link to that particular photo gallery.
(15) This is considered to be the same as SHOUTING and many people find it to be hard to read along with highly annoying.
(16) Unless the goal is to make yourself look like a pre-adolescent girl, or someone overcompensating for their gross inadequacies, and you don't want people to take you seriously.
(17) Most REAL hackers are quite content to leave you alone unless you make them take notice of you. No dinky little software firewall or consumer grade router is going to keep them out of your system. So do not go to some hacker website or chat room and start shooting your mouth off unless you're prepared to accept the consequences
(1Cool Most of these programs are scams, and sell you something you don't need. Most of them report non-issues in an attempt to boost the number of "issues". Sometimes using these programs can lead to a non-functioning computer.
(19) The Windows registry is not some mystical black box of untapped performance tweaks for Windows, that will lead to untold improvements in system performance. Most of the tweaks will lead to very modest performance gains of 1-2% tops, and probably less than 10% all combined. There is also a good chance that you will render your system unbootable if you make a mistake when editing. Registry default settings are set that way for a reason. Just do yourself a favor, and forget you ever heard of the Windows registry unless you are a computer programmer/debugger and your job requires knowledge of the registry.
(20) Acer now owns Gateway and eMachines
(21) HP owns Compaq
(22) Hardware failures seem far more common with these brands than can be considered normal
(23) These companies use cheap labor in Asian countries were working conditions are often what would be considered sweat shops, and are run by brutal dictatorships, which you are supporting by buying from these companies
(24) If you just do some simple math, and realize that the cost of individual components like the CPU are around 25-33% of the total retail cost of the system, and everyone involved in the making and selling of the system is looking to make a profit, how much money can they possibly be making on each system. And if you're only making a few pennies on every system, how much quality control do you really think is going to go into the manufacturing process?

- Collapse -
Answer
Caution
Jul 5, 2014 8:16AM PDT

SS+D and teatimer.

I read an article a long time ago that said if you have teatimer active and uninstall SS+D the changes teatimer made stay active.

Is that true?......no idea.

If your planning on uninstalling SS+D and you have teatimer active it might be a good idea to turn off that feature before the uninstall.