why is my comp starting up slow and wont come on even when its been shut down?

Question

my computer wont start up after we shut it down it takes ages to come on

Answer 1

Just to rule out a virus & too many programs running on start up try the below tips. + you can speed up start up by configuring your bios to load the harddrive first so it isn't searching through the cd drive, floppy, & network first before it loads from the harddrive.



Not knowing the operating system it's hard to say exactly what the issue may be.



Install a good virus protection suite & update it. Pc cillen by trendmicro is a good one & has a free online scan that also removes problems. AVG has a free version for download. Avast is another great free one.



Then start your pc in safe mode (depending on pc type this is usually a different key combination), generally as soon as you turn on the pc you hit the key combination F8 and choose safe mode. Don't be scared, it's supposed to look this weird. Safe mode runs the bare minimum, which is why you want to remove problem programs in it, they can't hide in safe mode like they can during normal start up. Then run your virus software. This should remove it. If not completely then you need to go to the trendmicro or symantec web site for further instructions. & try hitting it with the programs I listed below.



For future reference:



Always make sure your Window’s is completely updated, along with Office and Internet Explorer (if you insist on using it – version 6 is the worst so far for known issues).



Use a firewall, zone alarm is free & pretty user friendly. & get the following products.



Get Spybot Search & Destroy by Patrick Kolla Great free program for finding spyware. Don't be cheap, give the guy a donation.



Ad aware by lavasoft is free for personal use.



www.ewido.net - free after 30 days, limitation is that you have to manually update.



http://www.superantispyware.com is free.



& dump Internet Explorer. It's got more holes than swiss cheese. Get firefox, it has some really great add on extensions that block scripts, pop-up's & more ... & it's free. Depending on how you access the internet (some programs like Yahoo dsl, & Netzero try to force you to use Internet Explorer) just click on your Firefox icon to surf the web not Internet Explorer.



You can stop most programs from loading by using "msconfig". It's not on XP so you have to download it from a site such as perfectdrivers. Most programs beyond firewalls and virus protection do not need to run at start up. It's too bad that "Blackvipers" site is still down. He had an incredible list of how to stop unwanted and unneeded services in 2k & XP from running & slowing pc down. It is however still being posted on sites, so google his name.



Sysinternals process viewer is a great tool. It shows all the running processes on your pc & how they are interconnected. Plus it shows you which ones are problems. It’s been recently bought out by Microsoft, so for now it’s still free… but who knows what the future may bring.



Hijack this is a great program to see what programs are doing on your pc. Generally, you don’t need most of those programs. Hijack this has a lot of information about what is safe to disable & what is not safe. In general, you don’t need the vast majority beyond programs that have to run at start up, your web browser page of choice, virus protection & firewall hooks.



Hope I helped. & don't forget --> Just because you have protection doesn't mean it will work if you don't keep it updated & run it once a week. Just think of all the time you'll save not trying to repair a virus infection! It’s a lot of information but once you run through it & play with it it’s pretty simple.

Answer 2

The best way is to download Ccleaner here http://bitly.com/UrALrK



Or you can go on Windows operating system locate the command prompt and go there to do the following:

Create a Recovery file of system and date it today.



Then begin by;

delete the 'Temp' folders..they have hidden subfolders so you need to set the attributes in order to bypass this. For each subfolder delete all cookies and rubbish left behnd after install-uninstalled programs. Do a 'dir' command to check your progress. Make sure the 'Temp' file is empty.



goto c:\windows\prefetch and delete everything in there..no exceptions



goto c:\windows folder and delete all the '$' files that have been installed by updates. They can all be succesfully deleted and just take up disk space.



Locate the Internet Temporary Files..Check to see how high the saving level is..some have it set at 30 days..but that stores faaaar tooo much data..though it slows down the system overal. Keep this to a minimum..suggest 2 or 5 at most.



Delete all 'cookies' all those you don't need.



Locate the windows directory and go through the folders you know and those you don't need. Check this once a week at least. Some programs will install under XP as NT and older systems where there is no check of systems weight.



Check to see that system files have not changed since last booting. Things like .ini files or .bat are important items.





Check for 'Hidden Directories' all over the disk...do this at the command prompt:



dir *.* /ah wil show these hidden directories



Check the 'dir' command for all parameters

Answer 3

You need to desfragment the computer every now and then, windows writes in your hard drive many times creating disorder when opening and closing programs, closing, deleting and installing and desinstaling software so...



right button on the hard drive,



Properties, look for the tab tools, the second choice: desfragment now.



when the program opens click on desfragment and you will see, the red is the disorder that will be hopefully turning blue which is ordenated data.



This will take a time... to uninstal programs that you don´t need and to increase the Ram nenory will hel derteminantly, RAm memory is not that exoensive these days.



Google pack has Norton antivirus with 6 months free so you can make sure that your computer is healthy but if you don´t have enough memory will slow down even more your computer.



Good luck and patiente.

Answer 4

firstly if you defragement your computer weekly it will sort out viruses and make it run faster and will minimise files and take out junk of the computer all you do is defrag it go out and when you come back it will be done... also you might have various programmes which take to much space and slow it down

Answer 5

sounds like you have lots of viruses on there ,i had the same problem and tried many scans but all the ones i tried couldnt get rid of all the viruses so i defragged and the computer run like new after,if you dont know how to defrag then get someone who does

Answer 6

Maybe u got a virus in your hardrive or maybe your hardrive is too old. So check your hardrive to see if u got enough free space. And if it's none of the two. U need to defragment your system and check for error.

Answer 7

Sounds like a possible 1) bad drive, or 2) bad power supply.

Answer 8

Scan it for a virus.

Answer 9

low on ram makes some good points. however he or she made a few errors.

firstly spybot though freeware in my experiance caused more trouble than it fixed.

adaware is made by and supplied by lavasoft a sweedish company. there is a free version and a licened paid version.

I've heard bad things about AVG (like it has caused more problems than it prevented.

msconfig is part of the windows XP operating system.

all you need to do is click, start. run and type in the ltext box msconfig and the program should start. though you need to be able to boot to your operating systerm first.

as you are obviousley a relative novice to intermediate user, the advance utilities are not advised in your case as you could end up causing your system to become 100% unusable.



in your case the problem could be one where your hard drive may be failing or the powersupply unit may be failing or failed on the rail supplying your hard drive.

first open up your computer case and attempt to swap around the powersupply cables.

if no spare cables do a simple swap Hard Drive to CD/DVD drive.

now try to power up the computer, if it starts normally then your power supply may be failing and so you should attempt to get a replacement as soon as you can.

if swapping the cables fails to solve the problem then recheck the cables. push the data cable in properly to the main board and to your hard drive and CD/DVD, double check the power cables are seated correctly (firmly pushed into the connectors on the drives.



if your drive is connected properly and booting up slowly, then it could be that your system has a hard drive that is badly fragmented so you may like to run defrag to fix the problem.

you should run a disc check too as well as a full virus scan.

if your computer boots normally (but slowly) go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com allow the scan to run make sure you select scan everything. also make sure to set to clean what it can and delete the uncleanable. (or quarantine if you want to risk the quarantined items will be cleaned in future updates and scans.

once the malware scan is complete, run a disc check then defrag.

all the above assuming that your computer will boot to your operating system so you can sign in as administrator to take the required steps to fix your computer.

if the hard drive will not boot or is not found then it is as said above a duff connection or a dead drive or power supply.

check on powering up the computer that your hard drive shows correctly.

you should not need to go to the computer bios to solve this problem, but if you have added other software or hardware then you may need to go to the bios and reset it.

getting in to the bios varies from computer to computer (it depends on the chipset on the system board) you will see during boot (for a second or less how to get in to the bios/cmos) note it and after the bios finds your drives and before it starts to boot from your operating system use the noted command key(s) to get to the bios.

now depending on your configuration and chipset you may need to go through all the menu options until you find the options that you need, namely to check that the computer is set to boot from your hard drive. if more than one hard drive make sure the correct drive is configured as the first boot drive.

you may also need to find the settings to reset the bios.

it all depends on system configuration. as i said.



if your hard drive is failing and that is the reason it is slow you may like to consider buying a new hard drive or two. install one drive as a back up/ second drive in the system. use back up software to make a backup of your failing hard drive.

next remove the old hard drive and install the second new hard drive.

reinstall the windows operating system and then re-run the backup program to restore your computer to as it was before. though if using XP you will need to re-register. easy to do don't worry about it.

power supply and two 250GB hard drives can be yours for around £120 or less delivered in the UK from dabs.com.



good luck. on trouble shooting this error!

before all of the above attempt to boot from the operating system CD and select restore mode. when asked for which os to repair press 1 (only one operating system is installed)

you will now be asked for the admin password (xp service pack two oem CD) press enter (no password)

type chkdsk /? for a list of options and details of how to use the command. make sure to run scan and fix to repair any problems. your computer may need to be restarted for the scan to start. this is normal. though depending on the size of the drive it could take a while to scan and fix!



remember to check what programs you have selected to start when your computer starts, and remove all items listed in the start up folder in the programs area of windows start menu (if that makes any sense to you).



I appologise here for this seemingly longwinded response but your question was limited to say the least, so i have attempted to cover most if not all eventualaties and what you need to do. if you are not confident about any of the tasks detailed above get professional help to either walk you through step by step or have them do the work for you. though if your system is old this could cost you more than the system is worth to fix.



one last point, if you are using a shop bought computer chances are you have a non seagate hard drive installed. if your drive is not a seagate you can pretty much guarantee your drive is failing and needs to be replaced within a week or two at the most. however a seagate drive reporting the same problems can be recovered easily from such an error many times before it actually dies completely.

also remember this could be a form of malwware causing the erro so make sure the malware scan is completed at the first opertunity!



on the point of the software listed, always go to the publisher of the software when ever possible as failing to do so could result in you getting tampered with software that could conatin all kinds of malware. (i've been there and done that, that is how i know).



also if you have a peer to peer file share service installed on your computer this can slow down your computer as your network connections are re-connected before you can actually log in on a windows xp based system espescially true when connecting via LAN to other computers or a broadband internet connection.