Windows notebook just freezing up

[Carol Chan]

My Windows notebook is just getting bogged down and stops responding more and more often. What do you do to fix this. I try restarting and it takes forever, finally asking me to end this program or that, like iexplore.

[cyclohexane]

Have you defragmented your hard drive(s)? Found under All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter

Also, if start-up takes forever, open up the run dialog and run "msconfig". You can disable nonessential start-up procedures using the wizard found there to speed up your start-up. Be careful when you do this, however, as if you disable a vital system process it'll be a pain in the butt to reset the computer.

[Carol Chan]

I've defragmented my hard drives often, but that never seems to fix anything, including speed.

[cyclohexane]

Are your hard drives almost full? I find that when my hard drives fill up to around 70-80% my computer slows down significantly.

[Carol Chan]

Yes! That could be it. Thanks. I'll TRY to delete stuff.

[brian.austin]

Don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin. I've seen some users delete a bunch of things, see no change and come to me for help. The Recycle Bin holds the data, including the actual amount of data that was deleted, until it's emptied. You won't truly get the space back until then.

[Drake]

You need to Clean Disk, Disk Defrag, Install Adaware or AVG Free anti virus and anti spyware tools and scan your system. Clear cookies, restart and you should be good. Sounds like your pc is junked up with spyware.

Link to free AVG anti virus and spyware.

AVG Free Advisor: Free anti-virus, anti-spyware and anti-malware tools

[Malakor]

Another more sinister explanation, especially if it's a few years old, is that the hard drive is slowly failing. Components in a laptop take quite a beating with the heat build up and early failure is not uncommon.