The Dell is a dog

[HAL9000]

With respect to other posters' opinions, in my experience, from Windows XP (NTFS) onwards, file fragmentation is rarely a problem: defragging an XP+ hard disk is unlikely to produce any noticeable difference in performance.

[DulwichFox]

HAL9000 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> With respect to other posters' opinions, in my

> experience, from Windows XP (NTFS) onwards, file

> fragmentation is rarely a problem: defragging an

> XP+ hard disk is unlikely to produce any

> noticeable difference in performance.

This is very true. File fragmentationis not the big problem.

It is the Fragmentation of the remaining Free disk space that causes the most problems.

When you are writing to fragmented disk space.

It is just good practice to do regular Housekeeping of your system.

Fox...

[Undisputedtruth]

Personally, I'd follow tog-in-sox 'otherwise' suggestion. That way you see where the problem could be in terms of hardware or software. For example if, after a clean installation of windows, the slow start up persists then this suggest a hardware problem such as motherboard (bios) or HDD. If start up is successful then install one additional software for each test for startup speed to see which software is causing conflict.

[aquarius moon]

Dulwich Fox,

I'm interested in your comment that Dells are notorious in running slow.

I just replaced a Dell laptop that was getting slower after a couple of years use, with a new one at xmas

which seems to be slower & more problematic than the previous one.

Hope it's just teething problems, but expected a brand new laptop to be so much better!

[HAL9000]

The Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware application is quite good but often fails to detect the payloads of various Trojan and root-kit virus infections after they have been installed on an infected hard disk.

In difficult cases, diagnosis may be achieved by downloading and running HiJack This and posting the resulting log to either a specialist ?bot? website or a forum such as MalwareCrypt for analysis by experts.

[nashoi]

I've found the free diagnostic tests, advice and the forum on PC pitstop.com to be very useful in the past.

[fazer71]

stevo

1. Make sure it is only running one anti virus package.

2. Click Start > Run > and enter chkdsk.exe hit return and let it run.

3. run microsoft malitious software removal (free) http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/confirmation.aspx?id=16

4. check that is has all the upto date drivers by going to dell support.

if all that fails

then

5. reinstall the operating system with the disks unless you are lucky and it has a symantic reinstall on the drive you will need a set of dell discs.

this link may help

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs&docid=DSN_336966&isLegacy=true

[KidKruger]

If you buy a laptop with mi bluetooth facility on it, is it possible to buy some Bluetooth software and a Bluetooth 'dongle' so you can access bluetooth devices nearby ?

Or us it something fundamental which must be installed during manufacture ?

[fazer71]

KidKruger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you buy a laptop with mi bluetooth facility on

> it, is it possible to buy some Bluetooth software

> and a Bluetooth 'dongle' so you can access

> bluetooth devices nearby ?

> Or us it something fundamental which must be

> installed during manufacture ?

If you have a bluetooth device in your laptop you ill see it in cotrol panel devices...

In windows go to Start > Control Panel > Click on Bluetooth Devices .... select the options you need ie make it discoverable etc and connect any bluetooth devices to your laptop by selecting search for devices etc....

[KidKruger]

Yeah but I'm looking at laptops on various websites, some of them don't explicitly day there IS Bluetooth and other specs/details on other sites dont answer my question.

So, if I get a laptop without Bluetooth installed, can i install it later ??

[Huguenot]

?6

Dongled

[fazer71]

yes just buy a bluetooth usb dongle.

Any laptop which hasn't got bluetooth is going to be old and not worth having unless you just want to surf the web slowly...

depending on your budget.. and if you're ok with a small screen.

might be better buying a new netbook like the asus 1001P ?170

http://www.simplyasus.com/GRADE_A_-_ASUS_EEE_PC_1001P_1157795.html

you'll get a years warranty edit to correct 6 month warranty..

[fazer71]

mind you for ?199 ie ?30 more you can get a new ASUS EeePC 1011PX

http://www.simplyasus.com/ASUS_EeePC_1011PX-BLK069S_1156062.html

[KidKruger]

The laptop I'm considering is modern (few months old) but the description does not explicitly say it IS enabled for blue tooth.

If I get a bluetooth dongle I have the impression that the laptop itself will still need to have some kind of bluetooth capability installed.

So my query is if bluetooth is NOT standard on this (modern) laptop, can I install it so it has that capability ?

[fazer71]

Yes Kid

You just need to buy a bluetooth dongle.

The dongle is plug and play...

If it's modern ie less that 2 years old then it will 99.99999 % most likely have bluetooth built in.... unless it's a basic special ... first thing I would do is make sure it has all the drivers installed from the manufacturers web site before you go spending on a dongle...

Chances are the previous owner didn't know what they were doing and it just needs the correct drivers.

If not then you know you can get the dongle.

Bluetooth is only any good for backing up old phones may as well get a modern phone with a mini usb connection if you want to do that available on ebay for 99p cheaper than a Btooth dongle.

Technology hey great fun if you havn't got a clue....