Help with old, slow laptop.

Trying to help a friend with his old, slow Dell Inspiron 6000. Windows XP Home SP3.

So far I have:

- removed some programs included Norton
- configured some services (with the help from black viper)
- downloaded and ran Ccleaner
- downloaded and ran SAS (found 31 tracking coocies)

What I need help for:

Does anyone recognise these following services from Windows task manager,

- ApntEx.exe
- 1XConfig.exe
- DLG.exe
- ati2evxx.exe (listed twice, for System and for User)
- ZCfgSvc.exe
- WLKEEPER.exe
- S24EvMon.exe
- EvtEng.exe
- pptd40nt.exe
- iFrmewrk.exe
- atiptaxx.exe
- apoint.exe (I believe is for mouse/touchpad to work?)

I guess some of these can be stopped/removed?

In the Control Panel I find a lot of program listed. I have removed many already. Can I also remove the following programs listed without any damage? (my friend is not an advanced user)

- Capicom
- Digital Line Detect
- Internal Network Card Power Management
- Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer (what does he miss if I remove)
- Microsoft Office Live Add-in 1.3
- Windows Live Essentials
- Wndows Live Favorites for Windows Live Toolbar
- Windows Live Sync


Anything else I can do to speed up the laptop?

(I guess I install Avira free and/or Sandboxie for him)

 

check event viewer logs for errors (it might offer more clues why a system is slow); I wouldn't stop any of the ones you listed and only possibly remove google toolbar; check what progs are loading on startup

 

Thanks.

Have not find anything else that should slow down, but I will remove Google Toolbar. I also downloaded Autoruns. I have unchecked a lot of things that does not need to start when the laptop start.

I also ran Windows own defrag yesterday. It took a looooong time. I guess he has never done this by himself.

Here is probably the main reason why it is slow:
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1,60GHz
- ATI Mobility Radeon X300
- 512 MB RAM

The laptop is better than before and I guess there is not much more I can do. But he told me he probably buy a new one soon.

 

Adding more RAM will definitely improve performance. I have the same laptop and OS except it has a 1.8GHz PentM with 1.25GB RAM and it's pretty fast considering its rather slow (5400RPM) HDD. My 6000 came with 512MB (2 x 256) and frequently bogged-down so a few months after buying the 6000 I decided to get a 1GB stick from Crucial to replace one of its 256MB modules and that brought about an obvious performance improvement. At the time RAM was way more expensive - now you can buy 2 x 1GB (max for the 6000) for much less than the price I paid for 1 x 1GB!

http://www.crucial.com/upgrade/compatible-memory-for/Dell/Inspiron 6000/list.html

 

Thanks. I will tell him. He can buy more RAM, or buy new laptop. I have a nice suggestion for him. He can buy the same laptop I bought a week ago. Asus UL30 VT.

 

$25 to add 1GB of RAM is a darn cheap alternative to spending $800 for the Asus! ...heck, I would say he should splurge and shell-out $50 for 2 x 1GB.

 

What about checking for, and if substantial, deleting old restore points? It might
have a fairly small HD if it's old.

 

I have an old IBM T41, same spec's except 2gig ram and it's zippy fast on XP.

 

But his Dell is so big and heavy it takes two men to carry it while i put my Asus in my pocket
His battery last for 10 min while mine last for 10 hours

I gave him his laptop a few hours ago. I deleted some more stuff and installed Avira and set it up for him.

New laptop or more RAM. I leave it up to him.

Check old restore points.....good tip! Maybe I look into it next time I see him.

Thank you for your replies