Laptop troubleshooting forum: How do I bring new life to my older Windows laptop?

The "Key Word" in the title is Windows!!!

You try to slip under the wire being cutesy but you are still a "SHILL". You still try to portend the LPS app. It still doesn't fly. I would suggest that you read the "Whole Link" in it's entirety. When using LPS one CAN NOT do anything while in LPS that requires "ANYTHING" Microsoft. Key Operative Word "MICROSOFT!!"

Yes, one could request it with "Open Office", but that would entail learning something new and different. Without opening another can of worms, not having used Open Office, I can't say how it compares to Microsoft Office but I'm sure "you" will tell me it is thousands time better and I should just go out a try it!

Yes it can be requested to have it equipped with FireFox as it CAN'T use , again, ANYTHING Microsoft/ Windows be it IE, Word, Word Pad, Excel, just to name a few. Not to mention it's still a secure card reader app with a few goodies attached! It's at best a very thinly based on (almost) a Linux Distro.

Personally I don't give a hoot about anything Linux, be it the almost Linux Apple to whichever of the 25 or so flavors of Linux. If "you" like it fine. BUT don't go to blogs that have NOTHING to do with "Anything Linux" and hype the Linux is better, switch right now routine. While we're at it, if Linux is so "God Awful Good" than why is there some many different flavors?????? If I'm not mistaken there's at least 6 or 7??? Why????? Can't the "Linux will save the world/ PC/ Computer world crowd" agree on one flavor????? If not???????????Why Not?????????

I don't hate the Jehovah Witness religion per se, they're entitled to believe whatever they like, "what I DO HATE" is the once every couple of weeks banging on my door by them!!!! Them trying to convert me to their religion, like you and your compadres saying that Linux is the "One True Salvation and the cure for "ALL" computer problems that plague the computer world!"

Quoting again from the link I gave you:"How do I load CAC middleware on my Linux system?This really isn't a question for us, since we're not in the business of providing general support for Linux systems. LPS is based on Linux, but it runs from its own boot CD. Key Word "based" on. It's not a thin Linux Distro, it is a based on Linux not a Linux Distro per se!! Also it is NOT 100% compatible with "ALL" computers! So it isn't a go try it scenario. I, or others, may have driver conflicts that prevents it from working.

Oh and your post right below this one bears out the "Your A Linux Shill" to the Nth degree! You being "cutesy and nice" is negated by your try it you'll like it ,"WHILE IN A MICROSOFT WINDOWS" blog!! Also I went back and reread her question/ concern and nowhere did she pose the question: Should I switch to Linux or should I dump Windows?? NOPE!!!! Neither question was asked!!!!!

Now a gentleman never tries to guess a woman's age but she did say she's retired. She also said she is more knowledgeable than her contemporaries but less knowledgeable than younger people when it comes to computers and on a fixed income. All she wanted was some suggestions to help speed up her, wait for it, "HER WINDOWS MACHINE!!!!!"

Maybe(?) I went over the top, questionable but one fact remains! That being you're still hyping Linux where it doesn't belong! "IF", note the key word "IF" she had solicited info as to should she or how do I switch to Linux than by all means post away! But she didn't!!!

Geesh, some Linux people try to come off as "Mensa type" people but refuse to acknowledge "Shilling"! I'm glad I'm dumb but polite rather than intelligent and arrogant!!!! You tell me I'm wrong which infers you're right.
Sorry, wrong!

P.S. I don't go to Linux blogs and tell them they must, should, need to switch to the new Windows 8 anytime they have a problem with whichever flavor of Linux they've got installed, either!!
That would make "me" a shill/ troll!

... Consult a dictionary ... look up the word "portend" ...

Now, you do have a point that the OP stated "Windows laptop" but neither the title or the post state she has to stay on Windoze. Lest you jump to conclusions, I am not one of those who are pushing Linux. I *would* suggest trying a live Linux distro for a while to see if a) it can meet all her needs b) work with her hardware and c) be a comfortable environment for her, however, I am not a rabid convert and am not using *nix of any flavor at this time. It simply doesn't meet my needs. Some of the apps I need to use don't work on *nix. Now if this were a bit over a decade ago, I'd have said punt Windoze and go with OS/2. But alas, IBM's marketing department royally screwed the pooch and what was IMNSHO the best pc OS's of the day has long since fallen by the wayside.

**We interrupt this message for an UNRELATED ASIDE AND HISTORY LESSON:*** message continues below. For those who don't know of it, OS/2 was scads faster, far more secure, and more stable than anything M$ had put out to date. To back up my claim, please be aware that up through the early 2000's, the vast majority of ATMs and banks, and other various financial institutions ran on OS/2. While ruling this market, they had no visibility in the consumer end-User market and the non-financial business world. XP was the first M$ OS to compare, and that came out some 3+ years after the effective death of OS/2. Technologically superior, Microsoft's (subsequently ruled) illegal sales requirements for third party vendors prevented even IBM from selling IBM systems pre-installed with OS/2. M$ kept this under wraps for many years categorized as a "trade secret" until Hitachi, I believe it was, got out of PC sales and blew the whistle during the legal battles ensuing BeOS's attempt to enter the market and be installed as a dual boot alongside of M$. IBM PC division couldn't even provide pre-loaded OS/2 machines to IBM! They had to ship with M$ license (paid for of course) and then tossed in the trash and install OS/2 by the internal business unit responsible for hardware deployment. For any PC builder, the alternative to purchasing and installing a M$ OS on EVERY PC built was to pay retail for every M$ license they used. This would add a premium of over $100 to every system the vendor sold with an M$ OS, effectively eliminating them from the highly competitive PC and non-*nix server market (not counting big iron, of course). For the end user getting a machine with M$ pre-installed, why purchase some other OS? This first one was "free", right?

**** end of history lesson***

So, back to point, while the OP states that her machine has Windoze on it, it certainly is a viable suggestion to try a [live] linux distro as she will almost certainly see a dramatic increase in performance.

I stand corrected with regard to your use of "portent".

Nutshell version of the body of the post below:
You are wrong in your assumptions regarding me.
Calling me a liar - given my direct statement regarding Linux - is rude and offensive.
You are factually wrong in most of what you said WRT OS/2 other than the 1.x version, prior to the '92 release of OS/2 2.0. I apologize that I failed to state that my experience and focus is limited to the 32 bit versions starting with version 2.1 and later (I never used 2.0).
You are wrong about my perspective on Microsoft, again making erroneous and offensive statements based upon false conclusions and lacking actual facts or evidence.

Read the rest if you are interested in the details or actual knowledge. To others who might be curious, for your edificaiton:

You assume falsely that I am a card carrying Linux nut. If it were possible, I'd invite you to my home and challenge you to find *nix installed on any of my several machines here. If you searched long and hard enough, I am sure you would find a couple of CD's/DVD's gathering dust (and probably unusably damaged). This excludes the various items I have occasion to use as stand-alone, bootable, (primarily) AV products and utilities.

Yes, OS/2 started as a joint venture with M$ and IBM. There were significant differences of opinions between the two companies regarding the future, legacy hardware, and how to go about dealing with the underlying hardware architecture and abstraction which led to the split between MS and IBM.

Your comments regarding OS/2 are, by and large, applicable only to the pre-32 bit era.. In the 32 bit arena, OS/2 was first and best. With OS/2 2.0, it ran what we call today a virtual machine of DOS 5.0/Windows 3.0/3.1 for compatibility with MS apps. The version of DOS was quite literally licensed MS DOS 5.0. This was NOT what the system booted from, however. It was used only to run true DOS apps which could not run in OS/2's DOS box, under a native DOS environment in a virtual machine on top of OS/2.This version of DOS could be replaced with PC DOS, DR-DOS, and MS DOS 6.x. One of the very nice features of this was that when the errant DOS or Windows 3.1 app crashed, OS/2 kept chugging along and you simply opened a new virtual machine window.

While attributing much of OS/2 to being third party code from Microsoft, please try to remember that the basis of the Microsoft code was, in fact, code stolen from CPM. That Microsoft stole CPM's code was proven, definitively, in court, and your statement in this regard is only applicable to the 16-bit version of OS/2. Microsoft was in no way involved with the development of the 32 bit product nor did they contribute to it. To the contrary, their development of the Win32 api and the requirements to use the "Windows compatible" logo in the post Windows 3.1 world were specifically intended to break compatibility with OS/2. The only reason DOS 5.0/Windows 3.0/3.1 included was a result of legal, contractual obligations from which MS could not escape given the ability to oppose such action by IBM. They frequently did so to companies of lesser clout/bank rolls.

You are wrong in your recollection that DOS had to be installed before you could install OS/2, at least with regard to the post-joint effort, ver 1.x era. I never used OS/2 prior to the breakup between IBM and M$. My introduction to OS/2 was OS/2 2.1, on a Compaq 386 with math co and a whopping 12 megs of RAM when Microsoft was still running Windows on DOS, limited to 1, later 4, meg of RAM. This was followed by OS/2 3.0 (when we arrived in Chicago earlier than expected) and then 4.0.

As far as my perspective on Windoze ... my distaste for Microsoft is almost exclusively connected to their long standing criminal marketing behaviors (the criminality of which has been clearly and definitively proven in a number of court rooms around the world, along with multiple levels of state and federal courts in the US) and their repeated and well-established practice of stealing code from others (also thoroughly proven in courts of law in this country and others - see the history of Drivespace/Doublespace, for example) all the while crying and wailing about people stealing their code. To be clear: I have earned my income as a programmer and believe a programmer and the company paying for the programmer's work has every right to charge a fair and reasonable price for their product and to protect said product from theft, even as does an author/publisher, artist, or any other profession in the world. I do, however, find it to be reprehensible for a company to steal the work of others and then complain when others do the same to them, even more so when said company is a well-established and proven (legally) monopoly engaged in anti-competitive practices which are arguably detrimental to the computing industry, the business world, and myself personally.

As far as the work done under Microsoft's development efforts and those doing such work, I applaud their efforts and know them to be fantastic and performed by a plethora of brilliant minds beyond the scope of anything I could hope to attain. Their development processes, QA processes, and related efforts are monumental, phenomenal, and to be greatly respected. It is the head of the beast which is a loathsome, despicable monster to be avoided like the plague and deserving of extreme disregard and contempt.

Clearly, YMMV.

you aren't up on enough of your history.

Back to the topic of the OP ... if you take a look, my history of posts in this thread addresses, for the most part (other than our little aside here) address the issue of dealing with Windows and no hint of *nix advocacy. In my opinion, I believe I contributed a couple of valuable gems to the thread in the are of rejuvenating Windoze on a 4 year old laptop into something which should still server the needs of someone doing writing for a living, others may disagree.

If you want to pursue our diversion further, please, read on.

On the surface, your comments sound correct, but they lack a true understanding of the context. For example, you snippet of Microsoft paying $50K for CP/M (apologies for the missing slash previously, sleep and I have been strangers much of the past few days) ... yes, they did pay for CP/M at one point, but only after first inking a deal with IBM to sell a product to which they had absolutely no rights and was completely and utterly the property of someone else.. Some might call that brilliant marketing, but usually that is called theft and fraud and violates the "good faith" premise which used to be inherent to every legal contract in this country. According to Microsoft's tactics and your apparent agreement with them, I could go out, hawk your house on the market, complete a contracted sale and accept payment for said property and then go to you to arrange to purchase it using the funds I got from first selling it. Now, you just TRY to slip that one past your local courts, bank and county clerk. I dare you. But according to the Microsoft way of doing things, that is just smart business.

It has been many years, and the impact of health and age on my memory has not been kind, but in the incident to which I was specifically referring (albeit very poorly) the plaintiff suing Microsoft for copyright violation/piracy, used a machine provided by M$ to the court with the contested OS product pre- installed and with a few commands in full view of the court got the machine to display the company logo of the plaintiff which was embedded in the code and which Microsoft hadn't even bothered to remove from the product being sold as Microsoft's creation, clearly showing their authorship of what Microsoft was selling as their own. Microsoft lost that one.

By the way, did you look up the legal battle over Microsoft's Doublespace product, their resulting release of Drivespace, and the legal battle with Stac? That is a factual event and well documented in the "real" published news agencies and publications. I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it on findlaw.com. Here is a brief glimpse from - dare I suggest it - an actual print publication of the day - when journalism was far more responsible and accountable than today. (I subscribed to both Infoworld and ComputerWorld along with several others back in the day) http://books.google.com/books?id=x_1p1FQCWXkC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=stac+sues+microsoft&source=bl&ots=HapmWpovvN&sig=FDHHuWd9lLOxr2GHcCpERt8XCeY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oBY0UJyOD4Oy9gSY0oCQDQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=stac%20sues%20microsoft&f=false

Interesting eh? Microsoft stole Stac Electronics code in Stacker to create Doublespace, a "free" drive compression utility Microsoft added to Dos 6.x. Stac, of course, depended upon sales of Stacker for their survival. Microsoft has a long standing practice of doing such things: deliberately giving away product in order to drive competition into ruin, and then turning around and charging a fortune for the product that now has no competitors. Look back at history at how much Microsoft Office sold for back in the day of Lotus 1-2-3, Word Perfect, etc. Microsoft just about gave Office away in order to capture market, then, once the competition was no longer viable and they had trained the current generation of users to the Microsoft way despite the very real superiority of the previous competitors, they increased the price nearly ten fold. Up through the early 2000's, Microsoft products and units were profitable in but two business areas: their OS division and their Office division, where they held monopoly (the OS proven as such in court,) and the Office product by dint of having driven the competition into bankruptcy using the earnings from the first monopoly). Every other unit operated at a LOSS as Microsoft used the ill-gotten position of their OS and Office suite to finance their attempts to take over other industries/market areas. Check the history and see just how long MSN ran at a loss and how much money they lost before they ever even came close to breaking even. Such an endeavor would have been discarded by just about any other business entity in the world as an unacceptable loss, one which cost so much to the company, most entities would have failed altogether.

Back to OS/2, your comments lack the contextual focus of the period I specifically address: the post collaboration era - the 32 bit era of OS/2 2.1 and beyond. You are reading a Wiki without understanding it. I LIVED and worked with both products at the time and was extremely aware of what was going on, following many of the legal battles as close as possible short of actually having access to and using a law library. Thus a certain passion on the subject.

Wiki summaries, wiki articles are NOT the full history, far from it. They are but brief vignettes, often with errors. I gather from your cites and strict adherence to their extremely limited presentation of history, that you are one of those who holds that if its on the internet, it must be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth ... Perhaps you should consider that for the issues of which I am speaking, the internet, as we think of it today, didn't exist and isn't your best resource. Rather than assuming that the brief summaries you find in a Wiki encapsulating years of events, perhaps you should actually consult some of the news/technical publications from the period. Personally, I was reading the consumer and technical journals being published at the time covering these events as they happened. (PC Magzaine, the Dobbs Journal, PC World, OS/2 Magazine and a number of others.) From all you have presented here, it is likely I was doing so before you were engaging in critical thought.

Dear Glenn51,

Jehovas Witnesses?
When they come to our door we tell them
"Thank You, we are committed in our beliefs"
They depart happily,and with blessings. Try it, it works!

Likewise we of the Linux persuasion seek to spread our word!
Hallelujah!

Now if you tell us you are committed to the Gatesian (or Jobsian) belief, Excellent!
In a world free of persecution, (but sadly not free of bigotry).
We will go on spreading the word of St Linus, cheerfully!

We do not have to give offerings to the priesthood, (unless we choose).
They giveth of their bounty freely, (and for free).

If you are committed then fine, rejoice in your faith.
Please don't deny others theirs.

Bless You
gvnmcknz

Being something of a biblical scholar, I used their visits to sit down with them and translate some passages from the original Greek, demonstrating where their version is deliberately mis-translated to forward the theological agenda of the church and provided the correct translations of the appropriate passages - by way of a non-denomination Interlinear Greek New Testament (I have 3 different ones using the major Greek New Testament versions) - leaving them no wiggle room about the translation. I then posed questions about why they thought such changes were made to the original and what the implications were to their beliefs if the accurate translation - transliteration was used instead of theirs. I think it has been at least 7 or 8 years since any have been by - the "learners" of the last couple of pairs left with some rather disturbed looks and more than a few questions for their leaders. I don't expect any more ... too bad, I enjoyed the conversations - keeps the skills sharp.

http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/windows_repair_all_in_one.html

Also use Ninite to install any of the programs on that page, it wont install any toolbars and crap with the programs either.
http://ninite.com/

Julianna
First don't believe all the hype about programs speeding up your PC etc. The problem is as u go to newer versions of windows they require more and more resources so your PC runs slower. Also in Windows as you add application programs windows runs slower. U probably won't like this answer but the only way to really speed up an older computer is by changing from windows to some Linux program. Probably the easiest one to learn is Ubuntu. It is a myth that Linux, at least the Ubuntu version, is more difficult than windows. In fact there are many things in Ubuntu that are easier once u learn it. If u started from scratch with no knowledge and had to learn windows and Ubuntu, u would learn Ubuntu first. Also all software for Ubuntu is free and installs far easier than windows programs. I have taken every old PC I have, which is 4 (one is from 1998), and installed Ubuntu on them. The real benefits are the system runs faster, has fewer problems (in 4 years of running Ubuntu I have only encountered about 4 problems and only two of them crashed the system), the system can always be updated to the newest capabilities for free and the newer updates do not cause the system to slow down or operate differently. U also will definitely have fewer problems with malware, viruses etc. I would recommend that u or someone that knows something about computers, go to the Ubuntu website and download the latest version in what is called an iso file. Then burn the iso file to a CD or DVD. Then u can boot your current PC up with that CD and try Ubuntu without having any affect on your PC. Just follow the directions as it boots.
Bob

One item missing in much of the "wipe & reinstall" recommendations has to do with drivers. I assume that a machine of that age is Windows Vista. I suggest that one downloads all drivers necessary and store them on a USB device before wiping.

I haven't heard of Superantispyware nor Loaris Trojan remover, but I haven't paid a lot of attention to the outlyers in a while. I will say that any time I hear something named "Super X" or "Ultimate X" or any other superlative type name, I check my wallet and run like the dickens.

First, If you aren't a techie, rely upon the reviews from places like ZDNet (PC Magazine, etc.), PC World, CNet, and other such well established reviewers of such tools. Their methodologies are solid and subjected to a great deal of critique, and they aren't likely to be far off.

Second, no anti-virus is perfect, nothing catches everything. Your best bet is to have one program which runs all the time, and a second which you use as an on-demand scanner. One of the commonly used tools by the techie folks is a product called Malwarebytes. You can get this as a free version from malwarebytes.org. This is a great tool to use as a secondary on-demand scanner. They market a Pro version which is a fine primary tool.

Another adjunct utility which you can run live alongside of your normal anti-virus is PC Tools ThreatFire.

As to improving the overall performance of your machine ...
Sony is infamous for installing bloatware on their computers which not only dramatically reduce performance but also for capturing and tracking user activities. Any Sony provided software you don't use and absolutely don't need should be removed. You should do the same for any other software in general.

Next, go to the website of www.BlackViper.com and scroll down the Popular Content section to find the operating system you have on the machine and open the appropriate configurations link. You will be provided with a list of services which are usually on your machine, their default state, and some recommendations. The task here is to modify your system to turn off any Windows services you don't need. These services consume resources and reduce battery life. In case you are wondering or curious, BlackViper and his recommendations have been around for many, many years and his information is quite well regarded in tech circles. This will take a little work on your part, but you will find the results to be worthwhile.

Also, I am reasonably certain that some have pointed you to the msconfig utility to turn off any Start-Up options which you don't need. If no one has, click Start -> Run and type msconfig.exe On the window which appears, click the startup tab at the top and go down the list and remove the check marks from any programs which you don't truly need to start with the computer.

The occasional use of other tools, like CCleaner, Comodo System Utility, or WinUtilities (all free downloads) can do a nice job of cleaning up garbage around your system and even improving performance by cleaning up the windows registry.

As a final note of caution: be wary of any program which promises the world and never accept anything from a pop-up on your machine. If you want to install something, always act on your own and go to the source to ge *** instead of accepting pop-up prompts.

So, this so-called computer geek installed an application on your computer that will not remove anything unless you pay $39.99 to unlock it? How generous of him...

http://download.cnet.com/Loaris-Trojan-Remover/3000-8022_4-10909597.html (read the reviews)


SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition and Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware (free version) would have been enough. If between those and your antivirus, they were not able to clean up whatever nasties were on your computer (in addition to a good clean up with CCleaner and defrag with Auslogics Disc Defrag) thus improving its overall performance, then you're in for more drastic measures. Changing to Linux is not an answer for most Windows users, you'll need to unlearn Windows to learn Linux. Linux is not typically a Window user-friendly operating system (unless you're a computer geek).

Depending on the type of reinstallation/recovery method provided by Sony, you're best bet to get your computer running like new (if all else fails) is to wipe the existing operating system installation, reinstall the OS from your reinstallation media, or initiate a full/destructive system recovery. If you install the OS from scratch, be prepared to install your device drivers, updates, and reinstall your favorite applications. If it's a destructive recovery, be prepared to uninstall the trialware, adware, and in some cases even malware that shipped with your computer when it was new, then uninstall the old applications (like Adobe Reader, Java, etc.) and install updated versions of them, plus the most current versions of your favorite applications.

Your computer can run like new (if not better) if you're willing to spend a little time and effort with it. Here's a website to help with operating system install guides, Service configurations, etc.:

http://www.blackviper.com/os-install-guides/

http://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/


It may seem like a daunting task, but if all else fails, this will bring your PC back to like new (or better) status. -kd5-

Julianne does not have a tower. She has a laptop.

Most laptops, even those 4 years old, come not with an original disk but rather a recovery partition to restore the machine to factory state. Although the Windows license key should be on a sticker on the bottom of the machine, using such a tool usually does not require the use of said key as it is a volume license install.

A store-bought disk will not let her use the license key from her machine as that is a retail disk. As store-bought Windows generally runs over $100, this would be a foolish thing to do. Better to apply that money to a new laptop.

The reality is that for most people, today's CPU's and those from 4 years ago run way below capacity the vast majority of time. CPU power is rarely the limiting factor. Memory capacity, data transfer rates of the mother board, RAM, HDD, optical drive, and third party software are far and away the primary culprits behind slow systems. Other significant culprits are things like disk fragmentation, windows registry fragmentation/corruption/clutter.

That's a technical terms for erasing your hard drive and installing everything from scratch. This assumes you have media for your operating system and all applications you need. You can try to determine the cause of the slowdown first, but I wouldn't spend any more time than you already have. Of course you need to save all your personal files first, preferably on an external drive or network drive (or "the cloud"). Next best option is a recovery disk or recovery partition which will restore your machine to the state in which you originally received it. Either way, be sure to run updates to apply the latest patches to your OS and applications. Laptops typically come with all sorts of "bloatware" installed, so a clean install of the OS is the preferred option.

With luck, you will be able to locate media for your OS (I kind of doubt Sony provided one, though) and software, and all the product keys you need. Try to make the reinstallation as "lean and mean" as you can. Try to install only those components of your OS and applications that you actually need--you can always install other components later if you find you need them. When things want to install services that load automatically when your computer boots, try to avoid installing them, unless you need them.

Another option that surprisingly many are suggesting is that you move to Linux--the easiest version to use probably being Ubuntu. You may find that Libre Office, which should be able to read any documents produced by Microsoft Office, will be all you need. But that option isn't for everyone. For someone on a tight budget it has the appeal of being absolutely free.

Once you have the computer rebuilt and tweaked to run as efficiently as possible, you should make an "image" of the hard drive using an application like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. Then, next time you need to "nuke", it will only take a few minutes of your time, plus probably at most two hours of copying time, to get back to the lean and mean nirvana you were at before. An external USB hard drive is a handy place to save both your image files and your personal files.

When I first take delivery of a laptop I immediately take an image of the hard drive. Then I set it up the way I like, preferably reinstalling Windows (Dell typically includes media for the OS for a few extra bucks), install all the software I want to use, uninstall any software I don't want to use, and when I'm happy with it, I take another image. Then I can always go back to either the factory fresh version, or the version I thought at the time was optimal for me.

reinstall windows is the best way to bring it back to life.

Don't pay for software that purports to 'clean' or 'optimize' your computer, as most of the times they (a) are 'snake oil' and don't fix problems very well (b) perform basic cleans, (c) have a chance to mess your computer up by deleting an important file or setting, or (d) actually work. If you absolutely feel you need cleaning software, try something like CCleaner first -- then at this point if it works you might want to consider a *reputable* clean up software, like Tune Up Utilities. Don't get scammed!

Anyways, some computers can get infected with a particularly nasty form of malware called a 'Rootkit' which is able to hide itself from most virus scanners by hijacking critical operating system services that would be used to look for it or by hiding inside of other files. Now, i'm not saying you have a rootkit -- your computer might have simply slowed down to a bug in one of your drivers or system services or any multitude of reasons.

As a computer tech, I can tell you that trying to find the cause isnt always worth the effort expended -- an operating system like windows is a very complex beast underneath. However I will say that the 'best' way to eliminate your problem is to do a clean install. Most computers and laptops that come from big OEMS (e.g.: Dell, HP, etc) offer a way to do what's called a 'Factory Restore', which is something you might consider doing AFTER you have backed up your important files (e.g.: Photos, Music) to an external media like a DVD or a flash drive, because a factory restore will clear off all of your personal files and reset your computer to a state much like how it was when you purchased it.

Now, a factory restore won't work all the time. I've factory restored a Windows Vista machine before, only to have it perform sluggishly again after a standard suite of programs was installed, and even after speed optimizations (e.g. removing newly installed programs from start up).

In this case, a new version of Windows *might* fix it -- however you might also consider a form of Linux, such as Ubuntu / Linux Mint / Pinguy OS, etc. Most linuxes offer what's called a 'Live CD' mode in which the operating system will boot off of the CD, allowing you to take it for a 'test drive' before you make any modifications to your computer. Keep in mind that if you are trying a linux in Live CD mode then it will run VERY SLOWLY due to the limited speed of CD/DVD drives -- but just find out if you like the look and feel, and if it does what you need it to do before committing to an install.