netbook running slow

[boom314]

so i got this netbook the week before black friday. it was the one on sale at target. lately it has been running super slow and firefox freezes sometimes. its rather annoying when trying to load up a website. does anyone have any tips on what to do to help speed it backup?

 

[Sephire]

What are the specs? Model?

 

[VirtualLarry]

My experience with netbooks, is that they are nearly too slow to use, all of the time.

 

[Paladin3]

When the system is bogging down, open up the task manager (ctrl-shift-esc) and see which process is bogging down the cpu.

I have an older laptop that started maxing out the cpu whenever firefox was open. It turned out it was a version of flash that was doing it, but an update fixed it. Try that.

 

[IGemini]

Model in question is an Acer Aspire AOD255-2331. Atom N450, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, XP Home.

 

[Paladin3]

Model in question is an Acer Aspire AOD255-2331. Atom N450, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, XP Home.

I haven't used one myself, but the word is that the Atom processors are fairly weak. You need to make sure that netbook is running mean and lean. No extra software or processes running in the background that you don't need.

Open the task manager (Ctrl-Shift-Esc) and click on the CPU tab to sort the running processes by usage to see which processes are hogging the CPU. Anything you don't need running in the background should be turned off so it doesn't auto start up when windows loads.

 

[boom314]

thanks guys, IGemini is correct except i put in a 2gb ram card from my old laptop. i did notice i have alot of runnin processes, 51 to be exact.. thats alot. idk what half of them are. looks like its time to go killing processes

 

[aestheticpriest]

It's easy to find details on which programs can be killed online.
A suggestion is trying Chrome instead of Firefox. While FF is my browser of choice, Chrome is much lighter.

 

[dpodblood]

Run msconfig and shut down any startup processes and services which aren't required. Also make sure to do regular defrags, and virus/spyware checks. For netbooks I recommend avast, spybot, malwarebytes, and super anti spyware.

 

[Sephire]

What he sad ^

It should "speed" it up.

 

[boom314]

i just cleared out some startup items and got it down to 40 processes. After i get my desktop running again im going to be streamlining this for maximum portability and trying to get it as fast as i can

 

[wirednuts]

netbooks arent fast but they arent too slow to use. i replaced a real laptop with my n330 netbook... the cost and portability simply outweighs the performance of a full notebook. and this netbook still does everything i did on my notebook, so its not like im even missing anything.

i do still get annoyed sometimes by its lack of speed (sometimes i just want to fly through the internet, and you just cant do that with these), but thats really the only difference. battery life is 2x longer too then my old laptop. heat is a non factor. the weight is great.

 

[boom314]

would i get more battery life if i went with a SSD? a friend is selling a 60gb ssd and im thinking about getting it

 

[Murloc]

>buys a netbook
>notice how slow they are
lol

anyway a netbook should already have enough battery life, I wouldn't spend money on a ssd just for a netbook.
It shouldn't be your main computer anyway, just quick notetaking, some browsing when outside of your house and powerpoint presentations.

Remove startup processes you can remove, and deactivate all graphic stuff.
There sure at some guides or lightweight configurations on the internet.