My Book Back up

[Timothyscottsmith]

Hey Everyone,

I just backed up my mother-in-laws laptop on a WD My book essentials, 500GB hard drive. I would rather just delete all the info on her computer so it stops lagging. What should i do?

Thanks,

-Tim

 

[Lexluethar]

How do you know reformatting the computer will fix the issue.

Do the proper troubleshooting before you delete her hard drive, find out what the issue is first. If it is the OS then do a reformat, but ensure this isn't a virus / malware or ISP issue (since i don't know what you mean by lagging).

Determine the issue and do the proper troubleshooting before proceeding with the preceived resolution.

 

[Timothyscottsmith]

Thanks for the post,

Her Cpu is running quite high and i thought the computer would run smoother if she accessed her documents via external hard drive. Should i delete them from her Laptop to create more space?

 

[Lexluethar]

No, if the CPU usage is high find out the process that is causing that spike. It probably is either an unneeded software program or a virus / malware.

Copying her files from her computer over to an external drive will not make it run any faster. What makes you believe that moving these files will speed up the computer? Is her hard drive full?

The computer is slow because something is bogging down the operating system, not because of her files.

 

[Timothyscottsmith]

I don't know why i thought that. Okay, thank you. She has a lot of junk applications/downloads, ill remove some hardware. how do i check for malware?

 

[Lexluethar]

First thing would be to go to add / remove programs and remove any bloatware that came with the PC, things like HP solution center or AOL. Software programs that aren't used - ask her what she does and doesn't use.

Second would be to do a virus scan, hopefully she has an up-to-date virus scanner. If not Microsoft Security Essentials is a good one, Avast! as well as AVG are all free and good. Do a full system scann.

Third do a malware scan, I would use malwarebytes, Download the free version from Malwarebytes.org and install it. Update and scan.

Fourth, reboot.

Fifth, if this is Xp run a disk cleanup then a disk defrag. If it is Vista or windows 7 just do the disk cleanup.

Six, reboot.

Now if the issue persist after that we need more information like the operating system, the laptop type, etc. Need to know more about the hardware before we could continue.

 

[Timothyscottsmith]

Excellent! Thanks a million. Ill get on that right away. Thank you!