Hopefully you still have the original Windows disk. If so, the four major steps are (1) back up your documents (2) Reinstall Windows (3) Reinstall your programs, including your Antivirus, and (4) Restore your documents.

Except, of course, that hardware problems cause things to artifact or crash, not slow down, which means, of course, that it is in no way a hardware problem and is entirely a software issue.

A badly fragmented disk, or needing huge amounts of virtual memory can, in fact, cause slow-downs.

Both of those are software issues, not hardware ones

Hmm. I've never re-installed a OS b4, lol.. Where do I get the Windows OS? .. Like steps, I'm pretty newbie lol. And thanks in advance again

Your computer should have come with an install DVD. Use that disk to re-install your OS. I'd recommend backing up important documents first!

Please tell me you saved all your CDs/DVDs and booklets from inside the box whenever you bought your laptop? Those are crucial if anything were to happen to your PC (which, apparently it did). You always want to save everything after buying a computer, ffr.

Note every hardware you ever installed on to your computer (Graphic cards, network cards, etc), usually you can find them
online at their manufacturer's website(s).

One option:
Depending on how much hard drive space you have left, navigate to your C:\Windows\i386 folder and find the setup file
"Winnt32.exe" and run that. It will reinstall Windows *type* on your C drive, but it will (?) not delete the previous Windows.
On your C drive, there should be "two" Windows folder. It should have a variation similar to your normal Windows folder.
The variation one is what you want to keep, installed from a clean install. Simply delete the "Windows" folder if possible.

^^^-- Just an opinion, I don't know if it is recommended or not.

Another option is simply obtain a Windows *type* CD/DVD (whereas, *type* is the type of Windows you have) and you should
have a sticker on the back of your computer containing the CD KEY, if it is worn off like mine, then there's an application
on SourceForge which you can get, it's called "Magic Jelly Beans" (don't ask me why). Absolutely free, it tells you certain Microsoft (or any other?) Software
Keys that you may need. Note every key that you may need, then boot up the Windows CD/DVD, Quick/Long Format it's all up to you. Then follow
the on-screen instructions, apply the Windows CD-KEY when it's necessary.

**I don't know about the first option though. I don't know if you can create a separate partition, then run "winnt32.exe" on that partition or
does it even give you an option to create a partition when you run "winnt32.exe" file in the first place, it'll be kinda nice in a way. Then, of
course, you can delete the old partition. **

I never keep my documents, music, application data on my computer. I
keep it on a Flash drive, just in case, something do happen, I can do a clean reinstall without having to worry about files.

Needing to wave a needle around more than usual is rather definitely a hardware issue

QuinnZhao, that second option is well known, but I can't say I've ever heard of that first one before. Can anyone verify it?

I researched on quite a few interesting topics, you should check out this website

http://www.tech-forums.net/computer_articles/restore/restore-disk.php

And the Ghost Boot Disk can be found on here.

http://www.ghostbootdisk.com/

Needle is waving around just as fast as it always has and its reading the data just fine - thus, not a hardware issue

Cloning the data and putting on a fresh drive won't solve the problem, now will it?

Besides, a fragmented drive doesn't hurt performance anywhere near to the degree he is describing. Defragmenting never really does much at all.

That depends what you're doing, and how new your drive is. If your swap file is badly fragmented, or streaming video off an older disk, then you WILL notice the improvements.

A swap file cannot be defragmented by its very nature. It is not read from in a continuous stream, so defragging it will do nothing.

Regardless, still not a hardware issue

If you're trying to read half a gig of swap from a load of tiny chunks.....

Do you understand the concept of a swap file? 'Cause it sounds like you got no friggin clue what a swap file does. Just saying.

I'm plenty familiar with virtual memory. Find a low end machine with an unfragmented swap file, open up Firefox with 30 - 40 tabs, iTunes, and a presentation in OpenOffice. Now rapidly switch between them, with a stop watch.

Now find a low end machine with a badly fragmented swap file, and repeat.

But don't trust me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swap_file#Fragmentation

You won't see any difference because in that case you are jumping around the file already. Defragmenting *only* helps if you read a continuous stream, which you *never do* with a page file.



1) No performance metrics listed at all.
2) That disagrees with you.

Thank you alott everyone - especially quinnzhao and Kerm!! I will re-install windows when my dad gets his new laptop leaving me his old one for me to play with. =D

Excellent, let us know when you get to it and I'm sure we'd be happy to help out with any tips or tricks you need.