My 1520 is always 'thinking'

You know that noise your computer makes when it's 'thinking' - you get that clicking noise and a light flashes? Well, mine seems to do that excessively even when I'm not doing anything (actually, at the moment it's pretty quiet). Anyway, I don't like having programs running in the background that I don't need, especially bloatware. Using msconfig, does anyone know what programs I can disable on startup that won't affect things I actually need ie, video card, sound card, anti virus, etc? Also, is there a Vista equivalent to XP's add/remove programs function?

Thanks for your help!

 

How much memory do you have? Most likely your hard disk is cacheing due to lack of system memory. 1gb is baseline for vista... 2gb will make you happier. Upgrading yourself is easy and pretty cheap (~$80 at newegg).

Inspirons come with a ton of bloatware... you should do a reinstall of Vista. It's pretty straight forward; there should be a few recent threads about it. Also pester Dell about sending you Vista disks... they'll do so if you ask.

 

Thanks for your reply. I've already got 2gb RAM so I'll look into doing a clean reinstall... luckily it looks as though they've sent me all the CDs I need.

 

Hi Skaff

It's probably Vista's search facility indexing your files. I know it's a little annoying at first, but it's nothing to worry about (plus Microsoft designed it to run as a low priority service, which basically means it can operate in the background without affecting the performance of everything else).

Your best bet is to search the internet for a detailed tweak guide. Like you say, some processes are vital whilst others are not so important, so you need to be careful. If there is something specific that you are unsure about, just search the name and you will quickly find information about what it does and whether it's safe to disable. However, with 2GB of RAM you shouldn't need to worry too much about background processes.

Yes, just go into the Control Panel and search for the 'Programs and Features' option.

Kind regards

 

Thanks Jonty

 

Cool. So you got system disks with your system? I mostly hear about people that haven't received them and have to complain to Dell. I'm encouraged that I may get some OS CDs with mine..

 

I suggest you do a clean install. You probably have a ton of adware or bloatware in there