System Restore, or what?

Dell Inspiron 9300

This is my mother in laws laptop and it takes about 5 minutes to startup and then runs ridiculously slowly too.

I want to speed it up. Ive backed up all her documents, and theres no software that she needs to keep apart from Windows XP.

I was hoping to use the Dell System Restore but I can't access it with Ctrl+F11

this doesnt work, the screen with blue bar that is described in the manual isnt part of the startup. I get one screen offering F2 or F12 to enter setups, but they have no restore settings.

Its about 1 yr old and there are no recovery discs or anything.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks, Alex

 

System restore won't work for you.

That is used for more recent issues that can be rolled back.

Download CCleaner (free) and run it to delete garbage from your PC.

Go to start and type MSCONFIG.

Go to the startup tab and disable everything except for your antivirus software, and the notebook's mouse pad (synapstics maybe)

Also, under services, you can try disabling all other services that are "NOT BY MICROSOFT" or your Antivirus.

If you need Antivirus software, AVG Free Edition, is, well, FREE, and it ROCKS. Better than those that many pay $$$ for.

You can also try running Spybot Search & Destroy (FREE) to remove malware, if any.

That should help a lot!

 

Thanks Orion

I'll try it now.