somethings wrong with my laptop

free68

Reputable
Nov 12, 2015
9
0
4,510
hi, my laptop is a Compaq Presario. its 6 years old. has windows vista home premium on it. on the web somewhere a part of a guy's answer was



"However, normally there are two major causes of a slow computer. (1) Having a virus or malware on your computer; (2) Too many programs running at startup.".i been trying to run a virus scan in regular mode and in safe mode but cant b/c the pc shuts off at random times (any minute after i turn it on). i learned theres a harmful virus but couldnt clean it bc ithe pc shuts off. the phone support tech says my cord is on recall, then transfered me somewhere, and that guy said it isnt. and also that my pc seems to have no issues (after 6 mins of chat). my pc is 6 years old and got slowwwww on everything after 2 or 3 years. the pc shuts itself off at random times. I think I have a harmful virus. i did a virus scan with avg one day and i seen it listed a harmful virus. but i couldnt fix it because the laptop was wayy too slow and then it shut itself off. the laptop turned off. now what do i do?
 
Solution
You need to fix any hardware issues first. Dying HDD, faulty ram, failing power source etc. There are many thing it can be.
Once the system is stable, then you can work at the software side of it.

Honestly, you would probably be better off scraping it and moving on. Salvaging a 6 year old system is usually not worthwhile.
Download and run "Malwarebytes" (free) - then check the programs in the Startup folder. Disable (not delete) the ones that you are not going to use right away. Then download and run "CCLEANER".

Restarrt - Your laptop will run faster than before.
 

free68

Reputable
Nov 12, 2015
9
0
4,510
I know about:

(1) the startup progs issue
(2) scanning with avg FREE, ccleaner, Malwarebytes, spybot, and whatever else.

(3) registry cleaner (free version for me)

(4) disk cleanup, defrag, and whatever else.

(5) starting in safe mode and doing the scans.


......I tried booting into safe mode with networking and letting the pc sit for a while. it turned off after maybe 20 minutes.


when the laptop would be in use every day it would just be used about less than half a day just for about 6 days for about 3 months only. the laptop worked great for about 3 or 4 years. I don't really know how long. it coulda been 2 for all I know.


I called the number for hp or Compaq on their site where it says "for out-of-warranty" support". they messed with em sending me to tech after tech. 1 person said the power cord was bad. the 2nd sayd that aint it and that its not. the 3rd sayd "we don't see any current issues here. and for further assistance you need to pay". then I hung up and went to forums and asked.



about the answers so far. I don't think its the hard drive because it hasn't been used for too long at a time per each year. but I guess the hdd could be dying currently.


and the subject about having boith issues "virus" and "hardware". how do I fix the virus issue? I think I need to call the pc pros instead of do it myself. but your help is still welcome. ill try it.

and the laptop wont stay powered on long enough for me to do any scans of any kind. also I cant remove startup stuff and all the rest that was mentioned.
 
You need to fix any hardware issues first. Dying HDD, faulty ram, failing power source etc. There are many thing it can be.
Once the system is stable, then you can work at the software side of it.

Honestly, you would probably be better off scraping it and moving on. Salvaging a 6 year old system is usually not worthwhile.
 
Solution