Dell Dimension 5015 Or 5105 Speed Up??

[Jennykenny]

Sorry not sure which series number of computer I have but it takes ages to do anything.

Anyone got some simple, and I stress simple instructions, to speed it up??

I can sit there for up to 15 minutes waiting for anything to happen.

Any help greatly appreciated.
Ps I took the side off and 'hoovered' it in case dust was the problem.
It's about seven years old but we use it fairly rarely.

[VHG]

This could be any number of things so there is no "simple and quick" solution.

First, when you say it is slow is it slow to do ANYTHING or just downloading things from the web?

If it is just the web then maybe your broadband is slow. Have you checked if other devices that use the web (tablet or smartphone or other computer) are also slow.

If it is not just the web but everything that is slow then as I said, it really could be anything.

You may have too little RAM memory, the hard disk may be full up, there may be a fault on one or other of the components (hard disk for example).

There may be a bad performing program on that is running all the time and use up all the computer power.

Also there may be a virus or malware (malicious software) on it.

Without sitting in front of it I cant really help you fix it.

Do you know anyone that knows a bit about computers who could have look at it for you?

Often with an old computer like this a complete reinstall of Windows is one sure way to get rid of all the rubbish on it and speed it up. But this is no quick or simple solution for somebody who has never done it before.

[VHG]

Just thought of one extra thing.

Windows downloads updates and fixes on a regular basis and installs them on your computer.

If you don't use the computer very often then sometimes there is a huge backlog of fixes to download and this can take hours on a slow broadband connection.

So I would suggest turning the computer on and leaving it on all night.

If you get asked to reboot the computer then do so (as some fixes may have been downloaded and are ready to install).

But after reboot leave the computer on (again all night) as there may be more fixes to download.

You may find they you have to do a number of reboots as fixes are put on top of other fixes and so on so it could take a while.

But eventually all the fixes will have been downloaded and then hopefully the computer will not run as slow.

[Jennykenny]

Thanks, will go with the suggestion of leaving it on all night and see how that goes.