wilkes

Hey guys!! Thanks so much to all who responded with the great info. It has been a busy time here on the farm, and I failed to come back on and express my appreciation for the help!! Forever grateful!!!

run cmd as admin
SFC/scannow

install flash

All of this referring to Adobe Flash, and your other newer laptops running very slowly = one thing. Virus. Adobe Flash is the #2 vector right now. Adobe PDF is the #3. Even if you have current antivirus installed, they cannot catch everything. Wipe em, reinstall the OS from scratch using the keys given with the laptops (don't bother to do the factory reset disks, it will just load them down with more bloatware), and enjoy your freshly fixed, fast running machines.

If you need copies of the install CD's, PM me and I can tell you where to get clean copies from. You'll need your own, legit install keys tho (probably on the bottom of the laptops)

There is one very important "rule of thumb" I would like to recommend for all computer owners, create a system image and regular backups.

When you buy a new computer, it sometimes comes with a repair disc and a Windows re-install disc that only has the base of the operating system available. Once installed, you must install and update all drivers for the Hardware components in the pc.

This process can take hours and be very complicated if the BIOS or CHIPSET need to be updated.

So, when buying a new computer, start it up, register the computer and enter your product key if needed. Once the computer is at the home screen, proceed to install your anti-virus, office suite, and all essential programs for daily use.

Now, to protect your computer from requiring repair in the future (unless hardware damage occurs) navigate to your control panel and select your backup options. Find "create system image" and begin.

This process takes at least 40 minutes to 2 hours depending on how much content is on your hard drive. Also, you will need a few DVD discs or an external hard drive to store the image. During the creation of the image, there will be some simple prompts to help you through the process. IMPORTANT: Remember to label each disc in order of creation and use something simple like, "Win7 sys img 4/30/2012: Disc ONE”, so you can easily locate the correct disk when using them to recover the computer later.

Once the last system image disk is created, you will be given the opportunity to create a Repair Disk, create this using a CD disc. This disc is used to start the repair using the system image you just created.

Awesome, now using your computer correctly, and securely, you will be able to avoid being without your computer while it is away being repaired.

TIPS:

Run a Defragmentation Utility monthly (run overnight and you will never be bothered by the time it takes to run). Reason: While using your computer, information is moved, copied, compressed, and scattered all over the Hard Drive. The information is harder to pull up and review when it is not in one place, so it takes your computer longer to access the information. When you run a Defragmentation Utility, you move everything together and make it more easily accessible, this in turn speeds up the computer.

Clean Internet Browsing History and Cookies weekly. When browsing the internet, your browser tracks and records everything. Also, sites like Google save a template of their homepage to your computer so their site loads faster. The speed of your computer is then sacrificed for the speed of loading a webpage. Deleting this clutter can speed your computer up too.

Chris87 has a great point: Download and run CCleaner (Free to download a limited version) that will almost automate deleting browsing history and temporary files, amongst other things with just one button. You will not have to pay for this program.

Run Windows Update manually once a week to ensure that you are receiving security updates and driver updates to keep your computer running smoothly.

Updating your anti-virus program is vital to your computer's health. Hundreds, if not Thousands of viruses are created for Windows daily. Keeping your virus definitions updated will protect you from potentially devastating virus infections.

Last, but not least, CREATE BACKUPS of your files (pictures, music, documents, etc...). When your computer crashes, your personal files may not be recoverable. Online storage may be useful: Photobucket, Picasa, and Flickr all provide online storage for your pictures. YouTube can store your videos if you do not like PhotoBucket. Documents can be saved to Dropbox, Google DOCS, etc...

NOTE: When storing online, you may be giving that site permissions to your content. Select Private when uploading to keep them away from prying eyes.

Also, an external hard drive is great for backing up all your content to one place and you can carry it around with you to share pictures with family. They are getting more affordable daily.



Thanks,

Devin Martinez

ComputerTek Repair Services

336.566.8557

Try using a different Browser such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, and see if that will fix your issue. I know that Internet Explorer can have issues with Macromedia Flash Player working correctly. As far as the laptops go, how old are they? How much ram and CPU power does each one have? You may need to do some registry cleaning and also history removal on the laptop(s). CCleaner and Revo Uninstaller Pro are two of my favorite programs to use for speeding up computers. Also it wouldn't hurt to run some anti-virus programs on both laptops to make sure that there isn't any viruses lurking around. Malware Bytes is a free virus and spyware removal program that you can use to check the laptops with. Also you can use Avast Anti-Virus to check them as well.

Hope this helps,
Chris

Hi. If I need to view a video, when I click on the link, it tells me to download adobe flash player. ANY video, whether it be a news link, etc, requires the flash player in order for it to work.

I have tried multiple times to download the flash player, and my laptop will not allow the download. Can someone tell me what the problem is. Could it be something related to Internet Explorer?

On a second note, I have other laptops that are so SLOW they are not worth getting on. Family members want to use them and wind up grabbing mine cause the others are so slow they don't fuction properly. What can I do to get the speed back up to par with these other laptops. They are not old laptops, nor do they have gaming or music stuff slowing them down. Any help is appreciated.