OT - Advice required on restoring the speed of a computer

[Uncle C]

I know some of you guys are pretty hot on this sort of stuff, so can you help.

My wife and I have 4 computers between us ranging from 18 months old to about 5 years old. The oldest is on XP and the newest on Vista. Compared to when they were new they are now positively funerial in their performance.

I have done the normal things like cleaning cookies, defrag etc and have used some software like Crap Cleaner, but its not helped a lot.

Is there some software that will spring clean our computers, preferably free or cheap, and if I have to buy it, that will allow me to use it on all our four PCs.

And before you offer in-depth advice, they have all been turned off and on again.

 

[Nottseagull]

The top sticky on here Techie Stuff - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums will give you a wealth of advice. I use this forum whenever I have a problem with anything remotely technical.

 

[Uncle C]

The top sticky on here Techie Stuff - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums will give you a wealth of advice. I use this forum whenever I have a problem with anything remotely technical.

Now that looks good. Thanks

 

[sam86]

Why do you have 4 computers..?

 

[alan partridge]

Advanced System Care is good. Google it and download. It's free.

 

[John Bumlick]

get rid of Vista - upgrade to 7....or even downgrade to XP but steer well clear of Vista (and, yes, i didn't really get all the anti-Vista vitriol until i installed 7). of course, formatting your hard drive (after backing up anything you need) and doing a clean install of windows will speed things up.....initially at least.....you've probably got a lot stuff which starts running in the background at startup which you don't need.

 

[Garage_Doors]

Why do you have 4 computers..?

I have 8
Boy has a desktop and laptop in his bedroom , other son & daughter have laptop each, Wife has her laptop & i have my desktop in my office, laptop in the lounge, and a desktop in the garage ! (wifi connected)

That without the various smart phones and ipods.

 

[greengull]

The other half's laptop running Vista had got really slow, and an easy upgrade of RAM from the 1GB installed to 2GB has done it wonders - its now usable again. Only cost £22

 

[Randsta]