# Slow computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451 "2015-08-10T14:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/1 "2015-08-10T14:53:47Z")
I purchased a new laptop Saturday and it is very very very slow when on the web. Even this site takes forever to work. Is it the McAfee Anti-Virus? Typing this is very slow when I have another site open. My old XP was much faster than this and it had less memory and was 5 years old. What is going on? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/2 "2015-08-10T14:57:22Z")
How much RAM and what processor does it have? What version of Windows does it have? Try going to [www.speedtest.net](http://www.speedtest.net) and check your internet speed. Maybe it is your provider. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/3 "2015-08-10T15:01:34Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > I purchased a new laptop Saturday and it is very very very slow when on the web. Even this site takes forever to work. Is it the McAfee Anti-Virus? Typing this is very slow when I have another site open. My old XP was much faster than this and it had less memory and was 5 years old. What is going on? > > Thanks in advance. Not a computer expert or anything, but is it just surfing on the web? If it’s only while web surfing, it might be your browser stuffed with bloatware (especially if it’s IE) or it might be virus protection that’s somehow interfering and making it run slowly. If you’re using IE, switch to Chrome or Firefox. Or perhaps you don’t have virus protection and you already got infected with malware. If your typing is slow on your word processor and if things are loading slowly, you might have some bloatware on your computer. Lots of crap comes preinstalled nowawadays and you can probably uninstall anything you don’t think you’ll need. ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/4 "2015-08-10T15:15:45Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > How much RAM and what processor does it have? What version of Windows does it have? > > Try going to [www.speedtest.net](http://www.speedtest.net) and check your internet speed. Maybe it is your provider. I have 6G Ram and AMD processor. It is only slow online. Youtube videos work fine. I ran the speed test and it was 50.7 mps download and 10.65 upload. Are these sites now so loaded with adware that it slows everything down? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/5 "2015-08-10T15:15:55Z")
I’d go with bloatware. A couple of years ago My wife got a new laptop and I spent a very productive hour uninstalling everything apart from the basic operating system, and especially McAfee (which is only a ‘free’ trial anyway and will demand money with menaces sooner or later. If it has any ‘Office’ programs, they are also likely to be ‘free’ trials. Use a free program lice Ccleaner to find and delete the crapware. Naturally you will create a restore point first and refrain from emptying your bin for a few days until you are sure there is nothing that you want back. There are some perfectly good anti-virus systems that are completely free, though they do try to upsell to ‘professional’ grade or whatever. For Word, use the installation disc for the one you had before unless you used them all. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/6 "2015-08-10T15:20:18Z")
Since it’s a new computer, any chance it’s downloading several gigs of updates? Or, say, Win10? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/7 "2015-08-10T15:31:42Z")
How about downloading and using Chrome or Firefox? That would eliminate any previously installed add-ins for IE as the cause. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/8 "2015-08-10T15:33:40Z")
> [@koufax](#): > > Are these sites now so loaded with adware that it slows > everything down? “adware” is “advertising software” - programs loaded on your computer to serve up ads. Usually in the form of pop-ups but also browser hijackers (like you try to go to Google but you’re sent somewhere else). Sometimes this stuff is surreptitiously loaded on your computer through malicious code, sometimes it’s loaded during the install of software (if you don’t pay attention, you don’t realize you are agreeing to it) and sometimes computers come pre-loaded with it, as a way to subsidize the cost of the computer. Web sites aren’t loaded with adware, they are just loaded with ads. Some ads (like some ads here at the SDMB) can be injected with malicious code, which installs adware on your computer. But it’s the number of ads loading from different locations that will slow you down, not the presence of malicious “adware.” Where did you buy the computer from? If it’s somewhere with a tech help desk, like Best Buy, take it back and demand that they look at it. ---
**Author:** ![koufax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@koufax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koufax)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/9 "2015-08-10T15:36:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > How about downloading and using Chrome or Firefox? That would eliminate any previously installed add-ins for IE as the cause. I do use Firefox. I just turned it off and then back on and now it is faster. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slow-computer/727451/10 "2015-08-11T05:11:48Z")
My first suspect would indeed be McAfee Anti-Virus. I wouldn’t even recommend the paid version, so the _‘free’_ trial version that will come pre-installed is even worse. Modern anti-virus software is usually a so-called ‘internet security suite’ which means it has its fingers into everything. And trial ones especially are less a ‘security’ suite and more a ‘nag-you-until-you-buy-it-sales-making’ suite! 😃 I use the free version of [AVG anti-virus](http://www.avg.com/us-en/homepage) and it works very well.