HELP!!

[mistletoe]

I have decided my slowing laptop is due to Windows Explorer malfunction. It keeps saying 'Not Responding' when I try to do things like empty the recycle bin or access Control Panel. I have found some free software to download which claims to fix the problem but I am wary to download in case its malware or something. It's from SpeedMaxPC. What should I do? I'm running on Vista.

The Microsoft help page was useless for techno amish like me.

Comments

[a-lot-of-heart.livejournal.com]

1) Save all your data, no matter how long it takes. Then it basically doesn't matter if it's malware or not.

2) Before installing a software you don't know and aren't sure how or if it works, try to defragment your computer. Either with the windows tool as annie_hay described or another software like Tuneup Utilities 2012. I don't know if there is an English version of that one though, as I'm using the German one.

3) Run a virus/trojaner check. I recommend Norton for that. You don't have to buy it, just get the trial version and see if it finds something. After having removed possible viruses you can still think about whether to keep it or use a freeware instead. I just had a better experience with Norton.

4) In case everything fails, reinstall Vista. You will have to reinstall all your programs as well, but sometimes this is really your last option if something in the system structure is broken. Besides, Vista is known to cause problems like that and I had them myself. I switched to Windows 7 when the Beta version was out and that one was already better than the final version of Windows Vista.