How to Fix a Slow Toshiba Laptop

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Toshiba laptops are not intrinsically slow computers and more often than not a slow computer is caused by a software rather than a hardware problem. Computers get bogged down by running too many processes at once, having the information in the hard drive stored in different parts of the disk (fragmented) and computer virus, worm or spy ware infestations. Of course, sometimes a computer simply doesn't have the hardware to run certain programs or will have a hardware issue that needs to be fixed.

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Disk Cleanup

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Step 1

Click "Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Disk Cleanup" to open the Disk Cleanup program.

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Step 2

Select the hard drive that you want to clean up if you have more than one hard drive and then click "Ok" to get started.

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Step 3

Wait for the Disk Cleanup tool to calculate how much space it will be able to save by compressing your files. Compressing the files in your hard drive will open up space that in turn helps your computer access information faster.

Step 4

Click the "More Options" tab on the "Disk Cleanup" window that appears and then click the "Clean Up" button within the "Windows Components" section. This will allow you to select what Windows Components you want to disable. Disabling Windows Components will make your computer software by diminishing the programs that are running.

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Step 5

Click the "Clean Up" button within the "Installed Programs" section. This will allow you to select what computer programs you no longer wish to have installed on your computer and uninstall them. Uninstall programs that have not been used in a long time such as old video games to speed up your Toshiba laptop.

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Step 6

Click the "Clean Up" button with the "System Restore" section. This will delete all but the most recent of your backup files so that you don't have useless backup files taking up space and slowing down your laptop computer.

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Step 7

Click the "Disk Cleanup" tab and then select all the files from the "Files to Delete" section that you want to delete. This will delete all those files from your computer making your computer faster by freeing up memory space. Click "Ok" to delete the files and exit Disk Cleanup.

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Fan

Step 1

Blow pressurized air from a pressurized air can into the Fan slits on the bottom and side of the Toshiba laptop to clear it of dust. A dusty, dirty fan will cause speed issues on your Toshiba laptop.

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Step 2

Power off the computer, remove the battery and all external devices and then unscrew all the screws that have a keyboard picture on it.

Step 3

Remove the keyboard from your Toshiba laptop and on the inner, upper, left hand corner, on the side of the monitor, you'll see the fan.

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Step 4

Blow pressurized air into the fan to clear the dust and then replace the keyboard, screws, battery, external devices and power the computer back on.

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Processes

Step 1

Press the "Ctrl," "Alt" and "Delete" keys on your Toshiba laptop keyboard simultaneously and then select "Start Task Manager."

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Step 2

Click the "Processes" tab and take inventory of all the processes running on your computer.

Step 3

Right-click on each process with your Username to the right of the process name and then select "End Process." Do not end processes that are vital to your computer running properly such as explore.exe or processes that don't have your username to the right of the process name.

Step 4

Restart your computer if you end a vital process.

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