Computer running slow

“Perhaps someone can give me some ideas on what is slowing up my computer. My school computer is an HP Compaq 6910p laptop running Windows XP (school techs removed Vista before I even got it). My hard drive is only half full. On the docking station at school it screams and works like always. On wireless at home and other places it runs very slow. Anti-virus software is Norton.

I suspect several things:

1. Battery or Power Supply - at school it is powered by the docking station and hardwired into the network. My battery appears to never get fully charged and I wonder if there is a power usage issue.

2. My wireless unit is somewhat new. Perhaps there is a hardware problem.

3. Firewall? Windows firewall is off. Norton firewall should be working.

I don't suspect a virus. Like I mentioned, at school the computer works very fast.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!”

“Does the computer running slower or are pages slower to load?

Are you running 802.11 a,b,g or n?

Does it run faster if Norton is disabled temporarily?

What is the brand/model number of your laptop? On some models, there is an option to fully discharge the battery and recondition it. Typical laptop battery life is 12-18 months...less if you don't let it discharge most of the way before recharging...like what you are doing every time you plug it into the docking station.

Can you run the laptop without the battery? Shut down the computer, remove the battery and run from the power adapter. Some computers will not allow you to do this.

Is you wireless access point also a router...in other words, can you plug an ethernet cable into it? If so, try disabling the wireless in the laptop and plug in an ethernet cable to see if your wireless is just slower than than your wired connection.

Hope this gives you somewhere start tracking down the problem.”

“if you've used it quite a lot...d frag it”

“Defragmenting the hard drive is not the issue since it runs fine when docked. While hard drive defragmenting is a good idea, it is not one that will solve Phil's problem.”

“If page loads are the problem what is the speed of the connection? Schools are often outfitted with the fastest lines and highest bandwidths because of the colossal use factor. Home networks and other WiFi settings, particularly free public hot spots are pretty slow by comparison even at the best of times.”

“My wife had the same problem with a Dell. Company finally replaced it and it works fine on the wireless at home. It was a problem with the Dell wireless and the security system work had on it's server.”

“for one.. dump the stupid norton.. then your other issue is just the connection speed which you can't really do a damn thing about..

defrag, clean up your porn.. should be good to go.”

“Thanks everyone. I will try some of skiracer's suggestions to help diagnose.

I assume the problem is loading time, not running time since it works great at school with has a very high speed network.

We did run the laptop without the battery and I did not see an improvement.”

“Phil, any updates? It is sounding like your wireless is just slower at loading pages than your wired connection at school...which it should be.

If you want me to connect remotely, just let me know. We can get on the phone, you go to a web page, put in my unique code, I connect and we can both take a look and operate your system.”

“Yes, pages are loading slow, but they used to load fast on wireless.

OK. Let's "hook up"...in the right way, of course.”

“LOL @ Phil.”