RUNNING SLOW, SLOW STARTUP, FREEZES

[Mermaids]

I would like to start off by saying that I am EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED in my SONY VAIO. I have a VGN-TZ250N. I have had it for 2 years and quite honestly, I can't stand it. I bought it for 1 reason...travel. It is light-weight and compact which is fabulous for my job--as I travel for a living.
That said, given the ridiculously expensive price tag that came with this dandy little puter, I expect SO SO SO much more (as I should!) I could understand and rationalize these issues and my frustration if I had a cheapie laptop. But I don't. it;s an EXPENSSSSIVE VAIO.

When I am at home, I don't even use my VAIO because of the multitude of issues I have with my VAIO. I actually use a 5 year old dinosaur (Toshiba laptop)that has been dropped a dozen times and there are 3 kids who regularly trash it... and the performance of the old Toshiba FAR exceeds that of the VAIO.

I will NEVER, EVER buy another VAIO. The customer service has SUCKED beyond belief too. I'm not even going to go there. That's entirely different thread.

Some facts about me. I take excellent care of my VAIO. I don't have a bunch of garbage programs, I have anti-virus software (Kasperskys) and I regularly clean up my computer. I have some pictures (jpg) and some music but not excessive amounts (probably your average amount). I am not an IT professional (ya think?) but I am not a complete computer illiterate either.
I have spent ENDLESS hours trying to tweak my computer but here I am...about ready to throw it away and get a new computer that doesn't cause me so much frustration.

So, I need some help!
I saw one thread give these suggestions...Disk Cleanup (Yes, did this and do it regularly); startup programs are cleaned up and narrowed to THREE.
Can someone please tell me where to find the REGISTRY CLEAN UP? AND REGISTRY DEFRAG?.
How do I know where and what my GRAPHICS CARD is?
I ran the system test thing and I got the LOW performace score of TWO. of course, it doesn't offer any suggestions as to how to improve the rating.

Does anyone have any further suggestions? (a hammer perhaps?!)
Please help!
Thanks!

[Mermaids]

I guess I should add the issues and a few other details to the body of the post.

I am running Windows Vista (which I part of the problem...although I have spoken to some Vista "people" who say no--not the case)

My VAIO freezes up sometimes for 5 seconds, sometimes for 15 or more secs or it just exits out and gives me an error message. Esp. when I have MS Outlook open.

Running Explorer--SLOW. period.

start up. slow. slow. slow.

Thanks!

[Blencogo]

Hi Mermaids and welcome.

From your Vaio model I assume you bought it in the USA - which may account for some of your support problems.

Unfortunately you pay for minaturisation twice - once because minature products are more expensive, and twice becasuse minature products have restricted performance. The TZ series is designed for a market that values portability at the expense of performance. After all you cannot expect a desktop performance from something the size of a netbook.

The TZ compromises on both Processor and Graphics. It uses an Ultra Low Voltage U7600 processor that just about manages 1.20GHz. It uses integrated GMA950 graphics built into the Intel chipset which is a budget solution.

I suggest you download the 'free for 30 days' version of System Mechanic and run the optimisations suggested. The Registry Cleaner is likely to give you the most benefit as it will remove links to programs that are no longer installed and this will stop your system looking for these at each start up.

If all else fails you could back up everything and reinstall the Operating System using the Vaio Recovery.

With the compromises your TZ will never be very fast with Vista installed. Vista is just too big and cumbersome for a small processor. You may like to consider upgrading to Windows 7 which is easier on your Vaio. Make sure you UPGRADE as this will preserve your programs, drivers and settings. XP is probably the best choice of OS but this presents many problems in installation.

Th TZ is a beautiful piece of engineering and design - but for that beauty and size, compromises must be accepted.