Optomist,

Thanks for that, never considered that the sidebar might be slowing things down. I do have 4 items running on the sidebar, will try it.

Regards Greek.

On my CPU the biggest resource is taken up by something called Teatimer.exe.
Not sure what it is, or if it should be there. Will try to find out.

greekman - unplug your kettle :-)

greekman

For Teatimer, check this.

Thanks. Downloaded a Teatime cleaner, but now cant find it. Will keep trying.

Kayak,

Can't afford an electric kettle. Have to put water on hot coals.

Found it. Scan shows over 600 faulty registry entries. Will get the results looked at by someone who is far more competent with computers than I am.

Greek,
I use regfix.
Its free and most of the registry entries appear to be left over from removing programs or have been put their as temporary thingies by programs installing.
With Regfix, it backs up all changes you make, so if it goes Pete Tong, you can go back to your old registry.

Thanks. Already downloaded 'Uniblue registry booster'.
It states click and will repair all unwanted entries. I'm very wary of clicking YES as I have been told that the registry is a dangerous thing to tamper with (in all honesty I'm more scared of computers than I am of the wife, and that's saying something). I might just pay a local techie who specializes in PC clean-ups. Might seem a waste of money to you more knowledgeable lot but as said I'm very wary of computers.
Still grateful to those who have replied.

Regards Greek.

Hi Alan,

The Uniblue I downloaded will only clean out 15 faults, unless I pay for the full version.
I put regfix into Google and it bought up several sites.
Any chance of you posting the full title of the one you use and where you downloaded it from. This would be much appreciated.

Greek.

G,

For what it's worth I use the Uniblue jobbie and it seems fine.

I paid for it. I am not sure how much faster it makes things - but I must have been convinced at the time I doled out the cash!!

TP

.

But it does not stop triple posts..........

The Publisher,

Thanks. It does look good but if I can get a good one for nothing (typical Yorkshire man) I will try it.

Greek.

Hi Greek,
Try here
Alan

Can't get the damn link working!!!!
www.regsofts.com

Not sure why you're doing all of this, greekman, from the links Optimist posted it looks to me like teatime.exe is just part of Spybot which is itself an anti-spyware program which you presumably installed some time ago. You appear to be looking for an anti-anti-spyware program? :-)

Sorry for the humour but my feeling on all these programs is that they are actually the problem rather than the solution. You seem to be proving the point. For most people there is more danger in downloading random cleanup programs then there was from spyware in the first place.

BTW just because one of these programs says that you have x hundred problems that need resolving, it doesn't mean you actually have them. Flagging non-problems is how the developers persuade people to buy the program. That is why cookies are always highlighted even though they are always harmless.

Kayak,

Thanks but I know I have a registry that needs cleaning up. It might help my PC speed up a bit. I looked at teatime.exe and it did look as if it was OK but us technophobic have little if no patience with things we don't understand so thats why we sometimes panic a bit. (been in many hairy situations no prob, but sit me in front of a PC thats got problems that's different) If a screwdriver or hammer wont fix something I get stuck.

Alan,

Thanks will try it later.

Regards to both Greek.

It is very unlikely that you have a registry that needs cleaning up. Cleaning up registries is not a normal thing to do. Even if there are 600 entries to remove, that would be out of a total of many thousands if not tens of thousands and so your system would be unlikely to run any faster.

The best way to get your system to run faster is to check that you have sufficient main memory and then look at all your installed software, particularly running software in the sidebar/system tray, and remove any that is not absolutely necessary. Dare I say it remove a few cleanup programs? :-)

Cheers Kayak,

I do have 4 items on the side bar, and you are the second poster to mention this could be a problem so will remove them to see if it helps.

Kayak, Optimist, Alan,

Side bar now gone and Regsofts used, definite increase in speed of laptop.

Kayak,

As said I'm technophobic so I could not see how switching my kettle off would help as it's in the kitchen 2 rooms away from my laptop. But that's what I tried first. Did not appear to make any difference, but thanks anyway.

Once again much obliged to all.