Need advice for optimizing computer

Ok, I have a good computer, but a few years old. It's an Asus G73J (i7, 8GB RAM, Dual 500G HDs, Windows 7 home premium 64bit).

It's slowing down a lot with age. It starts up slow, occasionally hangs on shutdown, takes a long time to show the contents of folders if there are a lot of files.

1) I know one issue is that my wife has installed some software from a Chinese bank so she can use her debit card (and USB security device), and it has like 8 processes that always run. I can't do much about that, we need it to shop online here in China. If there was a way to cut them from startup (with MSCONFIG or whatever) but put these processes together in a group and start them all at once, that would be awesome I guess, but don't know if that is possible.

2) I know there are a lot of programs out there that claim to 'optimize performance', but I don't know which one to trust or which works best (or at all).

Any advice?

 

You can start here:
How to Make Your Computer Run Like New in 4 Easy Steps

Also look at How to deal with startup processes - do not use MSconfig

Also: [MG] WhatInStartup

 

One solution might be to create a separate user account for your wife and install her bank software in that for her user account only, and removing it from your user account. If this software is the cause of the slowdown then that will fix it. The machine might be ageing but has a great spec - it ought to really fly.

 

Exactly what I needed. Great articles, and good point about the user acct. Thanks!