Slow scary freezy laptop

I am having problems with my Dell laptop,k, its old slow and crazy. Would like to keep it alive just a couple more months so that I can get a new one.
Any help would be appreciated.

OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate
Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name TAMMY-PC
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Inspiron 1720
System Type X86-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00GHz, 2000 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A08, 4/21/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Locale Canada
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"
User Name Tammy-PC\Tammy
Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 2.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 510 MB
Total Virtual Memory 4.23 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.06 GB
Page File Space 2.29 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


I'm good at following instructions but bare with me I know nothing :confused

 

Hello. Would be helpful to know more about what protection apps (virus, malware, etc.) you are currently using.

Have you ever defragmented the hard drive? How full is your hard drive? Do you use CCleaner or any other file cleanup utilities to remove temporary Internet files, etc.?

Also, please describe in more detail what you mean by "slow and crazy".

 

As TimW said, available RAM dropping below 50% of total RAM will cause the computer to become slow and act "crazy". You've got a dual-core processor which should easily support 4 GB of RAM — possibly 8GB. Increase the amount of RAM the laptop has by first going to the Dell support site, entering your Service Tag number and downloading the Service Manual for your laptop. This will tell you where the RAM modules are and how to access and replace them.

 

how do i fix that

 

I have windows defender that is it, I do not have CCleaner.
I have defragged, did not help
C: 88.5 free of 285
D:4.10 free of 9.99
30 to 60 seconds of not responding on opening programs
sluggish slow any programs
windows explorer crashes
flash crashes
google chrome barely works

 

Freeing up disk space will also help.

Press the Windows key and in the Search Box type Disk Cleanup. When Disk Cleanup comes up in the results pane, click on it to launch it. Choose drive "C" and click OK. It will calculate how much space can be freed by getting rid of unnecessary files (this may take a little while). You'll then get a box with a Disk Cleanup tab where you can choose what you want to clean up and a More Options tab — click on that and in the System Restore and Shadow Copies section click Clean up. You'll be asked if you want io delete all but the most recent Restore Point. Click Delete. This will free up several GB on the hard drive. Then go back to the Disk Clean up tab and click OK. It will start the cleaning process (which may take a while) and when it's finished, it will automatically close.

I do use CCleaner at it's default settings to clean up items that Disk Cleanup doesn't touch.

 

princessss...

I recommend starting by running AdwCleaner. Here is the MGs download link:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/getmirror/adwcleaner,3.html

Run the scanner and then take a look at what shows up in all of the tabs. Look to see if anything looks important to you and uncheck that before running the cleaner.

If you run AdwCleaner, please post back with a general description of how many things it found all together in all of the tabs. You could have a really messy PC if it hasn't been closely maintained over the years, etc. Adware is probably the worst when it comes to slowing PCs.

There are a number of procedures you can perform when this happens, but I think this is a good place to start to get an idea of what's lurking below the surface...along with running Malwarebytes as MajorAttitude mentioned. All the cleanup options are good.

BTW, this could be a hardware issue. After all of your software checks, it would probably be a good idea to run chkdsk /r on an older PC like this, just to make sure the drive is OK...