Everything running super slow in Windows 7 on my Dell Laptop

Perform a "Clean Boot" if performance returns to normal while clean booted, you know it is a startup program or third party Service that is causing it.

To Boot Clean in Windows 7 and Vista

Accessing the System Configuration Utility

1. Click Start type msconfig in the search box and press Enter

Configure Selective Startup options

1. On the General tab, choose Selective Startup
2. Uncheck Load Startup Items
3. Select the Services tab
4. Check Hide all Microsoft services (important you do this before step 5)
5. Click Disable all
6. Click on OK
7. Click Restart.

If it does perform normally while clean booted you can enable Startup items (Startup Tab) one at a time and restart the PC, do this until performance degrades, then you know which Startup item is causing it, do the same for non Microsoft Services. Leave the problem program or service disabled. Now you can try and determine which 3rd party software is related to the Startup program or service and either update it or uninstall it.

If Clean Boot does not restore performance, restore your system to normal boot by doing the following:

1. Click Start type msconfig in the search box and press Enter
2. On the General tab, choose Normal Startup
3. Click Ok
4. Click Yes, when asked to restart your computer