Laptop running slowly now that Facebook has been installed - any advice?

I suspect it has nothing to do with adding Facebook, just coincidence.

Perhaps if she does all the usual housekeeping things, including emptying her recycle bin for a start (if she hasn't already) and if that doesn't work grab the nearest teenager and ask them to look at it. I think this is something which can't really be diagnosed unless you can actually see the computer.

I don't think fb is to blame either.
If mine starts chugging along it's usually because something is trying to update (Adobe, Skype etc) and it can be a couple of days sometimes, before they sort themselves out!

I swear a lot, but it doesn't seem to work!

I have to say if I'm on Facebook too long (playing the scrabble game) it shuts down Internet Explorer and sometimes crashes my laptop don't know why - the genius next door (DH) doesn't know either.

Has she de fragged the pooter? If that's the right word and installed a cleanup programme? That passes the time and may help.otherwise find a teenager. At the moment they have had their results and can be put to good use.

Every few days I run Ccleaner, which finds all the rubbish and lists it, then you tell it to get rid of it all. After that my pooter always seems a bit more lively. It costs nothing to download (from www.tucows.com/downloads) and only deletes the clutter.

I'd look at the space used and available on her hard drive. It may be she needs to add more rams to her laptop. If that's ok then perhaps run a full virus check to see if there's an unwanted guest lurking.

You don't' install' FaceBook - it's just another web-site you visit.

feetle I heard once about a customer buying a new puter who asked about the internet. Yes, he was told, this computer will access the internet. Buyer then insisted that the seller confirm that he had installed the latest version of the internet.

As far as I know don't you install Facebook - it is web based and not a programme. Therefore it shouldn't have any impact on the computer's performance.

If there is any impact on the computer then it is indirect - perhaps the user has been browsing around Facebook a lot and visited a lot of new sites.

When the computer browser visits a site it download a tempory file of that siten and a cookie (little mini-file) that helps with displaying it and is retained for a certain length of time - the length varies from one cookie to another. These tempory files and cookies all pile up. and when you start up the computer and browser next time, the cookies all do a sort of quick check to see whether you are accessing that page again. That may not be an accurate description, but it gives an idea of what goes on.

This doesn't take long for an individual one, but if you have been wandering all over the internet you have collected so many that can slow down the start-up time. Programmes like Ccleaner (the C stands for crap) delete all the old page references you have accumulated, among other things.

You can get rid of old cookies from the browser menus too.

Thank you all! feetlebaum, 'twas I who described her becoming a member of Facebook as having installed it - and not she (my pal), who is even less savvy on the internet than I am .
However, I'll pass on everyone's advice to her, especially about the Ccleaner, and hopefully she'll notice a difference. Either that, or tell her to phone her young nephew!

I am surprised that her, or any of you's, protection software doesn't clear all the cookies and temporary files every day. We use Norton and it checks and clears ours daily. There shouldn't be a need to run something manually surely?

Are you sure it wasn't just a one off while something else was running in the background? If it was sudden and there is no obvious reason I suggest she makes sure everything is backed up straight away as it could be an indication her hard drive is about to pack up.

Thanks, Nonnie. I'll pass it on.

Reminds me of a call someone made to Tech Support.

They asked her whether she was working under Windows - to which her reply was 'No, I am sitting by the door'.