Laptop time out
 

I have a 5 year old HP laptop. The last couple of days I have been getting error messages that the connection is taking too long. If it does make connection with a website, I can't get beyond the main page to sign in or click on a link without getting the time out message. I've tried both Chrome and Firefox plus standing next to the router. Any suggestions? My equally old tablet seems to work okay, if that means anything.

Is it time for a new laptop? Thanks for any help.

Try unplugging it and remove the battery. Then, reinstall the battery and plug it back in. That will reset the computer. Another thing to try is to plug the laptop directly into the modem with an Ethernet cable. If that works, you probably just need to buy an external plug-in wireless wifi adapter from Best Buy. You can also install Avast free virus software and see if you have a virus. Good luck.

Is this happening with all sites, or just specific ones?

I regularly clear out the internet rubbish that accumulates over time, using the free program ccleaner, and that helps speed things up.

I also switched to a browser (Opera) that seems to carry less baggage when loading pages, although it can be a bit too cautious, not letting me load pages which don't have an up-to-date security certificate.

Not sure if defragging your hard-drive (try Defragger, another free program) would help, but worth a try.

I have never had an issue with any of these free programs so am happy to recommend them.

Agree with the above. Also do a clean HD and remove all the old versions of Windows updates.

Thank you so much!! I did everything you all suggested... unplugged & removed battery, ran AVAST and then Ccleaner. Now my laptop is zipping right along. I have not tried Defragger, thought it best to stop while I was ahead. Thanks again.

I wouldn't defrag the laptop anyway. That used to be the go-to advice in the days of Win95 and earlier. But as Windows became more complex, and DOS ceased to be the backbone of Windows, hard drives became smaller in physical size and larger in data space, defragging not only became unnecessary most of the time, but it could actually cause problems that hadn't previously existed.

I'm guessing it was the ccleaner that solved the problem, cleaning out all the junk your browser has stored over time and never let go of. You should occasionally clean out your browser - delete history, clear cookies, delete temporary internet files. Every couple of weeks is usually sufficient.

Certainly don't try to defrag a solid state hard drive, which a lot of laptops now have

I converted my 10 year old Dell to Linux Mint and it runs like a brand new laptop. No need for antivirus, defrag, ccleaner or anything like that. It won't slow down over time, you do updates when you want (not when Windows wants to) IF you even do updates all.

I've converted over a dozen people to Linux over the past year and NONE want to go back to Windows.

I make it easy to convert because I swap out their hard drive with one that has Linux Mint on it and let them "test" for a few weeks. If they like it, they keep the drive and I reformat their drive to Linux Mint for the next person.

How much do I charge for this service? ... nothing! Why? Because I enjoy it! I keeps me busy after 50 years working with computers.

I'll come to your house and do it, should only take about a hour.

Notice I use my real name here, because I have nothing to hid.

I did try to switch to Linux (Ubuntu) from Windows but found the interface difficult to use whenever I wanted to change something.

Is Mint more intuitive, without the need for "old style" programming?

I also need to run an old DOS program, which works fine on Windows as long as I stick to 32-bit versions. Would that work on Linux (without having to run it in something like DOSbox)?

I use Mint because it is very Windows "ish". That's why people who use it don't want to go back to Windows. Because it is Linux, you can not run DOS programs. It's worth looking for a Linux version of the program you run

Is there any way to try Mint from an external hard drive on a Windows10 laptop?

Mint from an external hard drive on a Windows10 laptop?
 

Many Linux distributions have what is called a "Live Disc", meaning that you can run it directly from an optical disk or USB drive without touching your hard drive.

I've seen problems with Mint Cinnamon. If you want to try Mint, try Mint Mate or Mint LXDE instead.

Other alternatives are Lubuntu and LXLE. I'm really liking LXLE on older equipment now. All of these are derivatives of Ubuntu and relatively easy for new users.

[experience: 20 years administrating various Unix flavors]

Thank you

Looks like there is a version of DosBox for Linux, so my old program should run within that

What kind of problems have you found with Cinnamon? I've been using for about a year and haven't found any problems yet.

Very random freeze ups mainly during video playback. Nothing I can reproduce. The systems involved are all relatives who took my word on the stability of Linux. I did a lot of googling and found some issues with cinnamon, but someone's always gonna have problems with anything. I suspect their problems are with old video drivers for their old hardware. Just my bad luck with these people and their old systems.