i got a used computer and whenever i do anything it sounds like the computer is having a hard time opening anything. it makes a noise and almost sounds like its stretching something. anyway i need to know what is making it sound like that. i have cable connection and its very very slow opening anything. can anyone help me?

Hello hillbilyswife. Welcome to the forum :wave:

The noise you talk about could originate from all manner of places within a computer. Without knowing a lot more details about your computer we will not be able to take an accurate guess as to why it is taking a long tome to open anything.

If the noise is like a 'chattering' noise, then this could just be the standard noises coming from the hard drive. Depending on the age/make, it could also mean the hard drive is wearing out and needs to be replaced ASAP.

The only other thing i can think of is if the CD drive is trying to read a disk for some reason. That would be a whirring sound though.

i think it may be my hard drive. it seems to hesitate when doing anything then it will finally go. if i replace the hard drive will i lose everything loaded in my computer? i do not have a start up cd for it. please let me know. thank you.

You can do a disk-to-disk transfer if you replace the disk before it goes out...Otherwise yes, you may lose your data.

If you haven't defraged in a long time this could also create a rather loud obnoxious sound(s).

Your hard drive contains ALL the information on your computer. You would lose everything if you just replaced your hard drive.

My advice would be to save any information you really want to a CD. Then i would just use the computer until the hard drive dies (they sometimes carry on for years in that state).

It sounds a bit like your computer may need a good bit of house keeping to quicken it up a bit.
This giude is mainly aimed at windows XP users but you should follow what you can to clean up your hard drive. After you have done everything perform a defragmentation at least 3 times. The first time could take hours depending on the size of your hard drive. Do not use the computer while it is defragmenting

Hope this helps

Hi,

Something else you may want to look at. Have you given any thought to taking a can of air (can buy one at wally world, hardware store, computer store) and blowing the dust and garbage out of your cpu fans, case fans, and your power supply fans. They can make noise if bogged down and if restricted by too much dust, can even cause lag in the operation of your computer. If you have not blown everything out of there in a while, then that might help what you are seeing. It can not hurt a thing to give that a try.

My other advice is to get the utility for the manufacturer of your hard drive and let the utility check the integrity of your disk. Normally, the utility will tell you if the drive is failing. Here is a link for you to find the utility:

http://tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

You have been given good advice on the forum....back that baby up immediately or you could lose your data.