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My mother has a Dell Inspiron 9300 and it is majorly slow. It gets very hot the fan doesnt kick it and the harddrive just seems to be constantly working but for no reason.

We reformatted it and it has not got any better can anyone help us out we are a bit lost as to what we can do about it

As for the heat problem, try placing it on top of something and give it some space between the bottom of the laptop and the surface it rests on. Place two books or something along the edges giving it some breathing room along the bottom center of the unit. The fan may be clogged or not working. You could also get a cooler for it.. As you say the hard drive is constantly running, try going to the task manager and look to see what processes are running. Press Ctrl-Alt-Del, click on task manager, then processes, then click on "cpu" to sort it by cpu usage and see what is taking up your cpu.. It could be that you are infected with a trojan or something.. It could also be some other normal "process" such as a virus scan, indexing etc.

WE think its probably a trojan because there is hardly anything actually running .. we do that check all the time just to make sure learnt the hard way on that

as for the fan it was running before then we reformatted and it stopped .. is there anywhere to change the fan settings .. not sure if maybe the temp is set wrong for when it comes on or something

There are no fan settings that I know of.. It either works or it doesnt. Like I said it may just be clogged with dirt in which case you can open the case and clean it. If it just doesnt work it can be replaced. check the dell web site for info on how to disassemble and/or parts replacement.. You might also want to get a cooler which goes starts about $15. It is basically just a cooling pad with fans on it and can be powered externally or by the USB port.