If you have a slow windows 7 laptop there could be several reasons for this and before calling a technician out or taking your laptop for repair there are a few things you can do to address this.
Before you go and buy any software or starting deleting software off your computer or even buying upgrades there are a couple of simple steps you can carry out first.
#1 Check your power management settings.
This is the #1 reason for a slow laptop next to malware and corruption. If your power management settings are incorrect your laptop will crawl along.
Here is what to do in windows 7.
Go to control panel, then all control panel items, then power options. From there open the power options icon and click on select a power plan. If your laptop is running slow ensure it is not set to power saver. If it is click on the balanced dial and save your settings.
Depending on your laptop you may need to restart it to take effect. This is not because of windows but because of how the BIOS interacts with windows. After restarting check your computer performance by running a game or an application that usually runs slow.
If your laptop is still running slow go back to the power settings as detailed above. Instead of clicking on balanced click on more options and then select high performance. This option will is for maximum performance but your battery will run out much quicker.