What to do if the mute button in your HP Pavilion Laptop refuses to switch to unmute mode?

When the mute button rebels against you, try stroking it gently just like you would pet your dog. If there's no reaction from the touch screen button, resist the temptation of punching, jabbing or slapping the key. Just go to the control panel. Click on the Sound, video and game controllers. Manually delete the drivers that fall under this link. Restart the comp. And wait. Windows will automatically reinstall these drives. And suddenly out of nowhere your mute button will shine to life!

What to do if your comp starts to crawl?

Try doing a Greg Billingham. Enter the slow mo marathon. If you're too lazy for that, examine your system. Check if AVG Antivirus has been loaded on to your comp. From my experience I can tell you AVG is a memory hog (although it does its anti virus job well). AVG has this dirty habit of dragging down the speed of your laptop and can make even the proverbial tortoise look like a cheetah. So be ruthless. Uninstall AVG. Restart your comp. And feel the difference.