Ok, I have a very limited amount of education on computers, so I decided to ask the smartest people I know.

My computer is really, really, one more, really slow. All of the programs run slow, the internet is slow, opening documents/folders/files is slow.

I have cleaned the viruses, cleaned the addware, cleaned the spyware, removed unused programs and documents, defragmented the hard drive, and moved all of my music and most of my other files to a removable hard drive to try and free up space for the operating programs.

Help!

 

what are you doing with my computer is my question...
i have no advice, but there are lots here that will. hang in, they'll fix you

 

But, Have you cleared out all the internet files -cookies & recycle bin ?

When you go to clean up the hard drive. How much space is used up compared to unused ?

How much:
RAM
size of hard drives
Processor speed

>>>

 

What's the speed of your processor and how much memory do you have installed? IMHO you need at least 512mb of ram to run an XP machine. Also, since you removed viruses, spyware, etc, some remnants of those may still exist in the registry. Since you've removed all of your important files, it wouldn't be that much of a problem to format and re-install windows and go from there.

 

If you can, get a few specifications of the computer for us. The guys were right in asking which processor, quantity of RAM, and size of hard drives (and how much is full).

I gave up on using the windows defragmenting tool. I use a program called O&O Defrag now. It runs circles around the windows tool, and actually gets it down to 0% fragmentation after a run.

Ryan

 

Don't know if you got a lot of pictures, but they take up HUGE space. Our old computer (which now belongs to my sister in law) now runs better than it ever did since I copied all the pictures to cd and deleted them from the hard drive.

75% of them were baby pictures of my nieces. Those pictures took up 3 cds by themselves.

 

The computer is a Dell from 2001 if that is any help. I think it has 20 G of memory and is about 75% free. Pentium III processor I believe. I have no idea how much ram.

On a side note when I try to listen to music from my external hard drive through Windows Media Player which is on my computer it slows everything down, I think if I had a USB 2.0 it would work faster but can I install a USB 2.0 in my computer and make it work right?

 

You can get a usb2 pci card for $15 from newegg of tigerdirect. It's an easy install especially if your running xp. If you running 98 or me you will need to make sure you get a card with a usb driver cd for older windows editions. Opening pages on the Internet has little to do with processor speed, if that is slow you most likely have registry issues as previously mentioned.

 

You probably mean 20 gigs of hard drive space left. If it's running slow and your sure that all adware, worms etc are not present then my best guess is your taxing your system to have to store some parts of the programs your using to the hard drive. The processor has to access the hardrive for the program to keep working, which is much slower than acessing it from SDRAM memory. If it were mine,the first thing after doing all of the maintenance (defrag etc.) is to add as much memory that you can afford. Your computer will run much faster with added memory because temporary files of a running program can stay in solid state memory which is MUCH faster to access than reading off of the hard drive. Hope this helps some. Even though your computer processor is a couple of generations old, if your not doing heavy graphic work, it should perform ok for music, web surfing, word processing etc. Usually store bought computers come with 2 sticks of memory (cheaper) instead of the slightly faster single stick of the same size compacity. It could be that one of your sticks is going bad. Anyhow hope this helps some and good luck.


Marty

 

Buckeye.

Have you tried any online speed tests for checking your connection ?

also,

Hit... Ctrl..Alt.. Delete simultaniously ... ONCE ONLY.

List on here everything that is running in the task manager.

 

How much swap space do you have ? Rule of thumb 2.5 times the amount of memory.

Speed/response is very subjective. Have you tried any benchmark tests ?
How about Belarc's Advisor ?

 

Sorry guys but alot of this is over my head.

What I gathered is I need more RAM for my programs to run faster.

I do have XP with the full Office package.

1) What is Belarcs Advisor?
2) How would I go about an online speen test to test my connectivity?
3) What is ment by memory, the sticks that plug into the board; is this your RAM memory?
4) What are registry issues, how are they resolved?

 

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

There's a location for you to try your bandwidth test.

When they say memory, they mean DIMM modules, which yes, are the RAM sticks in your motherboard. If you need help finding out what kind of memory you would need to buy for an upgrade, shoot me a PM and I'll hook you up with a program to see what kind you need.

Ryan

 

Quote :What I gathered is I need more RAM for my programs to run faster.



RAM is memory..it doesn't affect speed of running.

It is the ability to run several processes at the same time.

Laymans terms for computer terms.

Hard drive - The size of the library .....The Higher the number.....the larger the library space

RAM- see above explanation...
ie:
128 MB or RAM = I can do 3 things at the same time
512 MB RAM = I can do 6 things at the same time
1 GIG RAM = I can do 12 things at the same time


Processor - speed of doing things (processing info)
PIII - 750 Mhz - I do things pretty fast
PIV - 1.8 Gighz - I do things REALLY FAST

Motherboard - Puts everything together.

NOTE: The more files on your hard drive..the more things have to be processed.

The more things to be processed...the longer it takes to process.

This is why one gets larger,faster,and more Versatile hardware for their computers.

They take and store more picture files, More word files,more more more.....

Putting this in Human terms...
what system are YOU as a human running ?

Do you get over-whelmed the more you have to do ...espcially without a break ?

 

OK I'm not going to try and convince anyone that I know everything about computers, because I sure don't, but been building them since the mid 80's and had my share of horror stories.
SO....memory will not affect the speed of the proccessor and will allow you to run more programs at once OR one program faster.....due to the fact that more of the program will be loaded into memory and accessed from there instead of reading some of the program off the hardrive...very slow compared to the memory. Is it noticable how much faster?? Depends on the programs. Anyhow may I make a suggestion and take it to a reputable computer store and have them check it out. This will accomplish a number of things...1) It will keep your sanity from trying to do all of the suggestions, 2) You won't be throwing unneeded parts at you computer, 3) when your at the store/shop and if they also sell new computers... go ahead and play with them. You might end up buying a new state of the art (at least till you walk out of the store ) computer you never knew that you needed. Reason I'm suggesting all of this is, it is apparent you are uncomfortable trying some of this and you don't need to waste your time or money and adding stress. If you lived closer I'd go through it for you. That's another thought, check your geeky friends and or user groups in your area and see if someone would check it out for you. Good luck in what ever you decide.

Marty