I have a PC with a 500 Mhz processor that is so slow with XP it is basically
useless. Previously I had Windows 2000 installed. After one of the service
pack upgrades and the upgrade to the latest Windows Media Player the
machine became very slow.

I upgraded to XP Professional and things got worse.

I know 500Mhz is slow for the current market but that's all I can afford
right now. What configuration changes can I make to speed up the machine?

"Kelvin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:AlSrb.64850$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a PC with a 500 Mhz processor that is so slow with XP it is
basically
> useless. Previously I had Windows 2000 installed. After one of the service
> pack upgrades and the upgrade to the latest Windows Media Player the
> machine became very slow.
>
> I upgraded to XP Professional and things got worse.

Yes, I'm not surprised. The real-world mininum spec. for XP is higher than
Microsoft cares to mention.

> I know 500Mhz is slow for the current market but that's all I can afford
> right now. What configuration changes can I make to speed up the machine?

Well, 500Mhz is slow, but not
"ahhh-it's-that-old-time-to-throw-it-in-the-trash" old. I would say, if it
were me with that PC, I'd try:

a) Adding a lot of RAM, say 1 or 2GBs of RAM

b) Have two fast drives, like Western Digital Raptors (10K RPM). Put the OS
on one and your data on the other. Believe me, those drives alone speeded
up my 2GHz+ system. Also, put your swap file on the second drive. You may
have to buy a Serial ATA PCI card for this.

That's all I can think of, that is practical. Of course, with that system
I'd consider Linux or at best, Windows 2000 Pro - to prolong its life.
Seriously.

@drian.

the suggestion offered is great. if you are spending that
much on hard drives and cards for that machine you may as
well purchase a new machine chk pricewatch.com they have
pretty good deals u can get a athlon 1.4ghz barebone for
120 (*this is a special i saw it may not be there when u
look it up*)
>-----Original Message-----
>"Kelvin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:AlSrb.64850$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I have a PC with a 500 Mhz processor that is so slow
with XP it is
>basically
>> useless. Previously I had Windows 2000 installed. After
one of the service
>> pack upgrades and the upgrade to the latest Windows
Media Player the
>> machine became very slow.
>>
>> I upgraded to XP Professional and things got worse.
>
>Yes, I'm not surprised. The real-world mininum spec. for
XP is higher than
>Microsoft cares to mention.
>
>> I know 500Mhz is slow for the current market but that's
all I can afford
>> right now. What configuration changes can I make to
speed up the machine?
>
>Well, 500Mhz is slow, but not
>"ahhh-it's-that-old-time-to-throw-it-in-the-trash" old.
I would say, if it
>were me with that PC, I'd try:
>
>a) Adding a lot of RAM, say 1 or 2GBs of RAM
>
>b) Have two fast drives, like Western Digital Raptors
(10K RPM). Put the OS
>on one and your data on the other. Believe me, those
drives alone speeded
>up my 2GHz+ system. Also, put your swap file on the
second drive. You may
>have to buy a Serial ATA PCI card for this.
>
>That's all I can think of, that is practical. Of course,
with that system
>I'd consider Linux or at best, Windows 2000 Pro - to
prolong its life.
>Seriously.
>
>@drian.
>
>
>.
>