My computer is growing tired

[Greg]

Hi All,

My computer is growing tired. Below this message are some stats about my
setup that might be useful.

The computer is 5 years old now. I know, ancient by today's standards, but
it's what we have right now. Over time, between installed software,
uninstalled software, etc., it seems to have gotten slower. I've heard that
every once in a while, it's not a bad idea to initialize the hard disk and
reinstall the software.

Do people generally think this is a good idea? What are the recommended
steps in doing so? Any other recommendations or prevetitive maintenece.

Thanks,

Greg

btw: I run MS Anti spyware on a regular basis and Norton Antivirus. I
defrag on a regular basis. Temp files are purged. Error checking the hard
disks shows they are fine. I'm also wirelessly networked to our laptop.
(God knows how I got that running). Will I have to reconfigure this to get
it running?


Computer info:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
System Model XPS-Z
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~729 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Intel Corp. A11, 6/11/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180
(xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 384.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 116.47 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.44 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Additionally, there are 3 hard disks. 2x 20GB and 1x 80GB. The 2x20 GB
hard drives have about 2 gigs available on each, the 80 GB (which is used
for backup) has about 45GB available.

 

[Chuck]

Hi All,

My computer is growing tired. Below this message are some stats about my
setup that might be useful.

The computer is 5 years old now. I know, ancient by today's standards, but
it's what we have right now. Over time, between installed software,
uninstalled software, etc., it seems to have gotten slower. I've heard that
every once in a while, it's not a bad idea to initialize the hard disk and
reinstall the software.

Do people generally think this is a good idea? What are the recommended
steps in doing so? Any other recommendations or prevetitive maintenece.

Thanks,

Greg

btw: I run MS Anti spyware on a regular basis and Norton Antivirus. I
defrag on a regular basis. Temp files are purged. Error checking the hard
disks shows they are fine. I'm also wirelessly networked to our laptop.
(God knows how I got that running). Will I have to reconfigure this to get
it running?


Computer info:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name
System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
System Model XPS-Z
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~729 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Intel Corp. A11, 6/11/2002
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180
(xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 384.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 116.47 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 1.44 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

Additionally, there are 3 hard disks. 2x 20GB and 1x 80GB. The 2x20 GB
hard drives have about 2 gigs available on each, the 80 GB (which is used
for backup) has about 45GB available.

Greg,

You have a P-4 (?) 730 Mhz with 384MB. See if it will support more memory -
memory is very cheap nowadays, certainly doubling what you have is cheap enough.
My #3 computer is a P-3 450 MHz with 512MB (512 is the max for it), and it runs
fine. Not as well as my #1 computer (a sort of ancient P-5 1.6Ghz with 768MB),
but tolerably well.

Having multiple computers dramatically reduces stress level. You know that if
you screw one up (Patch Tuesday is monthly now), or if the disk dies, you can
recover using another computer.

Reinstalling the operating system, and just the applications that you need, is
not a bad idea. I do that on each computer, once a year. It's a good exercise,
lets me inventory what I have, and forces me to discard what I don't need or
don't use.

You do have the operating system (and the pagefile) on dedicated partitions,
right? That is a good way to increase system performance.

That said, your security strategy is just a portion of a layered defense
strategy. If you use a computer to any amount, you need more than just an
antivirus and one antispyware product. There's just a chance that HijackThis
might turn up unknown software.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/please-protect-yourself-layer-your.html>
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/dealing-with-malware-adware-spyware.html>

 

[Jim]

Hi All,

My computer is growing tired. Below this message are some stats about my
setup that might be useful.

The computer is 5 years old now. I know, ancient by today's standards, but
it's what we have right now. Over time, between installed software,
uninstalled software, etc., it seems to have gotten slower. I've heard that
every once in a while, it's not a bad idea to initialize the hard disk and
reinstall the software.

Do people generally think this is a good idea? What are the recommended
steps in doing so? Any other recommendations or prevetitive maintenece.

Thanks,

Greg

It looks to me like it was born tired....
I think reinstallation without reason is just another way to fix something
that isn't broken.
Jim