System performance

[Shakeel Ahmad]

Hello,
I am writing some information about my PC. Please read this
and tell me that why my pc's performance is not so good. it works very
slowly. it does not work as it should do.
----------------------------------------------
These are some information about my PC:
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Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
(2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: VIA Technologies, Inc.
System Model: VT8601
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(TM) CPU 1300MHz
Memory: 152MB RAM
Page File: 221MB used, 144MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices:
---------------
Card name: Trident Video Accelerator Blade 3D/ProMedia
Manufacturer: Trident MicroSystems
Chip type: Trident Blade 3D/ProMedia
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1023&DEV_8500&SUBSYS_85001023&REV_6A
Display Memory: 8.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: trid3d.dll
Driver Version: 5.00.2471.0046 (English)
DDI Version: 7
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 8/17/2001 19:56:06, 315520 bytes

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Shakeel


In what year was this computer purchased new?

What is the motherboard manufacturer's model number.

152 mb RAM memory is insufficient for running Windows XP on most systems.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring Task Manager and select the Performance Tab.
What is the Total, the Commit Charge and the Peak?

How large is your hard drive? Is it partitioned? How much free space on each
drive / partition. How is the drive formatted -FAT32 or NTFS. To
get this information whilst in Windows Explorer place the cursor on each
drive in turn, right click and select Properties.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[John Barnett MVP]

To begin with you could do with more memory (RAM). But, in general, what
performance issues are you experiencing?

Have you done a full anti virus check? Have you used software such as
Ad-Aware (www.lavasoft.com) and Spybot search and destroy
(www.safer-networking.org) to check for spyware/malware. You might consider
using CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com) to empty your temporary internet files
(these can build up quite quickly), history files, cookies, and a host of
other files that need cleaning out. You might also consider defragmenting
your hard drive to see if there is any improvement. Another point is
software that loads as the pc boots. This, inevitably, slows down boot up
time. If there is software on your pc that you don't use then remove it. It
is pointless having your system bogged down with software that is never
used.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use
of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post..

 

[Guest]

From the specs you give about yr PC they r right your ram is not enough for
XP .Any way try reducing yr screen resolution to 800x600 and open up system
properties and advance -performance and untick all and just leave the last
two check.Your XP still look nice and faster.Hope it help increase your speed
a bit .

 

[Shakeel Ahmad]

Hello Sir,
Hope it will find you in best of your health. In the reply of
my main you asked for some information.
I am writing you all the information which are asked:
From Task Manager => Performance =>

Total Commit Charge
------ --------------
Handles 10881 Total 170480
Threads 424 Limit 375068
Processes 32 Peak 181132

Physical Memory(k) Kernel Memory (k)
---------------------- ------------------
Total 155124 Total 35256
Available 35904 Paged 28352
System Cache 60880 Nonpaged 6904
----------------------------------------------------
My Hard Drive is 40GB it has three Partitions and all the partitions are
50%free and all are formated with NTFS. and plz tell me that with my ram,
should i also increase my video memory which is 8MB now.

Thanks for your help
Best Regards,
Shakeel Ahmad.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Shakeel Ahmad]

I have System Mechanic by iolo technologies, LLC
There is an option in it "Maintenace Wizard"
It does the following:
=> Automatically searches for and removes junk and obsolete files and other
system debris from hard drive
=> Finds and cleans invalid information and references in the Windows
Registry.
=> Cleans up Internet browser cache, cookies, and other related buildup
created while surfing the Internet.

Best Regards,
Shakeel Ahmad.

 

[Guest]

Upgrade you RAM for marginally better performance. Your system seems to be
about 6 to 7 years old! Though your system seems to meets the minimum specs
for running WinXP, remember that it's the bare *minimum* specs. Don't expect,
say, Windows Explorer to open up in under 2 secs!

Whether you want to trash your current system and buy a *modern* computer is
up to you.

- Jeremy

 

[Shakeel Ahmad]

Hello Areischeah,
Yes it has made some positive changes in
my computer's performance. thanks
Best Regards,
Shakeel Ahmad.

 

[kenchi]

I have System Mechanic by iolo technologies, LLC There is an option i
it "Maintenace Wizard" It does the following: = Automaticall
searches for and removes junk and obsolete files and other syste
debris from hard drive = Finds and cleans invalid information an
references in the Windows Registry. = Cleans up Internet browse
cache, cookies, and other related buildup created while surfing th
Internet. Best Regards, Shakeel Ahmad.

Add more RAM, after cleaning out the drive, defragment it as it wil
improve speed

 

[Shakeel Ahmad]

Now i have increased my RAM. It is now 256MB. Is this enough? I am feeling
some better performance now.
===> I have another question. I have 8MB of video memory. can i increase it
by sharing ram with it?

Best Regards,
Shakeel Ahmad.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

256MB of RAM is better than you originally had. Whether it is enough will
depend upon what applications you run and how memory intensive they are. The
other thing, of course, is how much memory your motherboard will actually
take. Most modern board will take 2GB or more of memory; if yours is an old
machine your maximum memory may only be 256 or 512MB

Your video card is rather old too. Most video cards start at around 64MB now
with 128MB being a common one. Again, unless your video 'shared' main memory
originally the only way to increase it is to buy a new video card. Or,
maybe, a more cost effective way would be to consider a new PC. I may be
wrong in assuming your PC is some years old now, but i certainly would
consider a new PC than try to upgrade. If the PC is 2 years old then, okay,
upgrade If it is older than that, say 4 or 5 years then consider a new one.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use
of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post..