very slow computer

L

Linda in Iowa

My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack 3.
It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.

It has gotten so slow that I wait for it to print or wonder if I really
clicked a button at times. I also get a lot of virtual memory messages. It
has a 40 gig hard drive with 16 gig of free space. My cable internet
connection is like a dial up these days.

I have thought about cleaning the hard drive as in formatting and
reinstalling windows and programs I need, but then all those updates need to
be redone. Is there an easy way to clean up the hard drive so i can remove
all those little unknown things that mysteriously get there?

Not ready to buy a new computer as I don't want Vista and also don't want to
spend the money as this computer is more than adequate for what I need.

Thanks.
 
J

JS

You have more than enough free space on the
hard drive. That said you can run 'Disk Cleanup'
to remove any unnecessary junk.

The run 'Disk Defragmenter'.

Add another 256MB of memory.

What is the make and model of your PC?

What AV software do you use?
 
J

Jim

Linda in Iowa said:
My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack
3. It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.

It has gotten so slow that I wait for it to print or wonder if I really
clicked a button at times. I also get a lot of virtual memory messages.
It has a 40 gig hard drive with 16 gig of free space. My cable internet
connection is like a dial up these days.

I have thought about cleaning the hard drive as in formatting and
reinstalling windows and programs I need, but then all those updates need
to be redone. Is there an easy way to clean up the hard drive so i can
remove all those little unknown things that mysteriously get there?

Not ready to buy a new computer as I don't want Vista and also don't want
to spend the money as this computer is more than adequate for what I need.

Thanks.
Your computer will never be a speed demon. However, installing more RAM and
letting the system manage the size of the pagefile would help.

Jim
 
R

Ron Badour

512 mb is the bare minimum I recommend for XP--if you are using any memory
hungry programs you might need to go up even more. However, since you don't
want to invest any money, I suggest that you run Msconfig.exe and look at
what is on the startup tab. I'll bet you have a ton of stuff starting at
boot and running in the background. Google each entry and see if you can
determine if the file actually needs to be running. If it doesn't, shut it
off. You also might want to get rid of needless toolbars and other add ons
that aren't really needed. If you haven't defragged recently, do that also.
--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
D

db

a pentium 4 is pretty
good.

unfortunately, the powerful
cpu is being hindered by
several bottlenecks.

my suggestion is to
upgrade your system ram
to 1 gigabyte.

upgrade your hard drive
to at least 80 gigs

and add a video board
with at least 256megs of
graphics memory.

the three upgrades above
will turn your turtle into a
jack rabbit.

incidentally, if you get
a larger disk you can
just add it to your system
as a slave/secondary
drive.

windows and your programs
won't have to be reinstalled
and you can simply move the user
data instead;

providing relief to your
over burdened master disk.


--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @hotmail.com
"share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
R

Rudy

My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack
3.
It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.

Sounds like my 2003 Dell laptop. I had 256 Mb til last Fall and was
experiencing similar SL-O-O-O-W

I went online and found two 512's for under $20 each so U/G my ram to 1 Gig
(max for this machine) ..that made a BIG difference.
Then I checked all the programs that run on their own at startup (icons down
at the lower right side of the screen) and was able to shut down several.
That made a noticeable improvement as well.
As someone else said, you can go to START>RUN> type in MSCONFIG then "OK" ..
Next, 'click' on the STARTUP TAB at the top. That will also show you many
programs that run on startup. Check the names of them individually on
GOOGLE (or on www.answersthatwork.com /Task List) and see what they re
actually doing. My guess is several can be unchecked or shut down.

I too dont want VISTA so I'm trying to make this machine "be the best it can
be" for the immediate future. Good luck with yours
 
G

Gerry

Linda

What is the CPU and how much RAM does the computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on ther Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You may help system performance by changing programmes from starting
during the boot process to loading on demand. Minimising multi-tasking
will help. Putting shortcuts like Show Desktop, Internet Explorer,
Outlook Express and Windows Explorer in the Quick Launch Tray may help
to encourage you to close these applications after use as it is easy to
reopen them when required.

Minimising the use of Add-Ons with Internet Explorer will help.

Avoid seciuity software which generates excessive demands for memory.
McAfee and Norton products are notably among those to be avoided.

Avoid using facilities which run in the background when they can be run
when the computer is not being used. An example is Diskeeper which can
continuously defragment when it can be set to run on demand.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
U

Unknown

Did you read her post??????
Gerry said:
Linda

What is the CPU and how much RAM does the computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on ther Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You may help system performance by changing programmes from starting
during the boot process to loading on demand. Minimising multi-tasking
will help. Putting shortcuts like Show Desktop, Internet Explorer,
Outlook Express and Windows Explorer in the Quick Launch Tray may help
to encourage you to close these applications after use as it is easy to
reopen them when required.

Minimising the use of Add-Ons with Internet Explorer will help.

Avoid seciuity software which generates excessive demands for memory.
McAfee and Norton products are notably among those to be avoided.

Avoid using facilities which run in the background when they can be run
when the computer is not being used. An example is Diskeeper which can
continuously defragment when it can be set to run on demand.

--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
G

Gerry

It's obvious you didn't!


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
R

Ron Badour

The reason you were asked the question is because of the first para of her
post:

My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack
3. It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.


--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
 
E

Expert

No amount of cleaning will improve the speed of your system. The only way to
rectify your system to its original state is to reformat your HD and to
reinstall the OS. To do this, you should have either your original operating
system CD or recovery Cd as supplied by your vendor.

Please also make copies of all your personal documents and emails including
photos and music files as wiping your HD erases all these files.

The spec of your system is more pwerful than my own which is Pentium 3! with 256
RAM.
 
G

Gerry

Quite Ron. I was asking about the Commit Charge. Unknown is one of those
contributors who offer little and love to pick up on irrelevant points
in other peoples posts.

Now I can just as easily pick up points in posts by others including
yours but it generally does not help resolve anything so I try to
refrain from doing it!


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
P

Patrick Keenan

Linda in Iowa said:
My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack
3. It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.

It has gotten so slow that I wait for it to print or wonder if I really
clicked a button at times. I also get a lot of virtual memory messages.
It has a 40 gig hard drive with 16 gig of free space. My cable internet
connection is like a dial up these days.

I have thought about cleaning the hard drive as in formatting and
reinstalling windows and programs I need, but then all those updates need
to be redone. Is there an easy way to clean up the hard drive so i can
remove all those little unknown things that mysteriously get there?

Not ready to buy a new computer as I don't want Vista and also don't want
to spend the money as this computer is more than adequate for what I need.

Thanks.

I seldom recommend spending time working on such systems, because much
newer, and much faster, but used and inexpensive systems are easy to find.
And there's no requirement for you to go to Vista.

I regularly purchase used name brand PC's, currently it's mostly HP d7100
systems, which are Pentium 4's around 3gHz with between 512 meg and 2 gig
RAM, with a valid XP Pro license, for between $130 and $200. You would
find the difference in performance dramatic.

These don't come with monitors, and sometimes without keyboard or mouse; you
use your old ones. Note that they often do not come with the install
media, but DO have the license sticker, so you can use any of the same-type
OEM XP install CDs. You find the correct CD, then slipstream it so the
major updates are done.

If your system is 7 years old and has the original hard disk, that disk is
at the end of its life. They *do wear out*, and this can be part of why
your sytem is slow. Wiping and reinstalling to it will frankly just
reduce its usable life.

New hard disks are inexpensive - you can't even get 40 gig drives new
anymore, but an 80 gig drive is in the under-$50 range. I do recommend
replacing the drive so that you get the full life-span of the hard disk.

If you took this route, you'd set up the "new" system as you prefer, remove
the drive from your old system, attach it to the "new one", and copy your
data over to your new account. This ensures that you won't miss any of the
files Microsoft helpfully put in hidden folders - like your mail and address
book files.

HTH
-pk
 
U

Unknown

So many times you ask questions that are clearly answerable in the original
post.
Tis obvious you just jump in and make an idiot of yourself so many times.
 
G

Gerry

Is the rest of the post relevant?


--


Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
U

Unknown

Are these really the words of an expert??
Expert said:
No amount of cleaning will improve the speed of your system. The only way
to
rectify your system to its original state is to reformat your HD and to
reinstall the OS. To do this, you should have either your original
operating
system CD or recovery Cd as supplied by your vendor.

Please also make copies of all your personal documents and emails
including
photos and music files as wiping your HD erases all these files.

The spec of your system is more pwerful than my own which is Pentium 3!
with 256
RAM.
 
R

Richard

Linda in Iowa said:
My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack
3. It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.

It has gotten so slow that I wait for it to print or wonder if I really
clicked a button at times. I also get a lot of virtual memory messages.
It has a 40 gig hard drive with 16 gig of free space. My cable internet
connection is like a dial up these days.

I have thought about cleaning the hard drive as in formatting and
reinstalling windows and programs I need, but then all those updates need
to be redone. Is there an easy way to clean up the hard drive so i can
remove all those little unknown things that mysteriously get there?

Not ready to buy a new computer as I don't want Vista and also don't want
to spend the money as this computer is more than adequate for what I need.

Thanks.

Hi Linda,

I'm running Windows XP-pro SP3 on a Dell, with pentium 4, 3Ghz and 1024MB
ram, and freshly defragged hard drive, and numerous applications and
processes going and everything is lightning fast, (except the 56K dial up
connection, of course. :)

Not much else needs to be added to what others have provided in the way of
tips on freeing up memory. Defragging will help your virtual memory problems
a little. You have plenty of free drive space. Limiting how many programs
are operating will help. Your main problem is you only have 256MB ram. Your
computer is not keeping up with the increasing demands of modern versions of
programs. Ram memory is lightning fast. There are physical limits on how
fast your drive can shuffle-bored its virtual memory data back and forth.
(Did I remember to say that, "Ram memory is lightning fast"? :)

The difference between fast RAM and slow virtual memory? Virtual MEM is sort
of like talking to someone, and instead of speaking each thought that comes
to mind immediately, you, uh, instead, write down the thought with pen and
paper, and then read that to the person you are speaking to, and then write
down the reply you hear, without thinking about what you are writing, and
then you read the reply, and then think about what it says, and then think
about what to say in response, and write down your cogitations and musings,
and read the response to the other person, and, (Look how he smiles when he
talks!) and you write down his reply, without thinking about what you are
writing, and then silently read the reply, (or you could do a clever
imitation of Dan Rather repetition,) and, (wait a sec... you find yourself
wondering if he mis-spoke, or you mis-wrote the word "teh" instead of "the",
but who really cares what Type-O negative people think? Oh Wow! is that my
favorite song playing? HEY, TURN THAT UP!) and then, let's see, oh yeah,
thinking long and hard about what to say, not wanting to be too obtuse, (of
course,) and, (Oh that's uh Byoo-Tuh-Full Song!) and then, instead of just
blurting it out, you slowly start to write it down, and pause, and massage
your hand, since the first sign of writer's cramp is beginning to set in,
and (Whew!) you finish writing your most concise and to the point, "one
liner" ever, and begin to read it to the other person, and, er, uh, Hello?
(Where'd he go?) Come out, come out, where EVER you are! (Where'd he go?)
ALL-ee ALL-ee out, income FREE! (Was I talking too fast? :)

You're welcome. --Richard

(The one liner? --> Buy RAM - Plug In - Zoom Zoom! :)
 
D

donna

Linda in Iowa said:
My computer is about 7 years old. Running windows xp home. Service pack 3.
It is a pentium 4 cpu 1.80 GHz and 256 MB of ram.

It has gotten so slow that I wait for it to print or wonder if I really
clicked a button at times. I also get a lot of virtual memory messages. It
has a 40 gig hard drive with 16 gig of free space. My cable internet
connection is like a dial up these days.

I have thought about cleaning the hard drive as in formatting and
reinstalling windows and programs I need, but then all those updates need to
be redone. Is there an easy way to clean up the hard drive so i can remove
all those little unknown things that mysteriously get there?

Not ready to buy a new computer as I don't want Vista and also don't want to
spend the money as this computer is more than adequate for what I need.

Thanks.


what kind virus protect? do you have registry tool?
 

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