XP: suggestions on performance?

[Guest]

have some tech experience, but want to become better at performance. any
help / explanations appreciated, will reply to questions.

came up with (problems) / ideas:
- Large excel file, not enough ram, small app crash
I've been desparatley working on ways to streamline pc:
- removing most all icons from desktop (big difference), found:
system, advanced, performance, visual / advanced / dep....

only 130MB ram.. but see paging file as needing to be alittle larger that
system suggested same as ram size (seems to be wrong answer, by night-day)
increased to (400 - 600MB) (same as virtual mem)
pc says below that: min allowed 2MB, Recommended 190MB, Current: 286
Cache is automatically cleaned daily (minus preset keep items)

 

[Workshop]

More RAM is one of the very best performance enhancers on under-spec'd
machines - can be major. If your system only has 190MB RAM then it's
underpowered for a computer running XP. Think about going for 512MB.

A significantly faster harddrive is the other. If the harddrive is 5400 rpm
then a switch to a 7200 rpm one can make a very noticable improvement.
Regardless of rotaional speed, defragmenting the harddrives will improve the
performance some.

 

[Guest]

Thanks ! will check that out. My ram is actually worse than you wrote..
that is the recommended (by pc) value for paging file/virtual mem. (aol
/pctools app: wrong) suggested same as ram 120MB, computer came to a stop
with java apps running.

reset back to my setting: 400-600 paging file, only have (actual) 130MB
will work on that... just can't now thanks again.. processor too I
suppose.. have a 2002 dell average at time... thanks, got it.

Do you recommend any of the accelerators (what-ever are) memory accelerator
apps, don't know if there is a 3rd party (if recommended) web page
accelerator (believe was juno? maybe now aol, not using either) that allowed
web pages to load faster from lowered graphics.

Saw some good improvement using Zonelabs Zone Alarm Firewall Suite (headers
are blocked) = faster loads

 

[Curt Christianson]

Hi nastech,

Forget about the "accelerators". All they do is cache web pages you've
already been to.
If you want to speed performance, try Control Panel->System, on the Advanced
tab under "Performance" select "Settings", and click the radio button for
"best performance". That *will* turn off a lot of the "eye candy", but make
the PC run faster. All the cute animations, sound effects, fade in and
outs, all take it's toll on performance; unless we're the fortunate few that
have state of the art machines.
Mine:
AMD K6-2 @ 500 MHz
256 MB RAM
56K dial-up.........................and I love it.
I'm running under the exact conditions I suggested to you.

P.S. In Internet Explorer->Options->Advanced you have the option to even
stop some graphics loading on web sites--this too will speed up performance
in some cases. One always has the option of "right clicking" and selecting
"show picture" for a particular site.

--
Curt

http://dundats.mvps.org/
http://dundats.proboards27.com/index.cgi
http://www.aumha.org/

 

[Bruce Chambers]

have some tech experience, but want to become better at performance. any
help / explanations appreciated, will reply to questions.

came up with (problems) / ideas:
- Large excel file, not enough ram, small app crash
I've been desparatley working on ways to streamline pc:
- removing most all icons from desktop (big difference), found:
system, advanced, performance, visual / advanced / dep....

only 130MB ram.. but see paging file as needing to be alittle larger that
system suggested same as ram size (seems to be wrong answer, by night-day)
increased to (400 - 600MB) (same as virtual mem)
pc says below that: min allowed 2MB, Recommended 190MB, Current: 286
Cache is automatically cleaned daily (minus preset keep items)

You have no where enough RAM; 128 Mb is enough to meet WinXP's minimum
requirements for installation, but not enough if you really want to use
the computer. You need to increase the RAM to at least 256 Mb, although
512 Mb of RAM seems to be WinXP's "sweet spot," for most users.

Also, as you've mentioned a large Excel file, you might want to check
the amount of your video adapter's RAM. If you're using an integrated
video adapter that shares system RAM, you'll definitely need closer to
512 Mb of system RAM. If you have a separate video adapter (either PCI
or AGP) make sure that you're using one with at least 128 Mb of
dedicated video RAM.

As for the swap file, just let WinXP manage it; simply make sure that
your hard drive is defragmented, and that there's enough free space to
allow the swap file to grow as needed.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Thanks ! will check that out. My ram is actually worse than you wrote..
that is the recommended (by pc) value for paging file/virtual mem. (aol
/pctools app: wrong) suggested same as ram 120MB, computer came to a stop
with java apps running.

Ah! A new clue. Remove any and all AOL bloatware/malware and switch to
a real ISP that doesn't require the installation of anything on the
computer.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Guest]

Hi, thanks, to break down info had / thought I had:
- accelerators, some isp's (would think can get as 2nd party app)
interchange meaning of accelerator? to mean not loading some Percentage of
graphics you pick?
(would be negated by using your other suggestion for blocking graphics, but
seeing some % of might be preferable too.

thanks for the other ideas as well..!

 

[Guest]

- Thanks ! is verizon a good altrenative? (like the bloatware term by the
way.. looking deeper at firewalls lately)
- ps stuff, I know about my basic ram, (waiting to afford), rest was needed
too. thanks.