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- Thread starter DaveH
- Start date
Unless you're buying a 64 bit OS, Windows can't address 4G. About the only 32 bit reason for 4 G is an SLI video setup.
Phil
For what you are doing, performance hit a point where most people can't see processor improvements several years ago. I would clean the beast up as suggested, +1 on ZoneAlarm, and plug in in some RAM.
The linux switch is nice, but it more hassel that most households can stand.
The linux switch is nice, but it more hassel that most households can stand.
It's all fun and games until you want to run software you already own; run software from work; play a game; run Photoshop; connect your calculator, cell phone, PDA, or GPS; etc., etc.
Some of that can be accomplished by running a Windows emulator within Linux, but why bother installing a new OS just so you can trick your computer into thinking it's the old OS?
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2005
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- 6,768
Lots of good advice here but the Linux part , why bother ?
No offense but that's not a solution , switching to another OS.
Like Bob sort of said it's all cute and ohh and ahh until you want to get serious. Linux is a cool alternative , for now , but it's not the bees knees - folks might as well tell you to go spend several thousand dollars on a mac.
Clean up , defrag , killing what you do not need running in the background and buying that extra ram is going to make your PC dance like a honey drunk bear.
Another option which I don't think anyone mentioned is doing a fresh install of XP on your drive , that with a ram upgrade will make all the difference in the world.
Make sure to avoid most all free programs , games and such , hardly anything is free and oftem comes packed to the gills with spyware , "toolbars" and other such nonsense , all of which will slow your pc.
and yea , avoid Vista like an anthrax laden letter.
I hinted at it in post #8. "If you haven't reformatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows lately, your computer simply isn't running like did when new."
Even doing that, you'll hit a lot of the same obstacles as with linux. All of the software from work, Windows-only. Software that came with my cell phone, PDA, GPS, calculators, etc, all Windows-only. Wife's grading program, Windows-only.
A bit off-topic, but I'd like to qualify that. There are several honest download sites that only distribute true freeware and do not list spyware/shareware/crapware. Nonags, OnlyFreeware, Freeware Home, and Son of Spy Freeware come to mind. Lots of great freeware out there written by hobbiests, gov't and educational agencies, and the open source community.
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
- Messages
- 332
2.4 is plenty. Just reformat and add some ram. Maybe a faster hard drive if your computer is that old. You're running XP, right? Most app's should run fine with just 512. I'd try reformatting first, and if that doesn't speed things up, then get some more ram.
Maybe you're pagefiling too much. Take off a few startup programs?
Maybe you're pagefiling too much. Take off a few startup programs?
- Joined
- Jun 9, 1999
- Messages
- 4,729
RAM is so cheap that you might as well just add more and see if it improves your performance to acceptable levels. My processor is older and slower than yours, but with 1 GB of RAM my computer is fast enough for basic use.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2005
- Messages
- 6,768
Good point , the hard part is knowing what programs are truly free and the others in the majority that come with some sort of hidden price.
Spybot is a great example of a truly free program. AVI Split Classic is another , Peer Guardian is another.
My point was that it's not like "the old days" when free and safe programs were the norm , those written by just some guy ( usually residing somewhere in Scandanavia it seems
) for the simple peasure of helping others.Nowadays there are thousands of "free" programs disguised as old school , freelance style so folks will unwittingly use them thus infecting their pc with whatever silliness was attatched with the software.
It pays to be careful, that's for sure.
If you bought the computer new there should be restore files either on a CD or a partition on the hard drive.
If you bought it used, especially if it's a home-built computer, you're probably stuck with buying a new copy of the operating system. Even if someone loaned you their disk, I doubt you'd be able to register and activate it, meaning the computer would work for 30 days.
I fixed a computer with a similar problem a while back. It was an old computer that someone had installed Windows XP then sold the machine without including the XP disk. The new owner clogged it up with viruses and spyware so badly that the computer wouldn't run. The best solution was to erase the entire hard drive and install Windows 98se for them.
Good Luck,
-Bob
I have no idea, since I shun store-shelf computers. But the manufacturer should have the information for you.
If you post the brand name and model number, perhaps someone else here might have the same computer. Otherwise look for a Help forum at the manufacturer's website, or check out the wonderful help forums at www.computing.net .
Best Luck!
If you are on top of all the defrag and virus/spyware stuff, I hafta ask if you are using the "onboard" video adapter. If you are, the biggest gain in performance dollar for dollar will be in upgrading the video card. NO, I am NOT recommending throwing $200 into a gamers card. If you don't game, even a $25 budget card will go a long way to improving the speed at which you nav windows. As far as the apps loading speed, you could always toss a newer fast hard drive in, then switch that hard drive over to a new computer when you do upgrade.
They could have done a couple of things.
Some vendors used to copy the install disk to the hard drive in its own folder. This speeds up the install and makes it easy to refresh default settings. If they did that, hopefully there's an .iso file so you can burn a bootable image of it for rebuilding the computer, but I think MS would frown on such a setup practice at this point.
More likely is there is a boot option to go to the restore partition. HP has done this before. Watch your boot screen carefully and look for a restore option that you activate with a certain key press. Some other options should also be present for getting into the bios and so forth.
For my sisters new Sony laptop, there is a partition where you burn restore DVDs This was reached through a software tool installed at the factory. If such tools were deleted from your machine, burning the restore discs would be difficult if not impossible.
If that doesn't work, the easiest solution for re-installing things then is to find your windows license key but use someone else's disk. There should be a sticker on the computer with this license code. If not, download, install and run belarc advisor. You can get it at www.download.com. Belarc scans your computer and will pop open a browser with info on most everything about your computer. Scroll down to the Software Licenses section and you 'll see the license and key code for your Windows installation. Write those down.
Now you can install your windows from someone else's disc. Just enter your license when asked in the install process. As I understand it, if you have a license that says OEM in it, it's best to use an OEM install disk, as the license verifications are different from a retail? The difference between an OEM license and a general retail license is that the OEM license is locked to the PC it was originally installed on. The retail licenses can be migrated to newer machines.
Phil
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
- Messages
- 627
Item 1 - If you're running XP, you'll need at least 1Gb of RAM. If you're running Vista, get a new dual-core box, it's a pig.
Item 2 - Listen to the other people and check what's running.
Item 3 - Set your Internet Security (IE or Mozilla) to High
Item 2 - Listen to the other people and check what's running.
Item 3 - Set your Internet Security (IE or Mozilla) to High
I have an E Machines computer with an Intel Celeron processor. There is a sticker that says Windows XP home edition is preinstalled.
The boot screen had no keys mentioned. I tapped F8, F9, F10 each several times while the boot screen was up. Another screen came up that said "Select Boot Device"
It listed these three options
1) SM-JLMS XJ-HD1665
2) 1st Floppy Drive
3)PM-WDS WD800EB-00GJF0
The first option was default high lighted if that matters.
What should I do?
Also, how do I get to the applications that are running at startup?
Thanks,
Mike
The boot screen had no keys mentioned. I tapped F8, F9, F10 each several times while the boot screen was up. Another screen came up that said "Select Boot Device"
It listed these three options
1) SM-JLMS XJ-HD1665
2) 1st Floppy Drive
3)PM-WDS WD800EB-00GJF0
The first option was default high lighted if that matters.
What should I do?
Also, how do I get to the applications that are running at startup?
Thanks,
Mike
F8 is the usual key to bring up boot options for the computer. Those just pick the available drives, sometimes a network boot if it's supported. That doesn't acccess a special Windows install partition. Sorry.
It's there for booting from the CD drive or whatever other than your normal boot so its easy to flash a BIOS or reinstall the OS from CD.
I don't know how e-machines handle recovery boots/disks and a quick google didn't help but there may be better search terms than I used.
Phil
It's there for booting from the CD drive or whatever other than your normal boot so its easy to flash a BIOS or reinstall the OS from CD.
I don't know how e-machines handle recovery boots/disks and a quick google didn't help but there may be better search terms than I used.
Phil
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2002
- Messages
- 618
One thing I didn't see mentioned was to be sure you have adequate free space on your hard drive.
To tell you the truth, 512 mb of ram is the sweet spot for Win XP. (At least XP Home, not sure about XP Pro). More will make you a little quicker, but barely noticeable unless you are running a ton of apps at the same time.
I do always make sure I have at least 10 gb of free space on the hard drive, though. My swap file is near 2 GB. (And no matter how much RAM you have, XP is still gonna be swapping a lot of data back and forth with the swap file.)
I doubt that you need 10 gb of space free at all times, but I've fixed some computers running XP simply by freeing up space on the hard drive (sometimes there is hardly any space left at all!) and turning off startup programs (sometimes from the registry).
To tell you the truth, 512 mb of ram is the sweet spot for Win XP. (At least XP Home, not sure about XP Pro). More will make you a little quicker, but barely noticeable unless you are running a ton of apps at the same time.
I do always make sure I have at least 10 gb of free space on the hard drive, though. My swap file is near 2 GB. (And no matter how much RAM you have, XP is still gonna be swapping a lot of data back and forth with the swap file.)
I doubt that you need 10 gb of space free at all times, but I've fixed some computers running XP simply by freeing up space on the hard drive (sometimes there is hardly any space left at all!) and turning off startup programs (sometimes from the registry).