Reply to: Can't work out best way of upgrading PC

[umbongo]

Well I cannot believe how this PC is flying now - without re-installing, buying more memory or upgrading any hardware.

A friend told me to try Google Chrome, I did this and in combination of turning off some of the virus checking services it feels like new again. Even with 1Gb of RAM the task manager shows loads of "available memory" depending on how many windows I open of course.

OK so I might need to switch to a different AntiVirus, for the time being though the PC has been saved from the scrapheap!

NOD32 from ESET get's my vote, seems to be the one that uses the least amount of memory and processing power, Innoculate was the worst I came across, used 40% CPU all the time :P

[Spacecadet]

Anti Virus and anti spyware can slow the PC down but I think you already know that!

Possibly the media components you have installed are causing some issues. Like with the anti virus and spyware crap they can sometime spend a long time going through your hard drive looking for new stuff to index and never actually doing anything useful.
I recently removed nero from my laptop and i've seen a marked improvement in performance.

With regards to partitioning... I wouldn't bother.
Reformat the drive. Do a clean install of the OS and all apps. Back up using some decent back up software then make sure that all data is regularly backed up.
If anything happens you can restore the OS from the backup and copy the data back over.

1GB ram should be enough

[MPwannadecentincome]

UPDATE Using Google Chrome instead of IE8 and turned off some Avast services

Well I cannot believe how this PC is flying now - without re-installing, buying more memory or upgrading any hardware.

A friend told me to try Google Chrome, I did this and in combination of turning off some of the virus checking services it feels like new again. Even with 1Gb of RAM the task manager shows loads of "available memory" depending on how many windows I open of course.

OK so I might need to switch to a different AntiVirus, for the time being though the PC has been saved from the scrapheap!

[BoredBloke]

It did this from day 1, I never did bother to find out why do I don't user hibernate.




hey thanks I will take a look but I have already tried registry cleaners how is this one any different?

Because they work. Obviously back things up before you use them, but I use them all the time and the do a pretty good job. I had one PC where it had never had anything done with it and was a woefull spec. Connecting to the internet was practically impossible but these two managed to clear out the crap that had clogged things up over the years. Extra memory will help also. 1 GB is fine for XP but 2 is better.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Aria do new base systems for £100 all bound to better than what you have.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Special+Offers

No OS but you can get windows 7 cheaply under academic license (£30). Or if you bought your OS with a component part e.g. hdd use that.


Maybe go for the atom based ones if its on all the time save power.

I used a PC with atom for internet browsing - it was slower than the one I have now. I will look at the others, thanks

[MPwannadecentincome]

Hibernate is taking 15 mins when all it does is dump 1Gb to disc?

It did this from day 1, I never did bother to find out why do I don't user hibernate.

If you're dead set on upgrading rather than buying new, then you can probably get away with upgrading just one component.

Just plug a new base new unit the mouse, keyboard and monitor(s) and violla - one upgraded PC

HTH

Go to download.com and get a copy of Advanced SystemCare Free and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Update and run both. They clear a lot of crap out on your PC. If anybody asks me to look at their slow PC I use both of these and they do make a big difference. Perhaps not as good as a complete reinstall, but pretty good.

hey thanks I will take a look but I have already tried registry cleaners how is this one any different?

[BoredBloke]

Go to download.com and get a copy of Advanced SystemCare Free and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. Update and run both. They clear a lot of crap out on your PC. If anybody asks me to look at their slow PC I use both of these and they do make a big difference. Perhaps not as good as a complete reinstall, but pretty good.

[vetran]

Aria do new base systems for £100 all bound to better than what you have.

http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Special+Offers

No OS but you can get windows 7 cheaply under academic license (£30). Or if you bought your OS with a component part e.g. hdd use that.


Maybe go for the atom based ones if its on all the time save power.

[centurian]

Yep and in no time at all when he's reloaded all the usual shyte we put on our pc's, he'll be back to square one.

New pc is the only way to go. Eventually he'll still be back to the position he's in now but that's likely to be 18months or perhaps 3 or 4 years in the future.

I have an old pc, a 650 athlon or something running XP. Its got as much memory onboard as it can take, a graphics card with about 512 meg of RAM. It gets defragged regularly, temp files cleared out, scan disc etc and its still slow as a slug compared to this dual core laptop Im using now.

The laptop is dual core 5800 2mhz with 3 gig of memory. Much better.

Maybe it's just the IT geeks way of "comparing sizes" or competing by getting a better sports car, but my PC is faster, has more RAM and HD space than all the desktops at ClientCo, and quite a few of the servers as well - and I make sure all the permie's know it.

If I'm feeling in a real wind-up mood, then I point out that I effectively get it for half price by putting it through LtdCo.

[dinker]

Tweaking an old PC is pointless when the major irritant is the performance of the browser with complex web pages.

[BolshieBastard]

I really would look at formatting the HDD and doing a fresh install of XP before you go spending any money.

Yep and in no time at all when he's reloaded all the usual shyte we put on our pc's, he'll be back to square one.

New pc is the only way to go. Eventually he'll still be back to the position he's in now but that's likely to be 18months or perhaps 3 or 4 years in the future.

I have an old pc, a 650 athlon or something running XP. Its got as much memory onboard as it can take, a graphics card with about 512 meg of RAM. It gets defragged regularly, temp files cleared out, scan disc etc and its still slow as a slug compared to this dual core laptop Im using now.

The laptop is dual core 5800 2mhz with 3 gig of memory. Much better.

[umbongo]

hehehe

Way down deep in de middle of de Congo, a hippo took an apricot, a guava and a mango.

I'm going to have that going round my head all day now, thanks.

my work here is done

[Clippy]

I really would look at formatting the HDD and doing a fresh install of XP before you go spending any money.

[centurian]

Buy a new one.

If you're dead set on upgrading rather than buying new, then you can probably get away with upgrading just one component.

Just plug a new base new unit the mouse, keyboard and monitor(s) and violla - one upgraded PC

HTH

[Durbs]

umbongo

Way down deep in de middle of de Congo, a hippo took an apricot, a guava and a mango.

I'm going to have that going round my head all day now, thanks.