Speeding up computer

phigity · Post by **phigity** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 9:33 pm

i'm over at my friend's hosue and he has a dell 2.6 with 256mb ram. i know it's not a lot of ram but i still think their computer should be a lot faster then what it is. i've uninstalled all useless programs, empty temp files, and ran spybot. what else can i do to make the computer faster? i know the amount of ram they have isn't a lot but would it greatly improve their speed if they upgraded to 512mb? would it be better to buy one stick of 512mb versus buying another 256mb stick? i know ram isn't that expensive and they don't need anything too powerful. thanks a lot for your help.

i'm also going to be doing some upgrades on my computers at work. i'm a com tech for wachovia bank. i need to speed up the computers so the other employees will be able to be more productive. any info would be helpful. thanks again!!!

MadDoctor · Post by **MadDoctor** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:01 pm

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/winxp.htm

You could shut down some services at startup.

opmharley · Post by **opmharley** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:08 pm

I would personally get the stick of 512 but the stick of 256 will make a huge difference. and what is slow about the computer did you ever visit the tweaking forum and tweak your internet/ theirs? Harley

phigity · Post by **phigity** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:28 pm

it's not just the internet thats slow. it's pretty much the entire computer. every app that starts takes awhile to load and in general everything could use some speeding up.

TonyT · Post by **TonyT** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 7:07 am

1. set unneeded Services to manual or disabled.
2. reduce apps that run in the background.
3. reduce graphics intensive services and apps running in the background, e.g. Themes, Menu effects, ect. (Rt click My Comp\Advanced Tab\Performance settings button)

You work for Wachovis? I bank w/ Wachovia and have a beef/request. I use the online banking and would like to be able to download account summaries in CSV format. At one time, CSV download was available but is no longer. The account downloads are limited to MS Money and Quicken formats. CSV can be imported into any spreadsheet app, even an sql database. I think it predudicial to not have CSV formats available to download. PLEASE pass this request on to the decision makers.

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:18 am

Also make sure you are virus and spyware free. Use a good AV app, Ad-Aware, SpyBot, SpywareBlaster and look into a Corporate version of maybe SpySweeper .

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 10:35 am

Recommend adding 256 stick of RAM to bring to 512. If a heavy gamer...consider more.

Remove the OEM antivirus that came with it, and get a light weight antivirus. The computer most likely came with an OEM consumer version of Symantec or McAfee, both of which are resource hogs. Highly recommend uninstall those, and replacing with a light weight, and better, antivirus app, such as AVG or NOD32.

As for computers at the work place, depends on how they're networked, and what they are running...a lot we can review here, but need much more info here.

loop2kil · Post by **loop2kil** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:41 am

you mentioned scanning for spyware but did you ever check for viruses?
and i agree with YOSC's advice

darlin · Post by **darlin** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:26 pm

After running spyware products and virus scan, also run disk dfrag, and follow the other suggestions metioned in this thread.

Capitalizt · Post by **Capitalizt** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 1:36 am

if you haven't yet, download Ad-Aware.
Make sure you UPDATE it, along with Spybot. After updating both programs, run the FULL scan with both to clean up his system.

Do what the others mentioned...visit blackviper and disable any services he doesn't need.

Once you disable the unnecessary services, reboot into safe mode and defragment the disk (start, programs, accessories, system tools, defrag)

Next, go into control panel...find the fonts folder, and move all of the fancy fonts he doesn't need to a new folder called font backup. XP loads EVERYTHING in the control panel font folder by default each time it boots...making the system load slowly. Moving the fancy fonts into another folder will speed things up.

After moving the unwanted fonts into your new font backup folder, get it OFF the desktop, along with any other icons/folders that don't need to be there. The more icons you have, the more RAM wasted.

Also, make sure to change his background image from a picture to a simple tiled background, or no background at all. It won't be as pretty, but it will save lots of RAM.

Next, go to the "Folders" option under control panel...look through the tabs on top until you see an area with a bunch of checkboxes. Uncheck "automatically search for network connections and printers" (something like that), then click ok.

Finally, back on the desktop...right click "my computer", click "advanced"...then choose "adjust for best performance", and click only the 'font smoothing' and 'drop shadows' boxes...Leave everything else blank.

reboot again and things should be nice and fast.
Let us know how it goes.

Andrzej · Post by **Andrzej** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 8:24 am

... Speeding up computer ... ohhh it's never endnig story
IMVHO still always the same points in hierarchy of importance
CPU faster in GHz is better (but 'M' Intel's series)
but for Internet connections more than 1000MHz is not such important
RAM fast, huge, more is better
upgrade up to 512MB can speed-up PC (more is not such evident)
OTOH for near future up to RAM 1GB should be recomended
HDD modern, fast, huge, with big buffer
separate partition for OS (easy made it's image & re-install, also derag)
the fist one - small volume (eg as twice OS) for install OS, prg, backups
also on regular basis backup setting (recovery point, registry backup ect)
espetialy before evry experiment eg with new prg installation
than the second partition - for images of the first one (recovery from images in few min)
eg me several images (inluding w95, 98, wxp, w2k)
the third one - (the most often used) for : documents & dowloads & unziped & DVD
the forth one - for CD-ROM coppies (eg OS, paches, drivers ect)
OS w2k & wxp are similar (have no experience with w2k3, longhort ect)
Free Resources more is better;
see on CPU acttivity on :
'startup'
with 'OS's services'
'system try' (close to clock) means prgs on background,
'task bar' means actual runing prgs
sharing : files , connection
but also : viruses, troians, spayware ect
firewall; anti~prgs
Page File size, settings (it is v.long story)
Defragmentation HDD, Registry, Page File
Used applications eg exacting programs
OS is slimed regular cleaning : HDD, registry, trush,
anti-vir,spy,troi ect~prgs
still regular made OS partition's images (also clean installations)
and re-install from saved OS partition image are recomended
the last one depends on experiments (eg me evry 4-5 weeks)
OS tweaks eg X-setup prg
Memory management programs eg for : RAM, buffers ect
Internet connection faster is beter (CAPS in MBps & latency in ms)
ISP: fiber, cable or adsl depends on local both ability & quality
no special recomendations for modem
PCI ethernet card (NIC)
good router for connection sharing are recomended
wireless for laptops
wxp & w2k OS tweaking is not such important as for w95.98.se.me
Security, protection manegments eg firerwalls : ISP, hardware, software

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:09 pm

if you got two slots and one is full of a 256chip.. and thats all thats in there.. go to two 512's!! they are cheap enough now for a good upgrade that will take care of about 90% of the slow ness in the computer.. the rest is just as everyone here said.. clean computer good.. a defrag,spyware,etc... startup programs you don't run or need to boot when you start computer also. I'll also suggest a backup battery for it to keep a consistant flow of juice going to it.. a brown out will be just as harmful if not more than a surge which thats the only thing you will get from a surge protector, and that will help keep it stable and shut down properly in case of a power failure.