Bit of help required with slow XP very slow

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lynall

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The silver one.
My pc is driving me mad it has got so slow over the last few months but did not realise how slow until i dug out old laptop also on xp, and it started and was ready for action in well under one minute! main pc 2/3 mins then another min to get on the web and some pages can take up to 5 secs or so to load up, sometimes much more.

If i do a disc clean up it is a little better but only a little, dump cookies and files etc and again a marginal improvement.

According to the disc defrag there is 48% space left, which i am assuming is plenty.

Running stopzilla anti virus bug jobbie and when first used there was a marked improvement but even with regular scans its back to its old self.

Computer is a Tiny approx 4/5 years old, maybe time for a new pc?

Any advice appreciated




Lynall
 
Right just switched it off and got stopwatch out , 1 minute until username request ie just click on name, another full minute and its ready to go, then took a full 30secs after clicking on blueyonder tab on desktop until page appeared on the screen.

I would swear it usually takes longer prob because it so bloody annoying:mad:

I am begining to think its just had its day.



Lynall
 
Right just switched it off and got stopwatch out , 1 minute until username request ie just click on name, another full minute and its ready to go, then took a full 30secs after clicking on blueyonder tab on desktop until page appeared on the screen.

I would swear it usually takes longer prob because it so bloody annoying:mad:

I am begining to think its just had its day.



Lynall

Working with a machine that old takes all the fun out of computing.
If you can run to a new one, treat youself.

There are some amazing deals to be had these days.
There are very powerful laptops available if you dont fancy a desktop.
Just make sure you do your homework on the specs- intel quadcore, amount of ram, bluetooth, wireless, would be the things I would put at the top of my list.:)
 
intel quadcore, amount of ram, bluetooth, wireless, would be the things I would put at the top of my list.
smile.gif


All means squat to me:D Ram i know whats a quadcore?

Managed to find date was May 04 so its very old.

Start menu all progs clicked on each one loads were empty? old junk over the years i guess and its better but still slow, any recomendations best place to buy a new pc comet currys etc or are they to mainstream?


Lynall
 
intel quadcore, amount of ram, bluetooth, wireless, would be the things I would put at the top of my list.
smile.gif


All means squat to me:D Ram i know whats a quadcore?

Managed to find date was May 04 so its very old.

Start menu all progs clicked on each one loads were empty? old junk over the years i guess and its better but still slow, any recomendations best place to buy a new pc comet currys etc or are they to mainstream?


Lynall

Pc world are convenient. Didn't say I liked 'em but they are convenient.
QUADCORE is available for desktops.

2/3 gb of RAM and 200gb memory with intel core 2 duo processor would be nice machine.;)
 
PC world have this offer at the mo. 3gb and wifi.

If you dont want to go for new try crucial it can scan you pc and recommend memory upgrades but to be fair yours is nearly 5 years old so it has already served you pretty well.
 
Download CCleaner and spend some time cleaning your computer & restricting what programs are run at start up.

Mine is 5 year old from Tiny as well & it still flies after getting rid of all the cr+p.

Russ
 
Try adding extra ram, very cheap now. Sounds like you have many processes running on startup. Run the Windows task manager (alt, control delete) and look whats running, you may find the virus scanner is slowing your system down so schedule it to run when you are not at your pc.
 
If all the above fails archive the data -pics mp3 video clips bookmarks favorites emails address book etc you want to keep then wipe/reformat the disc and reinstall windows + the service packs. Should be good as new- however good that was - if you can't be bothered ---then new computer is the answer. If the new one runs VISTA be prepared for the possibility that some of your older software/hardware-printer etc won't run properly if at all. Best to check for vista drivers for the hardware and vista compatibility /upgrades for your software.
 
If all the above fails archive the data -pics mp3 video clips bookmarks favorites emails address book etc you want to keep then wipe/reformat the disc and reinstall windows + the service packs. Should be good as new- however good that was - if you can't be bothered ---then new computer is the answer. If the new one runs VISTA be prepared for the possibility that some of your older software/hardware-printer etc won't run properly if at all. Best to check for vista drivers for the hardware and vista compatibility /upgrades for your software.

agreed , re-install windows
 
If all the above fails archive the data -pics mp3 video clips bookmarks favorites emails address book etc you want to keep then wipe/reformat the disc and reinstall windows + the service packs. Should be good as new- however good that was - if you can't be bothered ---then new computer is the answer. If the new one runs VISTA be prepared for the possibility that some of your older software/hardware-printer etc won't run properly if at all. Best to check for vista drivers for the hardware and vista compatibility /upgrades for your software.

Also agreeing with this. It's a great time to do a memory upgrade. Not expensive:

www.crucial.com/uk

Pull down Disk Checkup from PassMark: http://www.passmark.com/products/diskcheckup.htm and take a look at the SMART Info tab. If the "raw value" figures for "Reallocated Sector Count", "Current Pending Sector Count" and "Reallocation Event Count" aren't zero (particularly the first), then you should consider a new hard drive as well. Again, not expensive.

If you end up changing the hard drive and upgrading the RAM, then consider buying from www.ebuyer.com as they sell Crucial RAM for less than Crucial do, and it'd be good to combine the shipping.

edit: Also highly recommending CCleaner. Get hold of MISPBO Registry Cleaner too, much more through than CCleaner, but they overlap sometimes so it can be useful to have both. Available from http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Registry-Tweak/MISPBO-Registry-Cleaner.shtml
 
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With our Tiny laptop (of similar vintage) we got "system restore" discs. Very easy way to restore to factory settings if you've got the discs.
 
To be honest you have lost me big time:eek: , spannering is easy in comparison.

Maybe its time for a new one and be done with it.

Thanks for the replies appreciated but over my simple head:confused: .



Lynall
 
Simply running Disk Defragmenter from the programs/accessories/system tools sub-menus MIGHT help matters.
Although you will need about 20% free HD space for defrag to do its job properly.
PM me if you want further advice.
 
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Over Christmas I removed heaps of bundled software which I don't use, had a bit of a clean up and de-fragged, and it's speeded up my old VAIO by a noticeable margin.

I also removed the desktop image, stopped programs which launch at start up, and a few other bits and pieces. Together it made a difference.
 

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