Speeding Up Computer

[marquess]

Help! My compter is taking ages to boot up. Somethings it is even asking me if I wish to boot up in the safe mode. Basically, I want to know how to speed things up

[Guest Lazarus]

Get a new one, or clean up some hard drive space.

[francois]

hi'

before to jump to a shop for a new one ...

what windows version do you run?

computer description, please

motherboard, CPU, RAM, HDD and so on, video card ..etc

>can find all this in control panel/system/hardware manager.

francois

[Axel]

Throw oput whatever software resp. programs you installed but don't need anymore.

If you can get hold of Bangkokpost today (Arpil 7) there is a very good article.

Can also try here but have to register:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Database/index.php

(Look for "Start but then take a break)

[TizMe]

Sounds like:

format c:

Is what you need.

[marquess]

hi'

before to jump to a shop for a new one ...

what windows version do you run?

computer description, please

motherboard, CPU, RAM, HDD and so on, video card ..etc

>can find all this in control panel/system/hardware manager.

Window XP professional (2002 version)

Intel ®

Celeron ® CPU 1.70ghz

96.mb of ram

It has never really ran as fast as it did with 98se

[bkkharry]

Not sure but I think you need at least 128 mg of ram to run your new window xp professional. I had bought the the same software but did not install becasuse I only have 96mg off ram. Just checked my copy I bought and the system requirement is 128mb of ram.

[monty]

Minimum ram according to MS$ is 128mb...

XP needs at least 256mb, but will still run faster on 512mb...

There are some tricks to make make XP run faster on a light system as yours:

Right click anywhere on an emty part of your desktop, click "properties", next click on the "appearance Tab", next click on "effects" and then unselect everything you see.

This will make you move a bit faster through pop-up menus...

Still the best advice would be to pop in a bit more ram! Around 1700 Baht for a 256mb stick (DDR-333), 2000 Baht if your motherboard only supports SD Ram....

If you don't know whats in, a DDR stick has only on small slip between the contacts, PC100/133 (SDram) has two small slips... My gues is it will be the latter since I don't recall seeing a DDR stick smaller then 128mb...

I think a celeron 1700 system is certainly worth the upgrade, you'll see a really big improvement in performance...

Monty

[caughtintheact]

The recommendations to date should help, particularly taking out unneeded programs. But with only 96MB RAM, I doubt that you will speed up XP very much no matter what you do. If feasible you should get at least 512<B RAM but the RAM must be compatible with your PC. Do you have an anti-virus program and anti-spyware program installed? Both types of malware will slow down your computer. will also slow it down. If not try www.grisoft.com - it's free. Spyware programs may be in your computer which will slow it down. http://security.kolla.de/ another freebie. Do you have a firewall? It can prevent hackers from putting trojans in your computer. Try www.zonelabs.com - also free

Have you installed Microsoft patches? Some correct deficiencies in XP and will help your PC run better.

In windows XP you might want to turn off unneeded services. www.blackviper.com has information on which services are safe to turn off. Caution, if you are not sure, get some help before you turn anything off. You could cause more harm than good, but if you turn off many of the unneeded services your PC should run a bit faster.

Remember that Windows XP is a huge operating system compared to Win98. With the low amount of RAM and relatively slow processor you have, you are limited in how much you can speed up the computer.

[francois]

96.mb of ram

hmm hmm ...

winXp requires a MINIMUM of 256mb to run ...

with some more programs and internet on ...

and how many services running in the background for nothing?

you're short

get yourself a 512mb and clean all *.tmp, *.TEMP and internet files ...

and delete some system restore files .. create a new one if you're paranoid

always keep in mind that 1gb free on the C: partition is far to be too much.

in my computer , disc C: properties, disc cleanup ... clean all, even restore points ...

hmm ... tell me how many mb of old compress files and how many mb you get back after

then get a small prog called BootVis and run it.(see help file), someting like in the Trace menu, next boot and drivers delay and then optimize system, at each command will be a reboot, let the program do it. you can get from microsoft site, it helps to run a proper boot and so a bit faster

francois

[marquess]

Thanks for all the invaluable advice. I still have some questions: My main board is P4VMM2.

Can this be up graded to 512 as suggested? If so, do I need to jettison the extisting memory, or will the slots allow me just to put in the additional one? What is the difference between SD, DDR PC-333 and PC256. Which is the one that I should go for?

[francois]

hi'

Can this be up graded to 512 as suggested? If so, do I need to jettison the extisting memory, or will the slots allow me just to put in the additional one? What is the difference between SD, DDR PC-333 and PC256. Which is the one that I should go for?

for sure you can put on 512mb, you must have at least 2 memory slots.

the best way to know what kind you need is to look at the one you have

SDRam only in PC100 or PC133 (bus @100 or 133mhz)

DDR Ram in 266, 333, 400 and the latest 500 ... might not fit the celeron.

logicaly you should have SDRam PC133, in two slots one 64mb and one 32mb, is it?

get them off (keep them ..)

and put a single 512mb.

francois

[marquess]

for sure you can put on 512mb, you must have at least 2 memory slots.

the best way to know what kind you need is to look at the one you have

SDRam only in PC100 or PC133 (bus @100 or 133mhz)

DDR Ram in 266, 333, 400 and the latest 500 ... might not fit the celeron.

logicaly you should have SDRam PC133, in two slots one 64mb and one 32mb, is it?

get them off (keep them ..)

and put a single 512mb.

francois

Thanks Francois! I have looked the back of the computer and found that I have Kingmax DDR PC 266 128mb, even though it shows on the system spec as 96. Thus I will go to Pantip tomorrow and buy another 128 to put in the second slot. This should at least double the speed of my computer. As I don't play any games, I think that this should be adequate.

[monty]

Hi Marqueuss

Took a quick glance at the specs of your motherboard, the reason you're only seeing 96Mb is because you have an onboard graphics adapter(the S3 GRAPHICS Savage8 ). This will eat 32 Mb of your memory only leaving you 96 at the moment!!! Nothing wrong here...

If your wallet will allow it I would advice on an extra 256Mb stick, you don't need to play games to let WinXP eat up your available memory and start use the Harddisk swapfile (slow!). 226Mb is still on the low side for WinXp

Price at the moment is around 1100 Baht for 128Mb / 2100 Baht for 256Mb...

Prices just shot up for some reason, I just bought 256Mb for 1700 Baht only 1 week ago

In any case the 128Mb will see you a pretty hefty speedincrease...

Good Luck

[francois]

Took a quick glance at the specs of your motherboard, the reason you're only seeing 96Mb is because you have an onboard graphics adapter(the S3 GRAPHICS Savage8 ). This will eat 32 Mb of your memory only leaving you 96 at the moment!!! Nothing wrong here...

If your wallet will allow it I would advice on an extra 256Mb stick, you don't need to play games to let WinXP eat up your available memory and start use the Harddisk swapfile (slow!). 226Mb is still on the low side for WinXp

Price at the moment is around 1100 Baht for 128Mb / 2100 Baht for 256Mb...

Prices just shot up for some reason, I just bought 256Mb for 1700 Baht only 1 week ago

right, 100%

why put ONLY 128 if you can slot in 256 ??

and may I say .. hmm ... if your budget is not short, why not make a real upgrade, take this 128 out >>> @ #####

and put on a brand new one 512mb of a better quality than the original one

check that your motherboard support this quantity of ram. I hope that you are not limited to a low 256

francois

[Dancali]

I have the exact same mother board as you, only it's with a 2.0 g celeron and almost 400 mb ram. My computer runs ok and yours should too once you add more ram.

The motherboard can take up to 2 sticks of 1 gb ddr ram each. I would advise that you add 256 as an extra 128 will be cutting it close. I got an extra 128 and ended up having to take it out and put in a 256 chip only a few months later. I've now got a 128 chip just laying around that would surely work in your computer. If you decide you don't want to move up to the 256 you could have this for about 850 baht (cost me about 1700 when I bought it a few months ago and I guess new it goes for about 1100 baht).

Any ddr memory they sell will work. You won't get any performance gains with the faster memory sticks beyond 266 (maybe only 200) but they will still work. I just got a 256 ddr 400 stick which doesn't get used to its potential on this computer but will be good for me when I upgrade.

My main recommendation is just get more ram. Your problem is so obviously about a lack of ram that it's not even funny. 256 is what you should get, but 128 will likely be enough for most computer uses you have if you want to save 1000 baht or so.

On the chance that there's still problems, get back to us here.

[marquess]

have the exact same mother board as you, only it's with a 2.0 g celeron and almost 400 mb ram. My computer runs ok and yours should too once you add more ram.

The motherboard can take up to 2 sticks of 1 gb ddr ram each. I would advise that you add 256 as an extra 128 will be cutting it close. I got an extra 128 and ended up having to take it out and put in a 256 chip only a few months later. I've now got a 128 chip just laying around that would surely work in your computer. If you decide you don't want to move up to the 256 you could have this for about 850 baht (cost me about 1700 when I bought it a few months ago and I guess new it goes for about 1100 baht).

Any ddr memory they sell will work. You won't get any performance gains with the faster memory sticks beyond 266 (maybe only 200) but they will still work. I just got a 256 ddr 400 stick which doesn't get used to its potential on this computer but will be good for me when I upgrade.

My main recommendation is just get more ram. Your problem is so obviously about a lack of ram that it's not even funny. 256 is what you should get, but 128 will likely be enough for most computer uses you have if you want to save 1000 baht or so.

On the chance that there's still problems, get back to us here.

I ended up buying the Kingston DDR 256 266, for 1750, this was a snip considering that the shop next door where charging 2k for the same things. I was careful to get the 266. Thus I am now at 352, which does make a considerable difference. Once again I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR THEIR INVALUABLE ADIVICE!