How To Make Your Old, Slow Computer Like-New Again one!!

[momtaz]

Hi guys

Have an old laptop HP,, 8 years old, and thinking to upgrade the hardware,

recently seen this link, does it help to make it works faster? I meant any of you tried it?

check the link in below for details,

http://www.studylifestyle.com/2016/xtra-pc/1/?cid=6&utm_term=thenationgroup-nationmultimedia&sxid=aixl81tmjdme

if any shared ideas, comments relevantly, will be appreciated. 

regards

[Oxx]

It's replacing your current operating system with a a different operating system - a version of Linux.  It will be unfamiliar at first.

 

Booting Linux from a thumb drive is slow, and Linux then runs slowly.  I find the speed claims a little hard to believe.

 

Oh, and Linux is free, so no need to pay for it.

 

Basically it's a scam.

 

If you genuinely want to speed up your old computer, do a proper install of Linux.  Either Ubuntu or Linux Mint Cinnamon are a good version to start with.  However, be prepared for a learning curve.

[JetsetBkk]

56 minutes ago, momtaz said:

Hi guys

Have an old laptop HP,, 8 years old, and thinking to upgrade the hardware,

recently seen this link, does it help to make it works faster? I meant any of you tried it?

check the link in below for details,

http://www.studylifestyle.com/2016/xtra-pc/1/?cid=6&utm_term=thenationgroup-nationmultimedia&sxid=aixl81tmjdme

if any shared ideas, comments relevantly, will be appreciated. 

regards

 

Change the disk from HDD to SSD.

Add more memory if you can.

If you don't know Linux, stay away from it.  

 

 

[avander]

If it's 8 years old I wouldn't waste money on upgrading hardware as there are many interdependencies!

The idea is a reasonable one but you're just avoiding the issues that your current hard disk has with whatever operating system it has installed.

I had a 2004 vintage Toshiba Notebook which ran like a dog. I've given it to the kids for internet access and homework now after reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling the original Windows XP. It runs much faster after getting rid of all those years of crap and starting fresh.

[Oxx]

31 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

If you don't know Linux, stay away from it.  

 

That's a bit like saying "if you've never had sex, stay away from it".  That mindset closes one off from new and interesting experiences.

 

Getting to grips with Linux is no harder than getting to grips with Microsoft Windows.  The problem is that Windows is forced down people's throats by computer manufacturers who preinstall it, and by ignorant educators and bureaucrats, so people are more familiar with it, and are reluctant to change.

 

Technically it's vastly superior.  No BSODs.  No mysterious crashes.  Generally no need to install additional drivers for every piece of hardware added.  No forced updates which brick your PC.  None of the nonsense about having to unmount external drives before removing them (which is only necessary because of the dire file systems used by Microsoft).  No slowing down over time.  No need to defrag disks.  No real need for a firewall or antivirus/antimalware software* (Linux is secure by design and there are no Linux viruses in the wild).  Simple updating of software.  And if you do have a problem, there's a large community of people willing to help.  The "open source" nature of most Linux software means that, if necessary, people can look at the source code of the problematic program(s) and pinpoint the problem.  That's simply not possible with Microsoft software, where the source code is not publicly available.

 

 

 

* The Linux antivirus software that's out there is purely to protect Microsoft Windows users should a virus be passed through a Linux machine.

[JetsetBkk]

1 hour ago, Oxx said:

Getting to grips with Linux is no harder than getting to grips with Microsoft Windows. 

 

And when you have 25 years of experience with Windows, you definitely don't want to even consider Linux. It's not worth the effort.

 

[Oxx]

35 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

And when you have 25 years of experience with Windows, you definitely don't want to even consider Linux. It's not worth the effort.

 

 

Yet my mother, who's in her 80s, had no problems switching from Windows to Linux Mint.  For a typical end user, the differences are largely cosmetic.

[JSixpack]

6 hours ago, Oxx said:

No BSODs.  No mysterious crashes.  Generally no need to install additional drivers for every piece of hardware added.  No forced updates which brick your PC.  None of the nonsense about having to unmount external drives before removing them

 

Oh, you can definitely have crashes and freezes for no reason a mere mortal can ever possibly understand. You may not even be able find an appropriate driver for your hardware to install! And if that's your printer, maybe even one that seemed working with Linux, and you discover the problem the night before your visa extension papers are due, you're gonna be really unhappy. No forced updates, true, but the voluntary ones might brick your PC. No nonsense about umount if you couldn't figure out how to mount in the first place.

 

And then there's all the fooling around that Linux seems to need so often. That's one of the common complaints. Always seems there's something you can't do w/out gettin' into the terminal, running some arcane command line, and editing some obscure config file that you'd never find unless you spend an hour or so looking for a post on a linux forum to tell you where it is. And then actually finding it! I mean for uses beyond the very elementary.

 

Sound like I hate Linux, eh. Actually I love it. I'd certainly use it if I didn't like the apps so much I have running under Windows and my Windows setup. But I think I'll go with Linux rather than be forced into Win 10, even though it will require me to buy a new printer as there's really, really no driver for the one I have. (Been there, done that, and I know what I'm doing.) I'll certainly try it first; it's always evolving.

 

I agree wholeheartedly w/ everything else you've said and I'm glad you're making the case. If I were the OP, I'd put Linux on that old HP laptop!

 

[lostinisaan]

7 hours ago, avander said:

If it's 8 years old I wouldn't waste money on upgrading hardware as there are many interdependencies!

The idea is a reasonable one but you're just avoiding the issues that your current hard disk has with whatever operating system it has installed.

I had a 2004 vintage Toshiba Notebook which ran like a dog. I've given it to the kids for internet access and homework now after reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling the original Windows XP. It runs much faster after getting rid of all those years of crap and starting fresh.

 

  I bought a second hand PC at the Sunday market in town for  2 K with monitor keyboard, etc...

 

     It only had a little HD, so I bought a 500 GB HD for 1,500 baht at Advice ( OP, please buy all at Advice, best prices and warranty on all), then I needed to upgrade the DDR 2 memory, which was unfortunately the 800 Mhz version, which is more expensive. You only get max. 2 GB, so you'll need two 2 GB cards. 800 Mhz is 750 baht for one, but most PC's have 400 Mhz which is much cheaper and you can ger a 4 GB for 600 baht. 

 

          I put W 10 Pro on and all my superb programs and now have a super fast PC at school. *( They told me that they don;t have money to buy a new PC, but i generate already enough that they could buy 30 PC's and still a good holiday for all their big shots.

 

       My DELL notebook, a 1440 Inspiron was made in 2009 and it's also a super fast notebook that I love like my child. I run MS office 2016, Nitro Pro 9, Nero burning Rom, plenty of other applications and i can have five open and still do something else. 

 

    The old fart is much better quality than the new plastic computers. Don't think old is bad. 

 

It never left me alone and always tells me that it love me too much.

 

        Don't listen to the Naysayers here and upgrade it. You won't regret it. 

 

         

         

 

                

Edited October 3, 2016 by lostinisaan

[KhunBENQ]

Totally replacing your known system with some basic Linux(?).

Running your device from a USB stick (very likely a slow USB-2)?

 

This method is well known for disaster recovery of non-bootable devices (virus ridden, detect and remove).

Other sources will sell you such preconfigured USB sticks as "emergency"/"rescue" stick).

But for permanent use: a joke.

A good marketing hype though.

 

The real method: format and reinstall OS.

OK, a little preparation needed

Save your important files, settings, program, data, make sure you have everything needed together incl. a license for your OS).

Always good to have separate partitions for OS and data.

I reinstall about every 2 years when too much junk has accumulated).

My PC has a 2007 BIOS date and the latest Win10 version.

 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[SoiBiker]

An 8 year old dual core laptop is 'super fast'?

[Rob13]

Samsung SSD will cost about $75. new RAM  maybe 20 or so depending; used ones are pocket change.

 

Linux used to be a bit complicated. Linux 18 is out now and is very similar to Windows 7, free and fast and easier to adapt to. You can download it to a USB and run it from that to try it out before installing it.

 

I upgraded an old Dell  I pulled out of my bro's trash, runs great and is quick. Definitely  worth the effort.IMO.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Rob13

[JetsetBkk]

On Monday, October 03, 2016 at 8:15 PM, JSixpack said:

Always seems there's something you can't do w/out gettin' into the terminal, running some arcane command line, and editing some obscure config file that you'd never find unless you spend an hour or so looking for a post on a linux forum to tell you where it is.

 

I did that once. The first day I got Linux running, I wanted to add mouse trails to my mouse pointer so I could see immediately where the mouse icon is on a wide screen - something that is trivial to do in Windows. So I Googled it, found a techy Linux forum, joined up, posted the question on how to do it and was told to enter a weird command into terminal to download something that could be configured to do the job.

 

Easy-peasy you would think. So I asked how to get "Terminal" running to enter the command and the first response I got was "If you need to ask how to run Terminal, are you sure Linux is the operating system for you?".  Arrogant s-o-b.

 

And by the way, all the stuff that was recommended to do the job didn't do it.

 

The day Linux is used on more than 10% of PC's I might take another look. Today, it's share is about 2 or 3%. 

[JetsetBkk]

On Monday, October 03, 2016 at 9:49 PM, Rob13 said:

Samsung SSD will cost about $75. new RAM  maybe 20 or so depending; used ones are pocket change.

 

I put a Samsung SSD into a Samsung NC10 Netbook. Also added an extra GB of RAM. Before I did that, it was virtually unusable as it was so slow, but now it dual boots XP and Win10.

 

120 GB SSD is all you need - Sandisk SSDs are less than 2000 baht.

 

[SoiBiker]

22 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

I did that once. The first day I got Linux running, I wanted to add mouse trails to my mouse pointer so I could see immediately where the mouse icon is on a wide screen - something that is trivial to do in Windows. So I Googled it, found a techy Linux forum, joined up, posted the question on how to do it and was told to enter a weird command into terminal to download something that could be configured to do the job.

 

Easy-peasy you would think. So I asked how to get "Terminal" running to enter the command and the first response I got was "If you need to ask how to run Terminal, are you sure Linux is the operating system for you?".  Arrogant s-o-b.

 

And by the way, all the stuff that was recommended to do the job didn't do it.

 

The day Linux is used on more than 10% of PC's I might take another look. Today, it's share is about 2 or 3%. 

 

Thing is, it's kind of easier to just type a command into terminal than it is to poke around in a complicated system of windows and menus. You just need to get over the fact that it's a bit weird at first. If you're not prepared to make a step like that, then using a different OS probably isn't for you.

[SoiBiker]

20 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

I put a Samsung SSD into a Samsung NC10 Netbook. Also added an extra GB of RAM. Before I did that, it was virtually unusable as it was so slow, but now it dual boots XP and Win10.

 

120 GB SSD is all you need - Sandisk SSDs are less than 2000 baht.

 

I'd say 120 is way too small these days. I wouldn't install less than 500. 

[JetsetBkk]

52 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

I'd say 120 is way too small these days. I wouldn't install less than 500. 

 

I don't store any of my files on the system drive - all files go on other drive(s), either internal (5 * 2TB SATA3 in the desktop) or external USB drives for the laptop and netbook.

 

My system images are < 25GB, so I can do them every week in about 10 minutes.

 

If you have a huge system drive, making images takes hours so you are dissuaded from doing it.

 

[JetsetBkk]

1 hour ago, SoiBiker said:

1 hour ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

I did that once. The first day I got Linux running, I wanted to add mouse trails to my mouse pointer so I could see immediately where the mouse icon is on a wide screen - something that is trivial to do in Windows. So I Googled it, found a techy Linux forum, joined up, posted the question on how to do it and was told to enter a weird command into terminal to download something that could be configured to do the job.

 

Easy-peasy you would think. So I asked how to get "Terminal" running to enter the command and the first response I got was "If you need to ask how to run Terminal, are you sure Linux is the operating system for you?".  Arrogant s-o-b.

 

And by the way, all the stuff that was recommended to do the job didn't do it.

 

The day Linux is used on more than 10% of PC's I might take another look. Today, it's share is about 2 or 3%. 

 

Thing is, it's kind of easier to just type a command into terminal than it is to poke around in a complicated system of windows and menus. You just need to get over the fact that it's a bit weird at first. If you're not prepared to make a step like that, then using a different OS probably isn't for you.

 

But after 25 years of using Windows and writing software for it, that "complicated system of windows and menus" isn't complicated at all. 

 

 

[SoiBiker]

9 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

I don't store any of my files on the system drive - all files go on other drive(s), either internal (5 * 2TB SATA3 in the desktop) or external USB drives for the laptop and netbook.

 

My system images are < 25GB, so I can do them every week in about 10 minutes.

 

If you have a huge system drive, making images takes hours so you are dissuaded from doing it.

 

 

I keep most of my files elsewhere too, but I still have over 150GB of stuff on my laptop drive. 120 is way too little to recommend these days. 

 

Why would I want to do weekly images of my drive?

[SoiBiker]

6 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

But after 25 years of using Windows and writing software for it, that "complicated system of windows and menus" isn't complicated at all. 

 

 

That's kind of my point. Its just what you know - that doesn't make it better. 

[JetsetBkk]

3 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

 

I keep most of my files elsewhere too, but I still have over 150GB of stuff on my laptop drive. 120 is way too little to recommend these days. 

 

Why would I want to do weekly images of my drive?

 

Lord knows what you've got that takes up 150 GB! Have you had a look recently at your folder sizes?

 

Ask me again about the images after you see the ransomware pop-up.

 

[SoiBiker]

22 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

 

Lord knows what you've got that takes up 150 GB! Have you had a look recently at your folder sizes?

 

Ask me again about the images after you see the ransomware pop-up.

 

 

Software, mostly - plus various associated files, projects I'm currently working on, my photo library, that sort of thing. People use their computers with all kinds of media these days, and it can use up a lot of storage. 

 

You're doing a full image of your hard drive as a backup precaution? That's a serious waste of time and space. You need to learn about incremental backups. 

[JetsetBkk]

4 minutes ago, SoiBiker said:

 

Software, mostly - plus various associated files, projects I'm currently working on, my photo library, that sort of thing. People use their computers with all kinds of media these days, and it can use up a lot of storage. 

 

You're doing a full image of your hard drive as a backup precaution? That's a serious waste of time and space. You need to learn about incremental backups. 

 

Your pictures and projects and stuff should be stored on another physical drive. Then your system images will be small and will take just a few minutes to make. Most of my images take under 5 minutes to be written, but the shut down and restart of the PC takes a few minutes extra.

 

I just checked my "Photos" folder, which is on another drive: 1.35 TB. I don't think I'll include that in my images  .

 

Incremental backups! Good grief, I haven't used them in decades. You don't need incrementals if you have a small system partition (mine is currently 28 GB). The last image was 22 GB.

 

[SoiBiker]

You misunderstand. 

 

My photos and 'stuff' are stored on another drive. The photo library I refer to is the locally stored one that merely contains preview files and thumbnails - the actual full-res images and RAW file are elsewhere. I also keep my projects on another drive - apart from the ones I'm currently working on. 

 

I don't care how long is takes me to make a system image, because I have no intention of making one. My backups happen automatically, in the background, with a minimum transfer of data. I wouldn't waste my time making images of my whole drive every week. 

[SoiBiker]

Also - you don't back up your photos? Scary. 

[ajarngreg]

11 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

Also - you don't back up your photos? Scary. 

 

    I had the bad luck and lost two hard drives within a week and lost a lot of photos. I finally found a DVD with many photos on and since then I make sure that I have them backed up.

 

           

        

[LongTimeLurker]

On 10/3/2016 at 2:28 PM, JetsetBkk said:

 

And when you have 25 years of experience with Windows, you definitely don't want to even consider Linux. It's not worth the effort.

 

 

There's a new learning curve every time you upgrade Windows or any of Windows other products like Office.

 

Why do they always have to introduce "improvements" that operate the opposite way from the previous version??

[SoiBiker]

9 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

 

There's a new learning curve every time you upgrade Windows or any of Windows other products like Office.

 

Why do they always have to introduce "improvements" that operate the opposite way from the previous version??

 

Because if they didn't, we'd all still be using Windows 3.1.

[JetsetBkk]

22 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

Also - you don't back up your photos? Scary. 

 

Wrong. I have 5 x 2TB internal SATA drives and 5 x 2TB external USB drives for backups, which are in fact simply copies of the internal drives.

 

22 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

I wouldn't waste my time making images of my whole drive every week. 

 

Overall, it takes me less than 20 minutes. I usually do it when the footy's on.

 

I hope you've tried restoring your backups - some people never do until they've lost something and then they find out the backup didn't work.

 

[SoiBiker]

Of course I've tested my backups. Despite your condescending tone, I'm not an idiot.

 

20 minutes a week seems like a reasonable backup regime? I guess you value your time differently to mine.