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spearsy23
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 5624
Location: Fulton, Ks
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:00 am Post subject: |
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Old comp. having performance problems? try these
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Free Thinkr
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 12696
Location: Northwest Indiana
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:52 am Post subject: |
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spearsy23 wrote: Old comp. having performance problems? try these
LOL, his comp has E.D. |
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Pzatchok
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 7485
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:12 pm Post subject: |
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Clean out everything.
Add as much memory as you can scrape together.
Fiddle with the BIOS chip settings to see if they can speed up that old thing. |
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Gus
Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 7582
Location: Tampa, FL
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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You definitely need more RAM...at least 256 mb more. It's cheap. If you don't know what kind of RAM your computer takes, look up the model of your motherboard (if you can't find it, it's usually printed on the motherboard itself) and I'll tell you. Since it's so old, the RAM should be SUPER cheap (less than $50 probably).
I doubt it's the registry...that won't really slow down your computer noticeably. I would do like Demonic said and go into msconfig under the Startup tab and uncheck everything you don't absolutely need. That usually fixes most performance problems.
If you really feel you need a registry scanner, the best one out there is absolutely free: CCleaner.
Also, go into the Display Properties from the Control Panel, click on the "Appearance" tab and under "Windows and buttons" choose "Windows Classic style." Then click on the Effects button and uncheck everything and hit OK. Get rid of any desktop picture you have (choose "None" as your desktop picture) and just keep a solid color as the background. Right click on the Start menu button and choose Properties, click on the Start Menu tab, and select "Classic Start Menu." Click "Customize" and uncheck "Use Personalized Menus" and check "Show Small Icons in Start menu."
Then go to Windows Update, choose "Custom" instead of "Express" when it asks you to, and update EVERYTHING. You'll probably have to reboot, and when you do, go back to Windows Update and check again. Repeat until you don't have any more updates.
There's a bunch of other stuff you can do to optimize your system, but that's most of the basic, easy things. |
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californian conservative
Joined: 08 Jul 2006
Posts: 6560
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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Demonic Spoon wrote: 3 things...
1) Go to START -> Run -> Msconfig. Go to STARTUP, and hit DISABLE ALL. This will stop all background programs from starting up when your computer starts up, increasing performance.
2) Get Spybot Search & Destroy and Windows Defender. Search for spyware.
3) Go to www.newegg.com and get your ass some more RAM!
1 It starts with 25 processes, and usually runs at 0% usage ( but still runs slow) (i run it with system processes at the beginning and thats it)
2 i have spybot, but it doesn't really matter, cause the computer hasn't been connected to the internet in over a year (stupid apartment) it was clean before i disconnected from teh internet. (btw this is at the office )
3 the computers a piece of s**t, it's printer can't work, it wont recognize blank cd's (so i couldn't back up the files on it anyway) so its not worth upgrading, i just keep it around for......im actually not sure why. i can't really afford to get a new one (even one of the $299 dells) so i just make do |
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Pelagius
Joined: 11 Feb 2005
Posts: 888
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Demonic Spoon wrote: 3 things...
1) Go to START -> Run -> Msconfig. Go to STARTUP, and hit DISABLE ALL. This will stop all background programs from starting up when your computer starts up, increasing performance.
2) Get Spybot Search & Destroy and Windows Defender. Search for spyware.
3) Go to www.newegg.com and get your ass some more RAM!
And go here http://www.tune-up.com/download/tu2006/ and download the 30 day trial version - you won't be sorry. |
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Free Thinkr
Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 12696
Location: Northwest Indiana
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Gus wrote: Also, go into the Display Properties from the Control Panel, click on the "Appearance" tab and under "Windows and buttons" choose "Windows Classic style." Then click on the Effects button and uncheck everything and hit OK. Get rid of any desktop picture you have (choose "None" as your desktop picture) and just keep a solid color as the background. Right click on the Start menu button and choose Properties, click on the Start Menu tab, and select "Classic Start Menu." Click "Customize" and uncheck "Use Personalized Menus" and check "Show Small Icons in Start menu."
Weird. I do all of these immediately upon installing a XP, but not in any attempt to streamline Windows; these are all my basic preferences.
Hot damn, I'm so efficient, I maximize efficiency on accident! |
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Gus
Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 7582
Location: Tampa, FL
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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Free Thinkr wrote: Gus wrote: Also, go into the Display Properties from the Control Panel, click on the "Appearance" tab and under "Windows and buttons" choose "Windows Classic style." Then click on the Effects button and uncheck everything and hit OK. Get rid of any desktop picture you have (choose "None" as your desktop picture) and just keep a solid color as the background. Right click on the Start menu button and choose Properties, click on the Start Menu tab, and select "Classic Start Menu." Click "Customize" and uncheck "Use Personalized Menus" and check "Show Small Icons in Start menu."
Weird. I do all of these immediately upon installing a XP, but not in any attempt to streamline Windows; these are all my basic preferences.
Hot damn, I'm so efficient, I maximize efficiency on accident!
LOL yeah I agree, I think it looks a whole lot better and seems much more responsive. |
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californian conservative
Joined: 08 Jul 2006
Posts: 6560
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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Gus wrote: Free Thinkr wrote: Gus wrote: Also, go into the Display Properties from the Control Panel, click on the "Appearance" tab and under "Windows and buttons" choose "Windows Classic style." Then click on the Effects button and uncheck everything and hit OK. Get rid of any desktop picture you have (choose "None" as your desktop picture) and just keep a solid color as the background. Right click on the Start menu button and choose Properties, click on the Start Menu tab, and select "Classic Start Menu." Click "Customize" and uncheck "Use Personalized Menus" and check "Show Small Icons in Start menu."
Weird. I do all of these immediately upon installing a XP, but not in any attempt to streamline Windows; these are all my basic preferences.
Hot damn, I'm so efficient, I maximize efficiency on accident!
LOL yeah I agree, I think it looks a whole lot better and seems much more responsive.
I prefer it that way too, nice avatar btw |
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