A question (probably several) from a non-computer literate BRer.
My PC is running very slowly - do I need more memory? Is RAM the same as memory?
I have done a scan with Crucial.com. This says that I have two slots with 256MB in each slot giving a total of 512MB.
The suggested upgrade is to a total of 2GB costing £101.
Is this a good idea?
Can I fit it myself?
Will it work?
Answers in simple language please.
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Idelay we need to know much more, like what operating system you are using, what cpu you have, the age etc. But to be specific.
Yes memory is ram, 512mb is not much, 2gb would speed it up.
But if you dont want to splash out, I bet you are running windows xp, its over 4 years old and has never been reloaded in that time.
A hard drive format and a reload would speed it up without lashing out in memory.
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Zero is right (as he often is in here). This machine probably seemed fast when new and it could again. Providing you're not trying and hoping to run the very latest games or applications on it.
I first run Linux on my first PC and it was fast enough... and it was a 486SX running at 33MHz with 8Mb RAM. It also dual booted OS/2 Warp/Windows 3.11 for Workgroups. Happy days.
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Yes, I am running XP.
How do I do a hard drive format and reload? What is cpu and where do I get that info?
I don't have installation disks. The machine is a Mesh. It is probably around 4 years old, I can't lay my hands on the original paperwork. To me spending £100 rather than £££? is possibly not a bad idea.
I don't play games on my PC, I use it for emails and a bit of surfing.
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Duncan, investing 100 quid in this machine is a waste of money.
If you dont have the orignal disks then a reload is out. Your replies indicate you are not techy enough to follow text only suggestion on here, some of which will get quite indepth.
So I suggest you search the web for tips, most of which have screen shots and in depth step by step guides we cant supply on here.
like this
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/northrup_restoreperf.mspx
I found that by simply typing in "how to speed up my old xp machine" into google.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 15 Aug 10 at 23:12
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>> The suggested upgrade is to a total of 2GB costing £101.
Given that 2Gb of Crucial DDR2 800MHz memory is under £35, this suggests that your PC is quite old. Treat yourself to a new machine :)
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Good point Focus. But the fact it has only 256MB x 2 suggests it is very old. And older memory technology is no longer cheap.
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Zero is of course right, as is the advice to get more memory or a new machine.
But you could first have a peek and see if there is something which is hogging the processor. Press Ctrl/Alt/Del and get to the Task Manager then click the Processes tab, then click at the top of the column CPU to sort it into CPU usage order, highest downwards. Anything constantly using memory is probably wrong, if so come back and tell us what it is.
On an old machine with small disk you may also be running out of contiguous free space for the Windows (for I am assuming that's what it is) swap file.
If the memory upgrade is £100 or thereabouts I would say that with careful buying you could improve your computer for not a lot more. If you don't need a new screen, keyboard, mouse etc then look for a base unit only system. But again, come back if that's the way you need to go for more advice.
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>> Press Ctrl/Alt/Del and get to the Task Manager then click the Processes
>> tab, then click at the top of the column CPU to sort it into CPU
>> usage order, highest downwards. Anything constantly using memory is probably wrong, if so come back
>> and tell us what it is.
>>
Right. When I click at the top of the CPU column it doesn't sort it into usage order. But scrolling down these seem to be the things using the most. (not in order)
iexplore.exe 64,068k
taskmgr.exe 5,212 k
MsMpEng.exe 37,504k
explorer.exe 4,616k
svchost.exe (there seem to be several of these) 4,984k
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You could first try running Austlogics BoostSpeed utility (shareware, but can be used free on a 15 day trial) from:
www.auslogics.com/en/software/boost-speed/ (you'd Uninstall it just before the trial ends after running it again).
Alternative (freeware):
www.360amigo.com/
In both cases not a perfect solution, but would clear up much of the junk; you'll be amazed what is found even on a new system after a short period of use.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Sun 15 Aug 10 at 23:19
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That's memory usage not CPU. Nothing there looks odd though, or excessive, so I'm not convinced that more memory would fix anything. That lot adds up to around 120k and you have 512k, so plenty spare.
What is slow exactly? Start up? Loading a program? Pages slow in browsing?
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My XP Pro system, now networked to a Windows7 setup, originally had 512MB of RAM before I eventually upgraded it to 1024GB.
Even so it was more than enough to do normal tasks as well as using a Freeview TV tuner in conjunction with ShowShifter, even if recording a TV programme, as indicated by memory usage.
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>> from a non-computer literate BRer
I think you meant C4Per
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>> >> from a non-computer literate BRer
>>
>> I think you meant C4Per
>>
Whoops! Sorry!
Old habits die hard ;-)
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Have a look in Windows Explorer at your C Drive, a defrag can make a big difference and is fairly easy to do - I'd have to go and find an XP PC to give you instructions (I run Ubuntu and Windows7) but it's straightforward and will improve things.
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This was the one thing I forget to suggest and, again, the Austlogics DeFrag utility is first class and free:
www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/
Far superior to the Windows version (this is or was a Lite version of Diskkeeper) and quicker to complete its duties. Can also be used occasionally to both Defrag and Optimise.
If you Defrag first and then use BoostSpeed or alternative will go some way, although extra memory is even better.
A friend has had a similar problem with an XP system and a combination of all three (defrag, BoostSpeed and more memory) has made a big difference.
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Download and use CCleaner would be another avenue.
It will also allow you to see what programmes run at start up and allow the unneccessary ones to be disabled.
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CCleaner is very well known (I use it to tidy up after software installation or uninstallation) using the Registry tab.
However, BoostSpeed has a remarkable choice of means of tidying up your system to run faster and I'm toying with the idea of actually getting out my wallet to buy it!
Would make the national news if I did that (getting out my wallet)....
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Thank you for those responses.
An update.
I have made a backup.
I have run diskcheck
I have done a defrag.
I have downloaded and run the programs suggested by Stuartli
I have removed a couple of programs - which brings me on to -
Using the 'add.remove programs' in Control Panel, the first problem I have is that I don't really know which programs can safely be removed. Secondly, some of the information on there is simply wrong.
e.g. Microsoft Office is shown as being used frequently, the last time being 12/5/09?
Microsoft Lifecam is shown as being used rarely, the last time being 29/9/09, the camera is used normally at least once a week.
It would seem that the slow running of my PC is because the hard drive from time to time runs continously for no apparent reason - the light being on constantly for ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
If I can provide any clarification of the above, please let me know.
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>>Secondly, some of the information on there is simply wrong.>>
This is quite common...:-)
You can remove any programs or applications that you don't use, apart from system updates, Hotfixes etc.
A list of what you have installed might allow some guidance to be given.
Off for a pint of Guinness (perhaps even two!), so no doubt others will be able to assist.
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>> It would seem that the slow running of my PC is because the hard drive
>> from time to time runs continously for no apparent reason - the light being on
>> constantly for ten or fifteen minutes at a time.
While it's doing this, hold down ctrl-alt-del and click on Task Manager. Click on the Processes tab, and click on the CPU label at the top of its column, twice. This should show you which processes are taking up the most CPU.
If it's System Idle Process, that's ok - that's just a 'dummy' process that runs when there's no 'proper' processes that want to run. If it's something else, what is it?
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B has hit a key one with this suggestion. You can get an awful lot of junk loaded at start up time. It hogs memory. Take a look. If you don't know what something is, Google "what is...", or ask here.
Don't allow things to load just so they start a few fractions of a second faster when you do run them or so they can check for an updated version every time you boot. A clear out will improve start up time and free up memory.
JH
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Duncan, you said "I have done a scan with Crucial.com. This says that I have two slots with 256MB in each slot giving a total of 512MB. The suggested upgrade is to a total of 2GB costing £101. "
You may be able to get RAM cheaper elsewhere. What was the crucial memory ID, or item, or stock code, number?
Was it you who asked these questions in the backroom?
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=80441&v=t&m=938858
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=80890&v=t&m=939169
Your hard disk being busy for minutes at a time could be for example due to having windows search indexing turned on, or your antivirus doing a scan.
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or paging, or a full disk.
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>> or paging, or a full disk.
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The hard disk has 92% free space. What is paging?
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Paging for beginners. I first read this in 1975. I think it made more sense then :-(
www.netjeff.com/humor/item.cgi?file=TheThingKing
JH
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>>>> Was it you who asked these questions in the backroom?
>> www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=80441&v=t&m=938858
>> www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=80890&v=t&m=939169
Yes, guilty as charged. The problem then was slow startup. The problem now is slow running, for some reason the hard drive will, from time to time, choose to go into overdrive and be churning away for no apparent reason.
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I would probably just go for a 256MB upgrade, you can keep a 256MB in and then buy a new 512MB module. This will cost around £25 and will give quite a noticable performance increase. I find most XP machines with modern AV sofrware installed seem to idle at 300MB but soon as the browser is installed and everything else you hit 600MB but I have rarely seen a basic XP system using for more than 700MB unless it is full of viruses
I would start with MSCONFIG and also uninstalling any crap. A defrag may also help.
There is always a chance a slow PC at this age is also due to more serious issues such as hard drive failure.
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Still wouldn't spend any real money on it. If you are running pretty much the same stuff now as you were when it was going OK then I don't see how chucking money at it will help.
Your intermittently active disk is probably the Microsoft Indexing service, especially if it seems to happen even when you aren't actively using the computer. Can't remember much about it but someone here will. It scans your files and indexes them for faster searching. Was always a pain for me on slower systems. You can turn it off completely, which is to be advised in your case (if it's on, that is).
EDIT you asked what is paging. When you run out of physical memory certain parts are moved out to your disk into a Page (or Swap) file. This means that you can use more memory than you've actually got. Some programs have chunks of permanently resident memory which never get page out, so it's quite possible to run out of physical memory if you have lots running. The movement of data between physical memory and disk (and back) is called paging, and generates disk activity and also affects performance due to response and data transfer times of data from disk.
btw There is a very quick measure of how much memory you are using in the Task Manager (ctrl/alt/delete). I can't remember how it looks in XP but it tells you the overall available and then the amount free. Probably on the Performance tab. If you are getting into the low 10ks of free memory then that could be your problem - but you would still do better to try to identify the cause before chucking money at it. It could be a leaky program (i.e. one which gobbles it up but doesn't properly release it back once finished).
EDIT 2: To check whether indexing is on. Right click on your drive in My Computer. Somewhere at the bottom it says something like Allow Windows to Index this disk" - untick it.
Last edited by: smokie on Mon 16 Aug 10 at 23:01
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>> >> EDIT 2: To check whether indexing is on. Right click on your drive in My
>> Computer. Somewhere at the bottom it says something like Allow Windows to Index this disk"
>> - untick it.
>>
Done that.
Question - if you don't need it, what's it there for?
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Did you do what Altea Ego and others asked you to do in reply to your similar question on HJ?
If you tell us your PC and RAM spec, it may be possible to source RAM cheaply from elsewhere. For example, CEX who have shops near you in Kingston
uk.webuy.com/stores/
or try calling in at www.clickon-it.net/services1.htm
Last edited by: John H on Tue 17 Aug 10 at 18:49
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Yes, I did what AE and others suggested on the 'other' site. e are talking about a somewhat different problem, then it was slow startup, now it is slow running. The slow startup is now sorted.
MY PC is a Mesh, windows and IE. Looking at system on Control panel it says " AMD Athlon 64 processor 3400+, 2.2 Ghz 448MB RAM".
However if I buy cheap ram will I be able to fit it, without electrocuting myself or destroying the PC?
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RAM is easy to fit and you probably needs DDR2 DIMMs for an Athlon 64 based system.
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>> Question - if you don't need it, what's it there for?
It speeds up searching files because the contents is indexed. On a slower PC it's always doing something and if you don't find the need to search for a file containing a particular string very often then you don't need it.
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>>..but soon as the browser is installed and everything else you hit 600MB but I have rarely seen a basic XP system using for more than 700MB unless it is full of viruses>>
My XP Pro system, as I've stated earlier, never went above around 450MB even with everything in action, including a Freeview TV tuner card...:-)
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But I suspect you don't have limware wire, barehsare, zeus and god knows what else on there :). My parents XP system (which has 2GB of RAM as I built in when DDR2 was pennies) never goes above 500MB but they do use it for some quite heavy websites.
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>>....never goes above 500MB...>
So what's your point Rattle, or am I missing something?
..:-)
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Bit Torrent clients do not take much RAM/CPU/etc. My NAS runs a bit torrent fine thanks.
We don't need to know the sort of heavy websites your parents use. We'll not assume video feeds etc. ;-)
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 16 Aug 10 at 23:41
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Just flash based family tree websites, that sort of thing. They use it more heavily than most older generation people do anyway.
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Flash is not efficient. Accelerated on the latest graphic cards.
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And if it had dual channel RAM? I had dual channel RAM on an old chipset from Nvidia. And that was years and years ago (5+).
It sounds like the machine is accessing the disk when it shouldn't and we need more info. It worked okay for ages I presume and no reason it cannot do so again.
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Strange things computers. My old XP Pro and new 64bit Windows7 4GB RAM systems are Ethernet switch networked, yet the former (finely tuned over four years and with a six-year-old CPU and motherboard) outpaces the latter, for instance, on "Up to 24Mb" broadband speed tests by up to 2Mb.
I recently used the Austlogics BoostSpeed utility, mentioned in another thread, on both systems. Interestingly, the elderly XP Pro system had considerably less "junk" on it than the few weeks old triple core Windows7 system..:-)
But I must admit that Startup on the new system is wonderfully quick, especially when coming out of Hibernate mode and that much as I love XP Pro, Windows7 is even more straightforward.
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It's called bloatware by some. Sadly my upto 40Mbit/s download maxes at 38Mbit/s and the upload is only 8Mbit/s. I have emailed the chief exec of BT to complain. I had his email address to hand and he once emailed me on Boxing Day (bless).
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>> It's called bloatware by some. Sadly my upto 40Mbit/s download maxes at 38Mbit/s and the
>> upload is only 8Mbit/s. I have emailed the chief exec of BT to complain. I
>> had his email address to hand and he once emailed me on Boxing Day (bless).
>
Your at it again RTJ, Your fibre cabinet is staring down the barel of a foam gun.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 17 Aug 10 at 16:58
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If it's fibre would it matter? You'd just get clean fibre. I think you might need a smalll explosive. Got anything left over from Bonfire night :-)
JH
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Do I need more memory? - Zero
