I completely despise this computer...

[Ginevive]

Does anyone have some suggestions for cheaply speeding up a pathetically show, crappy computer? I am on a cable modem and this POS is so slow, and I can't even play a darn DL'ed song at the same time as I do anything else, or we freeze up. I am so mad I could spit. Any help would be appreciated. It is not a bad computer, only a few years old, but I keep thinking there are things DLed on here that are clogging it up and i can never get them off.

[gncz73]

what prosseor are you run and how much ram do you have

[iceman25]

Assuming that you are running a windows based system, you could attempt the following.

1)Clean out your temporary files. Go to program, accessories, system tools and disk clean up(this is on Win XP).

2)Download a spy ware detector like adaware and run it to get rid of any spyware.

3)Update your virus scanner and run it.

4)Delete files and programs from your computer that you do not use.

5)Make sure you are running the latest version of your webbrowser.

6)Reboot your computer.

7)Defragment your hard drive.

What brand is your computer and what OS are you running? What are the specs? Go to My Computer Right click and go to properties. This will tell you what processor and how much memory your computer has. Let me know so I can be of further assistance

[Ginevive]

It says
AMD Athlon processor
1.00 GHz, 384 MB of RAM

[TekWarren]

as mentioned above two big things that cause slow downs...defragmentation and spyware/adaware. Turning off indexing of files can help as well as setting the max and min virtual memory settings to be the same (will cause less fragmentation). Depending on your frustration and how much you choose to do a full clean install of your OS helps greatly also. Otherwise you probably just need to do the cleanup mentioned above. Alot of people also overlook the inside of a PC...keep it dust free so the fans can do their jobs if they can't cool the hardware your parts will more susceptable(sp) to failure. Also if dust is caked over everything it will add heat and that will slow you down as well.

[gncz73]

follow what they said above and if you feel like upgradeing your processor you could upgrade it to a 1.6 and you could add more ram even if you have to remove the old ram and buy a 512

It says
AMD Athlon processor
1.00 GHz, 384 MB of RAM

[iceman25]

Depending on the programs that you run, you sould be fine with the processor that you have. If you want to multitask with several memory consuming programs, then an upgrade to 512k would be a good choice. If you are running windows XP, go to tweakxp.com to get some tips on speeding up the OS. Good Luck

[Jeanne]

I run a processor not too much faster than what you run (AMD-1800+), but I have 2 GB of DDR Ram. I have LOTS of ram, an over kill mind you, but I run ALOT of things at the same time, sounds like your biggest problem is you need to do what others said and clean up your system..also, you must get more ram. IMO- it is your lack of a sufficient amount of ram causing your problem. I had alot of the same probs before I went over kill on ram. You have to take into account that everything, including your video card may be using your ram if it does not have ram of its own on it, plus windows uses so much and all the other stuff you run. You will get slow downs and freezes when there is not enough ram.

[frankykeno]

Disclaimer.....do NOT faint!

We run an e-Machine (really big POS) with only 800 ghz and 128 mb RAM, on a dial-up modem.

Okay so you fainted, I did warn you.

Actually even tho this should run absolutely horribly it runs rather well but you have to be vigilant about temp files, defrags, spyware, etc. Just like an older car you have to stay up on the maintenance to get the best performance.

If you aren't comfortable deleting stuff or sorting out what should be there versus what's ended up there I'd really encourage you to look around locally for someone whose good with computers and have them sit with you and teach you some basic "housekeeping". You may be surprised at the junk that accumulates on a computer especially that rotten spyware, trojans and other crap that comes in with most downloads from the internet.



~~Jo~~

[iceman25]

Disclaimer.....do NOT faint!

We run an e-Machine (really big POS) with only 800 ghz and 128 mb RAM, on a dial-up modem.

Up the RAM and you should be just fine You need a faster CPU only if you run computation intensive programs. The cheapest and most time tested way to increase performace is to boost up your Random Access Memory. I used to own an e-machine, pretty powerful considering it it had an XP 2200+ processor and 512k DDR. It was state of the art at the time

These days I'm on an AMD 64 bit FX running 64bit XP and 2Gigs of 400Mhz DDR! Talk about an overkill! However, it does seem to run my 32 bit applications at the same speed as my e-machine