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05-04-22 05:48:37 PM
Jul - Computers and Technology - Want to beef up my 6 year old computer New poll - New thread - New reply
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Gabu

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Posted on 04-08-11 09:36:57 PM Link | Quote
I think I'm beginning to admit that my computer is utter shit. It works, and quite well, but there's just several issues that make me realize just how old it is. Mainly the fact that it gets SLOW when I have a lot of programs running, and especially when the system is starting up or coming out of hibernation (the latter was barely noticeable before). Particularly the combination of Firefox and ZoneAlarm either performing an update or scanning, which is made even worse if Photoshop CS2/CS5 (the latter of which I use rarely because if the CPU is too busy then the program itself won't detect tablet sensitivity and then argh), Illustrator CS2, Flash 8, and iTunes or a combination thereof.

I know, I use a lot of resource intensive programs, but I remember not really having much of a problem having three or four running at the same time when I first got this computer (family got it in December '04, handed down to me in June '09, still).

While I would love to swap out the CPU for a higher quality one, I did some research on the CPU I already have, and it seems that dad had gone for the most powerful CPU available in a Socket 478 format right before they stopped production with those. I am disappoint, since while we would've needed to upgrade the 775 after 3 or 4 years, it would've been fairly easy and with a legitimate dual core instead of a single core with hyper-threading. Since this particular CPU is one of the most powerful (if not the most) for this particular format, we would have to get a new motherboard as well. I know it's relatively cheap at $100 - $200, but I'm saving that option for when the computer is so godawfully and irreversibly slow that I have to take that option.

Yes, I defrag. Yes I use TuneXP. Yes, I use CHKDSK. Yes, I scan for viruses. Basically everything everyone says to use, I've done it. Speed is still not satisfactory enough.

No, I don't want to downgrade any of my software. I do use Photoshop CS2 over CS5 for most purposes because it is lighter, though I like using CS5 for photos and its enhanced image adjustment settings.

Are there any programs that can beef up my computer even more than all those other standard programs? Or something I can do to speed up my computer? I know this computer is still good.

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Posted on 04-08-11 09:45:54 PM Link | Quote
What about some of its other specs (RAM, HD type/speed, video, etc.)?

An upgrade to one of these may be able to give your machine a little bit of a bump. I'd advise putting too much money into it (as you could just get a newer machine after a certain point), but don't be afraid to spend a little bit to save a lot either. (case in point for spending to save, upgrading my own desktop from a Celeron to a Core 2 Duo...)

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Gabu

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Posted on 04-08-11 09:56:45 PM (last edited by Gabu at 04-08-11 07:01 PM) Link | Quote
I have 4 gigs of RAM installed (XP only reads 3.25 of that), I'm not sure of the exact specs of the C:\ drive, but it's a 160 GB Western Digital that has been in the system since day one at the latest. So either not too powerful or was powerful, but aging.

Video card is an Radeon X300 and the only thing I know of that can be upgraded, if hopefully the power supply can handle it. 400 watts, I think. Still new, too. So most likely yes.

Incidentally, I am seeing what Game Booster can do in terms of PC speed up. But I'm thinking it's mainly the resource heavy programs responsible for this. Tried removing everything but the essentials from starting up, but apparently they don't want to be kept down and start up regardless. Probably a parent program doing that, but still. Fairly annoying.

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Posted on 04-08-11 10:16:38 PM Link | Quote


A few personal tips.

  • If possible, take a look at your C: drive and uninstall any programs that you don't think you will ever use again. For people like me, this means uninstalling Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 and A tool bar installer for a extinct program, I normally do this once or twice a year. (while you're poking around in your C: drive, check out the Internet Explorer folder and puke at the amount of space it takes.

  • Go into your control pannel and select graphics/personallization and change your theme, changing my display from a vista theme to a windows classic theme will make your display ugly, but it will help increase you speed.

  • Look in your temp files! This file can be found by seraching for '%temp%' in windows explorer. Temp files are used to help some programs momentarily, but are then unused. I found 4.49 MB (~4500Kb) worth of useless Roblox text documents. (2500 files to be exact). And those ones were only from my three day rage spree on roblox! Make sure you know what you are deleting before you delete it though, some files can still be in use and could be vital to a program!

  • Delete temporary internet files! To do this in IE6 and above, go into tools/Internet Options/Advanced/and then scroll to the bottom and select "Empty Temporary Internet when browser is closed." this will delete the internet temp files that could be bogging down your system.

    And If you have tried all of this or it's does not work, you could always Backup all your files onto a memory key, download Navashield (for gags) and then get a better newer computer.

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    Posted on 04-08-11 10:25:26 PM Link | Quote
    Originally posted by Gabu
    Yes, I defrag. [...] Yes, I scan for viruses.
    Well, for starters, be sure you're not using Microsoft's built-in defragmenter. It's pretty pathetic compared to MyDefrag. Defragment only when you aren't using your computer, and pause or stop the defragmenter if it doesn't finish before you need to use computer.

    Similarly, virus scans. Don't run them while you're using the computer, unless it's the kind that scans files as you use them.

    Originally posted by CB
    Look in your temp files! [...] Make sure you know what you are deleting before you delete it though, some files can still be in use and could be vital to a program!
    Or use Disk Cleanup, which will automatically determine which files are safe to delete (and delete temporary files from other locations).

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    Gabu

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    Posted on 04-08-11 10:46:19 PM (last edited by Gabu at 04-08-11 07:49 PM) Link | Quote
    That's the one thing I suck at with system defrag/virus scans. ZoneAlarm always does it when I'm likely going to be using the computer (I think it's an easy fix, though), and I don't really stop what I'm doing when I defrag, which I'm noticing has grown into a bad habit of mine that needs to stop, at least for the one internal and one external that are used regularly. FreeAgent and F:\ aren't really used too often so I don't think light use would hurt there. Still though, bad habit that I admit I've grown recently.

    Also I use Defraggler. Should install that on mom and dad's computer as well, since it really is better than Windows's.

    Also oh dear God did I uninstall IE like I thought I did or do I really do still have IE6? (4 MB of the program folder makes me scratch my head, though)

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    Posted on 04-09-11 02:04:56 AM Link | Quote
    Paulguy's Post configuration
    You can't remove IE entirely without breaking windows and many other programs. Some components still need to remain, but the "frontend" can be removed.

    Installed programs and used disk space aren't going to slow down your computer. I don't nkow where the myth came from that data on the hard drive makes the computer slow (I've heard of people deleting music and stuff to make their computer faster...). It's only running processes that will slow it down.

    Also, why call windows classic ugly? Looks fine to me, and might be a slight boost.

    Unfortunately, all of this will be like, single digits percent improvement at the most, and maybe 10% improvement at the most if you absolutely go all out, overall. If your CPU usage idles at 2% or less, that's pretty much your potential for improvement.

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    Posted on 04-09-11 06:30:27 PM Link | Quote
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    New Hard Drives have sped up greatly from the old ones, but I'm unsure if you're up to cloning your disk onto a new one. Basically I had a laggy bit of performance out of my comp until I upgraded to a cutting edge hard drive with one platter instead of three, which to this day performs admirably.

    These days they're even a bit faster.

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    Posted on 04-09-11 06:40:40 PM Link | Quote
    If you've (un)installed lots of stuff lately it may be worthwhile to run NTREGOPT (don't have a link handy but google should find it). It ended up giving me a noticable speed boost.

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    Posted on 04-09-11 10:04:17 PM (last edited by Shadic at 04-09-11 07:04 PM) Link | Quote
    paulguy

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    Posted on 04-10-11 12:13:45 AM Link | Quote
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    Just having the software open shouldn't load it down much; only if they're doing something.

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    Posted on 04-10-11 01:47:52 AM Link | Quote
    Originally posted by Shadic
    Originally posted by paulguy
    Unfortunately, all of this will be like, single digits percent improvement at the most, and maybe 10% improvement at the most if you absolutely go all out, overall. If your CPU usage idles at 2% or less, that's pretty much your potential for improvement.

    Mine idles around 2-5% (Sometimes higher sometimes lower) with Aero on, and Firefox and Trillian open.

    Aero's also hardware accelerated. :smugdra:


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    Gabu

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    Posted on 04-11-11 12:29:41 AM Link | Quote
    Well, wouldn't you know it, Gamebooster taught me something. Apparently I tend to max out my RAM a lot (or get close to it), and since I have 3.25 gigabytes recognized by the system, then it's no surprise why I was having issues with coming out of hibernation only to see graphics getting screwed up.

    Now to figure out the best method of circumventing this. I could close several programs I have just before putting it in hibernation. Would be the easiest.

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    Posted on 04-11-11 01:09:08 AM Link | Quote
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    If you're frequently filling that much RAM, I'd suggest that something is probably wrong.

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    Gabu

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    Posted on 04-11-11 01:34:26 AM Link | Quote
    I do remember these chips installed 3 or 4 years ago...

    But then again I have a lot of RAM intensive programs running at once so it may be that.

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    Posted on 04-11-11 07:17:47 AM Link | Quote
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    Nah I meant more wrong software-wise, but if your computer can't handle it just run 1 memory intensive program at once. Like don't try running flash and photoshop at the same time or if you do, maybe only a light project in one, and instead of running photoshop and itunes or something, use something lighter like winamp or foobar. Either way, I don't see you getting much improvement without getting more RAM or coming up with better usage strategies.

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    Posted on 04-14-11 09:51:11 AM Link | Quote
    Uninstall ZoneAlarm, you probably don't need it or anything other than the Windows firewall. Especially if you have one in your router. Of course, some people might need it for certain programs which phone home ... be it legit or non-legit software. Even then, the Windows thing is enough as it monitors incoming traffic and should ask you if you data transfer or not (and unlike most commercial firewalls the dialogues seem comprehensive for the average user).

    Also careful with those booster programs. They often change things in the registry which can be done manually as well. But unlike what you do (and risk doing) yourself, you often lack control and view what the thing did. If you for instance change something, then uninstall the program you don't know how Windows was affected, if you didn't revert the changes. In rare cases it can "brick" Windows so that a reinstall is needed.

    Apart from upgrading you could do:

    - If C:\ does not have enough free space, try do delete some System Restore points. I'd recommend to leave at least some few hundered MB or 1-2 gigs free, for instance if you extract something and need some temporary space. Lacking space aborted the installation of Windows 7's SP1 twice for me (until I reset System Restore and allocated less space for it)

    - For defrag, yeah - you should definitively do it, if you didn't defrag the disk a long time/or the computer did not have enough idle time to defrag itself over time. But leave programs closed, the computer should be unattended to speed up the process. Wouldn't recommend to defrag too often, it might wear down HDDs faster

    - Current Firefox and Opera builds can be blazingly fast, imo - if they have the recources they need. Too many extensions installed might not only increase RAM usage (of which you have more than enough), but also CPU load

    - As for hibernation, this is normal that filled RAM takes longer to load up when you put the computer on again. You need to compare if it still saves time to put the comp hibernating instead of normal boot, then opening all programs individually each time. At least Windows XP still shows that progress bar - in Windows 7 you just see a black screen until everything's restored. Think about having 16 GB RAM fully used, e. g. some HD video editing with several video tracks open. Or you run Lightroom Beta with a lot of stuff on the screen ...

    As said, I just think that you should try to do things with native means in Windows first, before moving to use that ... and that program. It's easy to lose overview, especially if something happens.

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    Posted on 04-14-11 08:25:41 PM Link | Quote
    The thing is that ZoneAlarm tends to save my ass a lot. I don't know why, but I just feel a lot safer with it on. And I actually happened to get a virus the other day when I had to leave the computer for 3 minutes to eat dinner, and while the program still muscled it's way in, ZoneAlarm at the very least supressed it starting until I tried to deny it access. Didn't work, but still. It may have been possible the Booster program suppressed something that might have stopped that, but now that I think about it sometimes shit like this happens when it's least expected. Though this time, rather than having ED open, I had Tumblr and some other tabs open at the time.

    Regardless, I don't really want to get rid of ZoneAlarm. If not for the fact that it keeps things slightly saner, then for the fact that dad will wonder what the hell my problem is for uninstalling a firewall. It's just not going to happen so long as I'm living in his house and he is paying for a three license package.

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