Slow!!
#1
10-15-09, 07:33 PM
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 218
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Slow!!
My computer takes a while to start up. Also it slows down while im on it. Is there something i can do to check and see what is running that is slowing it down?
#2
10-15-09, 07:38 PM
Give us some details. What is your ram clock speed, what is your operating system. Do you have McAfee or Norton installed as antivirus programs? When was the last time you cleared your cache or defragged it?
#3
10-15-09, 08:56 PM
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 218
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Not sure how to ckeck RAM clock speed. I have an Emachine with 80GB.I have AVG for virus. I defragged it about a month ago. Whats my cache? appreciate any help Thank You!
#4
10-16-09, 04:36 AM
Go to start, all programs, accessories, system tools, system information. After it populates, run down to total physical memory and let us know. Not familiar with emachines operating system, do they use windows? If so, which one....98, 2000, NT, xp, vista?
#5
10-16-09, 08:35 AM
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 218
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
#6
10-16-09, 09:16 AM
not enough memory
256 is low for XP
up it to at least 1 GB preferably 2 GB of RAM
that will speed things up a lot
at 256 it is writing back and forth ( swapping ) to the hard drive since it lacks physical system memory
also i recommend installing adaware se from lavasoft.com
and spybot search and destroy from safer networking.
but do this after you upgraded system memory 1st
also check to see how much free space you have on your hard drive
keep in mind system restore takes about 10% of the drive space
as does recycle bin, so you can easily loose 20% of the drive space to those 2 , and once you fill up the drive and hit the wall at 80% capacity, the computer really slows down
up it to at least 1 GB preferably 2 GB of RAM
that will speed things up a lot
at 256 it is writing back and forth ( swapping ) to the hard drive since it lacks physical system memory
also i recommend installing adaware se from lavasoft.com
and spybot search and destroy from safer networking.
but do this after you upgraded system memory 1st
also check to see how much free space you have on your hard drive
keep in mind system restore takes about 10% of the drive space
as does recycle bin, so you can easily loose 20% of the drive space to those 2 , and once you fill up the drive and hit the wall at 80% capacity, the computer really slows down
#7
10-16-09, 07:23 PM
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 218
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
Thanks
I went into my control panel under startup and in the system maintenance found a way to free up space by getting rid of unused files. Specifically my recycle bin had alot. I also disabled my limewire music share from turning on at startup. Does that make a difference, and also how hard is it to add 1GB or more of RAM to my computer?Oh last thing. I noticed that a window pops up sometimes in the bottom right of my screen that says windows virtual memory is to low. What does that mean? Thanks for any info guys.
#8
10-16-09, 07:51 PM
Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 11
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
If it is a desktop then it is very easy. Find out what kind of ram you need then buy it. Open your computer up and find the other one that looks like the one you just bought and there should be a slot next to it. Push it into the slot until you hear the click and then it is done.
Of course you need to check a few things before starting.
1. Find out how many ram slots your Motherboard has.
2. Find out if you have filled up the ram slots or if you have extra ones.
3. Find out what the maximum memory your motherboard supports
4. Also understand that (if you go for more than two gig of memory) your operating system restricts the amount of ram it will use.
Of course you need to check a few things before starting.
1. Find out how many ram slots your Motherboard has.
2. Find out if you have filled up the ram slots or if you have extra ones.
3. Find out what the maximum memory your motherboard supports
4. Also understand that (if you go for more than two gig of memory) your operating system restricts the amount of ram it will use.
#9
10-17-09, 12:05 AM
upgrade
virtual memory is hard drive space allocated to "virtual memory", and even if you allocate more, it's still much slower than physical RAM, due to all the writes and re writes it has to constantly have to do.
what if any application or services start up at boot, many services are not system critical and can be shut down if not being used
Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations by Black Viper
there is a list of services, what they do and how to shut them down.
keep in mind you computer memory usually runs in pairs, so if you got 4 slots but 2 of them are filled with 128k sticks, you got more 2 slots that must be populated with equal pairs of memory, like 2 x 512 sticks.
download Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit
install and run the report
it will tell you your bus speed and system type memory
from there you can buy memory, as it cheap and easy to install
hopefully you do not have RAMBUS memory, as that hard to get, expensive and not worth it considering the price of computers
what if any application or services start up at boot, many services are not system critical and can be shut down if not being used
Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations by Black Viper
there is a list of services, what they do and how to shut them down.
keep in mind you computer memory usually runs in pairs, so if you got 4 slots but 2 of them are filled with 128k sticks, you got more 2 slots that must be populated with equal pairs of memory, like 2 x 512 sticks.
download Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit
install and run the report
it will tell you your bus speed and system type memory
from there you can buy memory, as it cheap and easy to install
hopefully you do not have RAMBUS memory, as that hard to get, expensive and not worth it considering the price of computers
#10
10-18-09, 09:32 AM
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 218
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes
on
0 Posts
