How can I speed up my computer's processing?

[1100011CS]

I work with computers everyday and I have had some issues with AVG over the past year or two. I HIGHLY recommend Avast! and MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials).

One of the recent AVG updates totally screwed my buddies PC. I also recommend Avast! OR MSE (not both at the same time).

 

[Boxerdaddy]

yea man that thing is really old

nowadays you can get 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive and some really fast processors for around $1000

thats light years ahead of your current computer

You can get a decent laptop for under 500 easy.

Gateway NV50A02u: AMD Phenom II Triple-Core Processor N830, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, ATI Radeon 4250, HDMI @Best Buy for $399

399 at Bestbuy..
AMD Phenomâ„¢ II Triple-Core Processor N830 (2.1GHz, 1.5MB L2 Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
4096MB Dual-Channel DDR3 Memory
500GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive
Wave Pattern Case Design with Satin Black Lid
Chassis with ATI Radeon® HD 4250 Graphics with up to 256MB of dedicated system memory supporting Shader Model 4.0 and Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1 with AMD M880G Chipset
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi CERTIFIEDâ„¢
8x DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive

 

[MOClone]

I have an 8 Year old Sony VAIO computer.

504 MB RAM
13.9 GB Hard Drive with 1.74 GB Free Space
92.8 GB 2nd Hard Drive with 42.8 GB Free Space

My problem is it has been running really slow lately. Is this a RAM issue, or A Hard drive issue.

Is there any good programs to clean up my computer? I ran defragmenter, but it didn't help much.

It seems I have a lot of processes running in the background, how can I clean those up? I don't know which ones are necessary or not.

Thanks for any help.

DEFINITELY reinstall your operating system. Windoze is prone to "registry bloat" after just a few years, much less 8! Plus you no doubt have collected a lot of crap and gunk over the years. It will be much faster to just reinstall than to try to clean up. However, be aware that you need a rescue disk or special disk with your drivers for your computer. If not, using a generic Windows installation disk will force you to install the drivers yourself. It can be done easily but if you are not familiar with doing it then you'd be advised to find a good friend that can help you. The drivers would be readily available on Sony's website. A good alternative to Windoze is Ubuntu Linux. It's free, very fast, and not prone to the virus and malware problems. There is some upside to learning to use Linux apps versus the standard Windoze fare.

Good luck... I'd definitely clean up and reinstall... you'll be amazed at the difference!

 

[whirlybirds]

dv6-3225dx - BestBuy

i just bought this laptop sunday and got it for a good price.

 

[CYcoFan]

Old RAM can be expensive. 8 years old might be old enough to require the lower-density PC100 RAM. Not all PC133 RAM is compatible with that. You're probably fine and any PC133 RAM will work, but be sure to check before buying any RAM. I assume the computer predates DDR.

You're only going to have more problems with that computer anyway. The power supply might go out. The hard drive might die. The video card might die. As parts get more obsolete, replacement parts will get expensive. You're much better off buying a cheap new desktop.

This.....

People! You can't just add RAM to an 8 year old computer. Most of the time the RAM is hard to find and if you do find it, it won't be enough of increase to be worth a darn. You will probably have to change Mother board and by that time you could find a new tower with a lot more RAM than you currently have for a very low rate.

There are systems out there that will rock your world, for much less than you probably think, if you have an 8 year old Comp.

Even Surfing the Web is very graphic intensive any more and requires a min of 1-2 gigs of RAM if you want any speed what so ever. You are probably going to have to have to switch to Operating systems because you can't use XP forever and if you do Vista and Windows 7 are very graphic intensive by themselves without doing anything.