Pc Ram...
- Thread starter Maz
- Start date
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ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Here's another PC+Ram problem 
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jay clock
Massive member
- Location
- Hampshire UK
does it seem faster?
trustysteed
Guest
PC Ram sounds like some kind of police superhero....
Maz said:Yo! The new RAM wasn't embedded properly after all.
Gave it a good shove this time (in fact I RAMmed it in).
Now have 768MB.
So we now have Hyperdrive & Warp speed
next step uninstall all the software you never use ,bin all redundant files. Back up everything and burn to a DVD then do a double defrag .This will speed up your hard drive access times
twowheelsgood
Senior Member
- Location
- Zurich Switzerland
Hi Maz,
You definitely needed the memory but there are a couple of things you could do to speed things up and get back disk space for free.
1. Install a program called "ccleaner" and run it. You will probably want to check all the options under "windows" and "applications" under the cleaner tab. I recently did this for a friend and got back 5GB of space on a 20GB hard drive!
2. In ccleaner go to the "tools" tab and under start-up, disable (not delete) anything you aren't sure of - the only thing that runs for me is the anti-virus program, NOTHING else is needed. then restart. If something you use doesn't run then go back and turn the item on. So many programs install crap that runs and takes resources (mainly memory) when you don't need it e.g. adobe updater, lots of stuff in itunes, realplayer, some driver updates etc.
3. Give it a damn good defrag using the microsoft tool under system tools or a freebie such as that from auslogics. Repeat until you can't defrag any further and then get into the habit of running it once a week.
4. again in ccleaner under registery, do a scan and clean-up. I've removed over 20,000 bogus entries from a machine before.
This is what I do for friends of mine, most can quite happily use a computer for all their everyday tasks from 5-6 years ago. If I didn't do a fair bit of video encoding, I wouldn't have bought a new one since my previous 2.0GHz Pentium 4.
You definitely needed the memory but there are a couple of things you could do to speed things up and get back disk space for free.
1. Install a program called "ccleaner" and run it. You will probably want to check all the options under "windows" and "applications" under the cleaner tab. I recently did this for a friend and got back 5GB of space on a 20GB hard drive!
2. In ccleaner go to the "tools" tab and under start-up, disable (not delete) anything you aren't sure of - the only thing that runs for me is the anti-virus program, NOTHING else is needed. then restart. If something you use doesn't run then go back and turn the item on. So many programs install crap that runs and takes resources (mainly memory) when you don't need it e.g. adobe updater, lots of stuff in itunes, realplayer, some driver updates etc.
3. Give it a damn good defrag using the microsoft tool under system tools or a freebie such as that from auslogics. Repeat until you can't defrag any further and then get into the habit of running it once a week.
4. again in ccleaner under registery, do a scan and clean-up. I've removed over 20,000 bogus entries from a machine before.
This is what I do for friends of mine, most can quite happily use a computer for all their everyday tasks from 5-6 years ago. If I didn't do a fair bit of video encoding, I wouldn't have bought a new one since my previous 2.0GHz Pentium 4.
. I notice 'ccleaner' is freeware - this is music to my ears.
domtyler
Über Member
A much better bet would be to purchase a new hard drive. If yours is five years old or more it will be ridiculously slow compared to even the cheapest new ones. This technology has moved on apace for the past ten years so you will see a similar improvement again with the new drive. It will likely be much, much quieter too.
check out something like this for less than forty quid.
check out something like this for less than forty quid.
twowheelsgood
Senior Member
- Location
- Zurich Switzerland
Yep ccleaner is free from Piriform. A really excellent little tool which probably does about 80-90% of what any "expert" would do to clean-up a system. I'm using more and more free stuff these days. I recently abandoned Nero the cd burning program because cdburnerxp is so good.
As someone who regularly deals with whole heaps of perfectly usable technological "junk", I do make it my mission to get as much mileage out of older systems as possible. It really is a criminal waste and extremely toxic landfill. Most people simply surf the web, write a few documents and watch the occasional movie. anything made in the last half decade or so is perfectly capable of dealing with that, given a bit of care and attention.
PCs may be cheaper these days but a new system is still a fair whack of money for most people, epecially when you don't really need it.
I'm currently buying 3Ghz pentium 4 machines with 1GB memory, dvd drive and 80GB hard drive for £25 with as many free CRTs monitors as I want. Given an hour or so to zap a new image of windows, vacuum out the dust and do some tweaks, these are perfect for families and students. About the only real issue is hard drives can be a bit unreliable after 3-4 years.
As someone who regularly deals with whole heaps of perfectly usable technological "junk", I do make it my mission to get as much mileage out of older systems as possible. It really is a criminal waste and extremely toxic landfill. Most people simply surf the web, write a few documents and watch the occasional movie. anything made in the last half decade or so is perfectly capable of dealing with that, given a bit of care and attention.
PCs may be cheaper these days but a new system is still a fair whack of money for most people, epecially when you don't really need it.
I'm currently buying 3Ghz pentium 4 machines with 1GB memory, dvd drive and 80GB hard drive for £25 with as many free CRTs monitors as I want. Given an hour or so to zap a new image of windows, vacuum out the dust and do some tweaks, these are perfect for families and students. About the only real issue is hard drives can be a bit unreliable after 3-4 years.
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twowheelsgood
Senior Member
- Location
- Zurich Switzerland
you need a program that can copy an image of a partition or disk. You can't just boot into windows and copy everything.
Usually these are a floppy disk or dvd that boots the pc outside of windows.
The best known is probably "Norton Ghost". If you can borrow the standard boot disk from someone, this will do what you want. I haven't tried any free versions so I can't give an opinion.
Usually these are a floppy disk or dvd that boots the pc outside of windows.
The best known is probably "Norton Ghost". If you can borrow the standard boot disk from someone, this will do what you want. I haven't tried any free versions so I can't give an opinion.
domtyler
Über Member
Ideally I would install the new disk, make a ~40gb partition and reinstall Windows from scratch. Once up and running and you have reinstalled your apps I would stick in the old disk as a secondary drive, create a partition from the remaining free disk space on the new disk and then copy all your data onto it.
Once happy you can remove and discard the old drive.
I would set aside an entire weekend to do this as it rarely goes completely hitch free. If you do decide to get a new disk and you cannot find your old Windows XP disk let me know by PM and we can probably sort something out.
Once happy you can remove and discard the old drive.
I would set aside an entire weekend to do this as it rarely goes completely hitch free. If you do decide to get a new disk and you cannot find your old Windows XP disk let me know by PM and we can probably sort something out.
