How do I speed up my old computer

[Soquili]

I received an email from an old friend, we've known each other for 46 years.

He uses and has used desktop computers for about 20 years, but is still not computer literate.

At least not from a technician's point of view.

Anyway his question as shown in the title to this thread is one he has asked at least once a year for the past 20 years. I thought I would share the answer I sent back to him today. Keep in mind the information may not apply to everyone and was meant specifically for my friend.

Background information: Computer is 2 years old, is running Vista Ultimate 64bit on an AMD dual core processor with 2GB RAM and 320GB harddrive.

Any computer will become slower as more files are added to the hard drive. The indexing service has more files to look at to update the index. Every time it runs it must look at every file on the drive to verify they are still there and if it is not then that entry in the index must be removed. New files must be added to the index. To put it in simple terms, never expect a machine to be as fast as it was when it was new.

How can you speed up an older machine. Simple remove files from the hard drive. If you have photos, burn them to a DVD then delete them from the hard drive. Old documents you want to keep, burn them to a CD or DVD then delete from the hard drive. Any file you will not use every day or at least every week, put it on a CD/DVD and remove it from the hard drive.

Another thing is to remove any programs you do not actually use. If you have not used a program for more than 30 days uninstall it. If you have programs that load at boot up and you have no idea what it does anymore then remove it. If you find it was something you need then reinstall the program.

To find out what programs are loading at boot up click on the Vista Orb (lower left of the screen on the taskbar, where the start button was on XP). Above the Orb where it says start search type msconfig and hit the Enter Key.

The System Configuration utility will open. Click on the Startup tab. All programs being loaded at bootup will be listed. Any you don't know what they are, simply untick the checkbox then click the Apply button. Reboot your computer and if everything seems to work then try msconfig again and remove as many Startup programs as you can without losing things you need. To get a program back into the startup simply run msconfig again and put a tick into the checkbox and click the Apply button. Reboot to have the program start.

Removing startup programs frees up RAM for use by you and the programs you actually use. This will reduce the need to read and write information to and from the hard drive.

Once you have removed files and programs, you will still perceive the computer is running slower than when it was new. This may or may not actually be true. Our memories often deceive us into thinking things were better, faster, and easier in the past. http://gfx2.hotmail.com/mail/w3/ltr/...le_regular.gif

[steve.ledger]

As you can imagine Bill, that's a question I get asked with great regularity in my business.

Of course I have a somewhat business approach to the issue. I've practically given up passing on advice (or recommendations) because the people that need that kind of help or advice often aren't those who can easily follow those kind of instructions with any confidence, they can often get themselves into more trouble which in turn get's me into trouble
(... because if they do have a shot and things go wrong (as they invariably do) then it's my fault as it was me who gave them the advice!!)

In my business it's a win-win situation to simply ask the enquirer if they'd like to bring it in for a diagnosis. Yes it will cost some dollars, but 99% of people really don't mind paying a service fee and at the end of the day they have a speedier PC and you have some dollars to help keep food on the table.
People who choose not to bring their PC in and continue to fiddle or put up with a slow running PC generally call me again some months later because the PC isn't even booting to Windows at all any more.
So I end up seeing the PC after all (which of course has a bigger problem now )

I'm asked 'How can I make my PC go faster' so often that I have small poster displayed next to the counter in my shop:



But to be serious, what do I really find when I check slow (reasonably spec'ed) PC's?

Well aside from Bill's good advice to his friend, in order of most common causes, this is what I find causes PC's to become slow performers:

[1] Viruses and Spyware - often many hundereds of infections.

[2] Case filled with dust (and webs), CPU Heatsink fins fully blocked with dust causes the CPU to overheat.

[3] Norton Security Suite, 360 - etc

[4] ZoneAlarm

[5] Failing Hard Drive


These are the most common - there can be other unique causes.

As Bill says, computer literacy at a tech level isn't common amongst PC's users and owners. It is always best to have a trusted 'experienced' tech take a look.
There may be a service fee, but the PC will come back to you running much better.
Once you get it back though, it's down to you to keep it that way

Bill, please keep us posted about your friends success (or otherwise) when following the advice you gave him?

[Soquili]

Thanks Steve very sound advice, it is always best to have a technician check and repair a computer.

When I hear back from my friend about how the situation evolved I'll be sure to post. Usually he takes the computer to a technician near where he lives.

I would have offered to take a look at his computer myself but he did not like having to pay for my airplane tickets. I guess $1000.00 round trip was a bit much.

I also would have offered to remote connect but he wasn't up to configuring remote assistance.

[David Hewitt]

One sure fire way you probably havent even considered (and probably wouldnt be interested in...but anyway) is to actually remove vista and install win 95....

Coz lets face it... most people use their machines for stuff that really doesnt need or justify all the advances that have taken place between then and now...

I suppose it depends on what you use it for....

if its a second machine that you only do mundane stuff on then perhaps...stripping down to a version of win 95 is not so crazy

[handrawn]

my, my, it's not April the first already is it?

[pauland]

A few years back I had a phone call from a friend saying that their PC was going slow could I pop over to have a look. Half an hour later the PC was unusable - dead by the time I went over.

PC wouldn't boot. I eventually removed the hard drive to take a look. Drive was full of files but there was a trail of updates to the PCs files that had started that morning and continued up to the point that the PC crashed. Investigation of the files showed they'd been overwritten.

When did the problem start? "When I opened an email". Who was it from? "No idea".

They lost almost everything on the disc drive.

Who needs virus checkers..

[handrawn]

as it happens I set up a win98se about 9 months ago in order run some old software - had a look round for firewalls and AV suitable for this and it was strictly limited [ - as I recall for win95 it was more or less 'forget it' ]

so the machine stayed off-line permanently

I don't think win 98 or 95 are any faster than XP, if you have the system set up right, and you have the right hardware for the job...

[gracehjs]

My solution to speeding up my old computer. Buy a new one and start from scratch. Give the old one to my husband and remove everything and start over. I guess over time I had accumulated enough junk to bring the poor computer to its knees:-). It ran a whole lot better for my husband. Of course I am now proceeding to fill up the new one

[Soquili]

My friend emailed back saying he would follow my instructions. Translation: he will take it to the same technician he did in the past.

[handrawn]

l