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My computer's performance is terrible..halp!

Bang Bang Miss AmericaBang Bang Miss America Registered User regular
edited July 2007 in Help / Advice Forum
I have an old computer, though I don't think it should be performing the way it is...

Basically, booting up programs takes far too long, I can't play any demanding games (I can play Theme Hospital luls) and the most annoying thing by far, is the frame rate is so terrible. Like, when I scroll down or up a page, it takes forever, and it's like in slow-motion. Far worse is whenver I get a nudge in MSN it is in slow-motion to, so it takes forever to finish.

Any notions what is wrong?

Specs:

Operation system: Windows XP Service Pack 2

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
2.00GHz, 512MB RAM

C:

Free Space: 19.3 GB
Total Size: 3.82 GB

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Bang Bang Miss America on

Posts

  • mrcheesypantsmrcheesypants Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    May want to backup and reinstall windows. I've read somewhere that windows on a computer will get slower after age but another poster can correct me after this one. Also it will be a surefire way to rid yourself of any spyware or virii on your computer.

    Another thing you could do is just install avast!, spybot S&D and ad-aware and scan (in safe mode) for any malware.

    mrcheesypants on
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  • SilmarilSilmaril Mr Ha Ha Hapless. Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Backup and reinstall.


    I try to do it every six months to a year. Keeps her all speedy. XP will slow down over time with all the installs and uninstalls and other crap that gets thrown at it.

    Silmaril on
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  • sdrawkcaB emaNsdrawkcaB emaN regular
    edited July 2007
    Might want to consider another 512MB of RAM?

    I've noticed that computers with 512 or 256 these days tend to lag as much as my ancient 800MHz G4 tower (with 512MB of PC133 RAM), even if they have faster procs. I think 1GB is pretty much standard for speedy performance these days. Unless of course you've noticed an outright decline in performance. Then one assumes it would not be hardware-related.

    sdrawkcaB emaN on
  • RuckusRuckus Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    You can also try disk defragmentation, Spyware and Antivirus scans if you don't want to take the most drastic step first.

    Ruckus on
  • redimpulseredimpulse Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    Windows XP SP2 can take an average of 380 Mb of memory to run, just in itself. I'd recommend getting a larger hard drive and upgrading your page file size (right click my computer, select properties. Advanced tab, performance settings button, advanced tab, page file). I recommend a minimum of 1536 Mb, it's about the best average of space and performance. By the way, the page file is a portion of your hard drive that's used as memory.

    Run anti spyware and anti virus scans.

    Purchase at least another 512 Mb of RAM.

    Your visual performance issues are most likely driver related, or your video card is starting to poop. Update your video drivers first and see if that helps. The issue you reported reminds me of how computers perform when using standard drivers that don't actually utilize any graphics performance.

    redimpulse on
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  • gneGnegneGne Registered User regular
    edited July 2007
    http://www.ccleaner.com/
    http://www.superantispyware.com/

    gneGne on
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