# suggestions for a slow older PC



## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

I have a compac PC. Its at least 8 years old, and I think it might be 10. It originally came with ME OS on it, but as soon as 2000 came out I upgraded, then again when XP came out.

Anyway, it is very slow to open any window. We just got DSL for my wife for college, so Ive been trying to clean it up so it will work a little faster. I have downloaded CCleaner, and superantispyware, both from hippo, and ran them both. I have defragged, and I have downloaded all the microsoft updates, and service packs. 


I dont know the specs offhand for the RAM, hard drive, or processor. 

There is 48% free space in the hard drive. 

Will reducing the number of programs on the hard drive speed up the computer? Does anyone have any other ideas?


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## lharvey (Jul 1, 2003)

Ah the age old qustion, can I take my 10 year old computer and make it faster?

The short answer is NO. Reducing the number of programs will not help you.

Adding more RAM may help you but only to a certain point. You can't put 8 pounds of stuff in a five pound bag. 

Your machine runs on a combination of RAM and Processor.

XP requires a minimum of 256 MB of RAM just to run. As soon as you open another program you start the slippery slope.

If you add more ram, your processor will accept it MAYBE and you may notice a slight difference up to a certain point.

I work on a ton of residential machines for customers. I would send this one away with out opening the case because the customer would never be happy after spending money on it and they would tell everybody I didn't do anything.

L


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

I do have a little computer knowledge, and I was thinking that it might just be to old. 

Thanks for your info


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

michiganfarmer said:


> I do have a little computer knowledge, and I was thinking that it might just be to old.
> 
> Thanks for your info


Right-click on your My Computer icon, then select Properties. You can see the processor & RAM on your General tab under "Computer:".


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## totustuus (Jul 3, 2009)

I too recently dealt with a slow "obsolete" laptop (about 5 years old) running windows XP. Performance was horrible. I recently left the dark side (Windows) and am now running puppy linux. The operating system loads into RAM and the machine is now every bit a fast as my wife's new fangled Apple macbook pro with a core 2 duo processor.
The nice thing is you can give a try by burning puppy linux to CD without installing it to your hard drive. Who knows, it may work well for you!


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Actually an early unupdated version of XP will run on as little as 64mb ram. But unless you are going to run offline only probably not good idea. Online an unprotected unupdated XP is huge magnet for all sorts of crap, especially on a broadband connection.

Under 256mb ram and suggest you have choice of Puppy Linux (or one of the other mini linux distributions like D*amnSmall or Slitaz or Austrumi) or a pirated cut down version of XP called TinyXP. It wont have all the bells and whistles of official XP, but is much, much lighter and can run decent on old hardware. Different versions, I presently have TinyXP rev5 as best compromise between size, speed, and capabilities. Though I only have it as a replacement for original XP to run 2 windows programs offline since its so much smaller, faster, and more stable than original install of XP. Everything else I use Puppy Linux. You can cut down your own XP with program called ntlite (thats what the tinyXP creator used) but removing one thing can affect other things. The TinyXP has already done the work of getting whats left functioning properly and its very stable. But on other hand it is considered a pirated program. Since it replaced an existing XP install that was licensed on my computer, I dont have any moral problems using it. Not taking any food out of the mouth of Big Bill's children.... and no it doesnt make you phone home to get permission to install it and all that other bs. A google should find a downloadable copy pretty easy.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

michiganfarmer said:


> I have a compac PC. Its at least 8 years old, and I think it might be 10. It originally came with ME OS on it, but as soon as 2000 came out I upgraded, then again when XP came out.


You might want to check with the school the wife is attending to find out what if any PC requirements she has. Without knowing the specs on the machine its hard to tell but I can pretty much say more memory is the only real help. 
New computers are so cheap now that its really not worth investing in old machines. For the price of maxing out the memory and a new disk drive you pretty much 1/2 way to a new machine and if you look around that would pay for a reburbished 4 year old machine.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

Nevada said:


> Right-click on your My Computer icon, then select Properties. You can see the processor & RAM on your General tab under "Computer:".


the computer in question is at home, and Im at work. Ill chekc it out when I get home


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

I appreciate all the information


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

I agree with all the other posters to a certain extent. 

An install of XP, fully updated with service packs etc can be easily scaled (memory, cpu wise) by reducing the number of unnecessary services and programs that start when the pc is booted. The 1st screen shot below shows my laptop (which I use for 90% of home use and about 50% work use) starts and runs with only 80 MB of memory usage which also includes core VmWare services/programs.










This 2nd screen shot shows Chrome, Firefox, IE, Paint Shop Pro, FastStone image viewer, Truecrypt, Utorrent (not seen as it below the task manager main window),and Open Office Calc (spreadsheet) running in 333 MB of memory. Most home users may not run the same amount or kind of programs, however the purpose of this post is to show that there still maybe life left in the old pc you have....you just need to decide if it worth the time and effort to set the pc up and run in a smaller memory footprint.










Finally FWIW, if it was up to me, I would purchase a new pc if your pc ends up needing more memory, new HD etc. as the cost for this hardware is not a good ROI considering the price of a new pc such as a Dell Vostro which can be had for just over $400.00 and will be upgradeable to Windows 7 and will be reliable for years.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

What Karih said; my rule of thumb (when I do professional troublecalls) is to let people know before I start that if the projected cost of repair/installation is > half of the cost of a lower end PC, it might be worth their while to go ahead and buy a new one.


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

If you add more memory to an old slow PC, you will have an old slow PC that you've sunk some money into -- get a new one. 8 - 10 years old is a dinosaur and computers are very cheap these days.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

If you have to run XP, an 8-10 year old computer will be pretty sluggish, even if you have enough memory. If you can run Windows 2000 or Linux instead, it'll still be kinda slow, but it'll do just fine.

Memory is really cheap these days; you can add a lot of it for pocket change. In fact, on more than one occasion I've had computer stores just give me newer memory than you'd need for that machine. A computer that old probably isn't worth paying someone to fix or upgrade, but if you can get some memory and install it yourself you're in good shape. (If you do, be VERY CAREFUL of static electricity; Google ' static electricity damage ' for some guidelines.) Of course it'll help if you have the manual for your motherboard.

For XP or Linux you really want at least 256MB, preferably more; Win2K will do OK with somewhat less than that.


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## michiganfarmer (Oct 15, 2005)

Karihwanoron said:


> An install of XP, fully updated with service packs etc can be easily scaled (memory, cpu wise) by reducing the number of unnecessary services and programs that start when the pc is booted. .


how do I do this. 

I know how to get to msconfig. can I make the changes there?


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

michiganfarmer said:


> how do I do this.
> 
> I know how to get to msconfig. can I make the changes there?


I find that doing a fresh Windows install works wonders. If you use an XP Pro corporate CD the install will be put in a new Windows directory with a sequential number after it. You need to reinstall the applications, but the hard drive is 100% intact and really runs well.

By the way, did you ever look at your machine specs for me?


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

michiganfarmer said:


> how do I do this.
> 
> I know how to get to msconfig. can I make the changes there?


Yes you can, however you really need to know what your getting into. Disabling the wrong service or program can you leave with a dead operating system.

Although I posted print screens of my laptop's running tasks, it is only provided as an example of what can be done....if you know what you are doing. In my case, I have done this literally hundreds of times on pc's and servers we ship out and there have been no issues.

That being said, I do not know your pc and all the programs you have installed etc. This makes me reluctant to give you list of services and programs to disable on your pc....just in case there are any problems, I certainly would not want to blamed for this....and for anyone else who may run into potential issues.

What I can offer is this very popular and respected website to start with and also a google search with the search terms of [ame="http://www.google.ca/search?complete=1&hl=en&q=disable+xp+services+and+programs&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq="]disable XP services and programs.[/ame]

I will gladly answer any further questions you may have.


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