New Computer & Slow Vista

15 years ago

My ISP gave me a free computer for signing a new 2 year contract with them; unfortunately, it came with Vista installed. I have my old one which runs XP and even though it's 4 years old, I use it more than the new one. I know I have to get with the program and get used to Vista but this computer runs so slow that it drives me crazy. I have high speed DSL but it's not only the internet that moves slow, everything moves at snails pace. I suspect that I might need more memory but I'm anal about hardware. It's a Dell Inspiron 531S and has 512MB of RAM. The C drive says total size 64.4GB, space free 40.9 GB. I did a scan of Windows Experience Base Score and scored a 2.0> It says Processor subscore 4.1; memory (RAM) 2.0; Graphics 2.8; gaming graphics 3.0; primary hard disk 5.7. It then gives me an option to "view ways to increase my score". When I click on that, it brings me to the Dell home page, whereas I am completely lost.

Can anyone assist me with this? I hope I've given enough infomation. Thank you!

Comments (17)

daylilydayzed
15 years ago
Vista needs at least 1 GB of RAM to operate smoothly. Increase your memory to 2GB if possible and Vista will be the rabbit instead of the tortoise.
shboom
15 years ago
Defintely needs more RAM... a minimum of at 1gig and runs very well with 2. Anything over 3gig is really not needed and there is no noticable increase in performance.

Bob
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How do you get yourself into these problems? Because you have a problem and are trying to fix it rather than ignore it or dump your problem on someone else. I find that to be very admirable. The good thing about this is you will be learning a lot in the process of getting things back on track. The down side is it is going to take a little bit of time if we do it here. Your are very lucky because there is a lot of experience her and, super people willing to help. There should be no fear of what to do with what fix-it finds if you decide to go that route. They offer several bits of information as to what found information does, and a suggestion of what you should let fix-it do, to fix your computer. You can undo anything fix-it does, with the click of a button. If you go to do anything that will screw things up, fix-it will tell you. If anything in any of the steps does not agree with what you see on the screen, don't continue and get back to us and let us know what the discrepancy is. There are several reasons why you might not be getting to the desk top you are used to and rather than a bunch of mumbo jumbo and jargon, we'll start with the simplest reason first. From what I gather at this point, you have multiple issues that are not necessarily "Computer Problems". To best help you get on track using a forum like this, I suggest we take one issue at a time. There are several ways to skin a cat so I am going to use what I know will get you to where you want to be. Of course, if you know a faster way that works for you, no problem, as long as we both get to where we want to be. We don't know what you know so if we describe a step that you well know, it is not to insult your intelligence or belittle you, it's just to get you where you need to be in a step by step manner. 1....The folder that YOU created named "desk top", rename it to "My Icons" and do so without the start and end quotes. The folder you created, from what you indicated here, has a space between the words "desk" and "top". That's the one you want to rename. 2....Click on the START button at the bottom left of you computer screen. Look for "My Computer" and click on that. 3....RIGHT click Local Drive (C:) In the left column at the top, you should see "Desktop" with no space between desk and top. Looking down a little further, you should see C: with a plus next to it. Click on that plus. When it expands, look down the list and you should see the renamed directory "My Icons" that you did previously. Click on that and in the right column, everything you moved should be listed there. 4....At the top of this window click on EDIT and when the menu drops down, click on SELECT ALL. Everything in the right column should become highlighted, usually in blue. 5....Take your mouse pointer over to the highlighted column click down on the LEFT mouse button and HOLD IT DOWN. While holding it down, drag everything over to the left column and up to the "DESKTOP", at the top of the left column. You will see the DESKTOP change color when you are on it and at that point, let up on the mouse button. Make sure you are on the DESKTOP name and that it highlights because if you don't, you may move everything into another directory, compounding the issue!!! Everything should now be back the way it was before you moved your desk top. If everything is back to what you are used to, we'll take the next step. My particular next step is going to ask for a list of everything in the task manager under the tab "PROCESSES". Do a "Ctrl" "Alt" "Delete". When the task manager pops up, click on the "Processes" tab. After you enter this tab, hover your pointer over the words "User Name". This will be the name of one of the columns. You have to hover over the actual words. Left click that and you will see everything organize itself. If you could then get us a list as it appears on your screen, we can work on the next steps. I have to go on an errand so it might be some time before I get back to you, I live in a rural area. Someone else here may pick up where I left off, I have no problem with that. The beauty of this particular forum is many knowledgeable people willing to help.
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marooma
15 years ago
I poked around at the Dell website and most of their suggestions to speed up Windows Vista refer to the Microsoft website link below. HTH.

Terry

Here is a link that might be useful: Optimize Windows Vista for better performance
giniene
Original Author
15 years ago
Oh, this is great information, thank you all. How difficult is it to add more RAM?
owbist
15 years ago
Before adding more RAM. You only have a 60 gig hard drive which is one third filled already, how much 'stuff' do you have on your XP computer? I ask that so you have a rough guide on how much room you may need on the Vista machine.

On the XP machine click Start, click My computer and you should see how big and how much free space you have on that one. This might give you an idea of how much you may try to load on the Vista machine. Bear in mind a hard drive needs about 20% free space for the swap file to work efficiently. If you have an external drive this may not be an issue.
bob414
15 years ago
If it were mine I would go to this page at crucial and order the 2 GB kit. It is easy to install and there should be a manual with your Dell that gives step by step directions.
bob414
15 years ago
If you can't locate the manual here are the directions from the online manual at Dell's site: Installing memory.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
15 years ago
I'm curious...did it come with a Dell Warranty?...or is it maybe a rebuilt one, with no warranty since it was 'given' to you by your ISP.

If you have a Dell warranty, (and I would be checking if you have a warranty, and what it covers, and for how long), Dell should be able to walk you through the installation besides helping you with whatever memory you need.

Sue...who has had great luck with her Dell
giniene
Original Author
15 years ago
Oh, you guys are all awesome! OK, My XP PC has a small capacity of 37.2 GB. I know that's not a lot, when I first bought this, I only wanted it for internet, nothing else. Since then, I've gotten involved in Paint Shop Pro and use the PC constantly. The old XP PC has 23.0 GB free and used 14.1. I like to think I keep it in great condition, defrag and clean temp internet files weekly. I have most of my graphics on a flash drive. The new Vista PC has the PSP program already installed; did that right away.

As far as warranty, it was warrantied but it's since expired. I got the PC from my ISP in August of 2007 but because of a broken wrist and not being able to connect it up with one hand; plus holidays coming up, I didn't even hook it up until January of 2008.

I do remember when I got this old PC, I eventually added more RAM because it did run slow so I guess the new one would be the same thing. Bob, thank you for the links telling me how to do this.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
likely the reason they gave them away were because they were sub-par setups and they got them very cheap.
Vista should never be put on a pc with 512 Ram it just won't do anything. I would for sure up the Ram, I buy my ram from www.newegg.com they have super prices, I usually get Kingston ram. You would do good to get a matched pair of 1 gig sticks. Changing the Ram can be easy unless the pc has the insides really cramped up then sometimes it can get a little more difficult.
Another option would be to wipe Vista off of it and load XP on it and it would run much better.
Vista has a lot of extras on it that eat up resources but many can be turned off like the Aero effects.
To do that Start by right-clicking any empty area of the Desktop, and then clicking Personalize in the context menu. Next, click the Window Color and Appearance option. Clear the Enable Transparency check box and click OK
You can change the theme to more xp looking also,
Go to the same Window Color and Appearance option as before, and click the link marked Open classic appearance properties for more color options. In the 'Color scheme' box, choose Windows Standard, and then click OK. Wait a minute while Vista does the XP change over. When it's done, you'll have an xp looking Start menu, taskbar, etc.
Here are a couple articles you may be interested in
Install Windows XP on Your Pre-Installed Windows Vista Computer
Windows Vista How-Tos
How to make your Vista computer look and run more like XP

these are a couple things you can do now to help it look more familiar and maybe improve it.(another method)
Right click on the taskbar and select Properties, on Start Menu, select "Classic Start Menu"

Right Click on My Computer, select Properties, Advanced and under Performance select "Adjust for best Performance"
I will also give you a link to a very good easy to follow video by cnet on how to make some changes so that it will look much more like your xp that you are familiar with.

If you want even more just go to google and put this in the search box with quotes "vista look like xp"

Here is a link that might be useful: cnet video
giniene
Original Author
15 years ago
The help you all have given me is amazing, thanks so much! I need to get more RAM but the other tips on making Vista look like XP is great info, thank you so much for all of your help. You all are great to take the time to help me!
zep516
15 years ago
Consider running this program see the link.

You should also find out what is running on the machine now at start up, and the pre installed Anti virus program name (Trial Version) which will be probably asking for money in about 30 days. We can all guess what those might be...

I like ravens Idea, but you may consider keeping Vista since you have xp already if only to get use to it..

Anyway my 2cents...

Here is a link that might be useful: Decrap
giniene
Original Author
15 years ago
Great, I used the Decrap on both computers, thanks! I also just ordered 2GB RAM; hopefully it'll work. I'm trying to figure out how to see what's running at start up and how to fix that.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
one good program that I use that will do a good uninstall of anything you may have on your pc you want to get rid of but ALSO has a feature to show you what is running at startup and with simple clicks lets you change those from on to off and vice versa is Revo uninstaller, it is free.
Revo Uninstaller
on their site you can click on some screenshots to show you exactly what it will look like and they have good step by step directions on how to use it.
User's help
Auto Run Manager
Junk Files Cleaner

it does all that and more, if you go to any of those links then look to the right it lists all the various tools built in, just click on any one of those then at the bottom of that page's text there will be another link that says go to user guide page, that will give you the direct instructions and pictures to how to use that aspect of the tool

Here is the list of the tools and utilities included in Revo Uninstaller:

Auto Start Manager - Stop programs that start automatically on Windows startup; speed up loading of Windows!

Windows Tools Manager - Handy and useful tools bundled with every version of Windows; easily find useful system tools and options!

Junk Files Cleaner - Find and remove unnecessary files from your computer; free up disk space and delete files you do not need!

Browsers History Cleaner - Erase web browser history, visited pages history and temporary internet files of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera web browsers; free up a lot of disk space by deleting temporary internet files like temporary saved videos, temporary flash files, temporary pictures etc!

Office History Cleaner - Remove the history of most recently used files in MS Office; remove your tracks by deleting the list of last opened MS Office documents!

Windows History Cleaner - Remove the history of recently opened files, delete temporary files, remove usage tracks and other history items that are saved by Windows; remove your tracks saved by Windows for a lot of operations!

Unrecoverable Delete Tool - Erase files and folders forever; be sure that nobody could recover your files and folders after deleting!

Evidence Remover - Make sure already deleted files, folders and other data are unrecoverable; securely erase your data!
giniene
Original Author
15 years ago
This is great; thanks so much for all of everyone's help. I'm waiting for the new memory to be delivered; hopefully the install will go well without me blowing up the computer.
giniene
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi all again! I took advice and bought 2 GB of ram. How difficult is this to install? I remember hearing something about "grounding" also....what is this about? Thanks to anyone who can help.
DA_Mccoy
15 years ago
Historically installing RAM is not difficult.

Doing a simple search on the Forum's homepage with the words "wrist strap" (sans quotes) will reveal the a recent thread, "....Year Is It...." involving grounding.

DA

New Computer & Slow Vista

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