Improving Performance of a 7 yo PC
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
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Time to replace a 3YO Gateway Notebook?
Comments (3)Personally I would not put it out to pasture that is not really a big investment in a machine that is still capable of working well. Doing some maintenance on it, cleaning out the old junk that is taking up space and resources etc should be done anyway. You can use it plugged in to the ac, I use mine that way 90% of the time. the lot of work you mention is work that needs doing on any machine we have to keep up with all that or we end up in these situations. Help! My computer is slow! and run the Secunia software inspector to make sure all your stuff is updated too. I have a couple of xp machines, a windows 7 laptop and some linux machines, they all take maintenance just have to dedicate the time to it....See MoreImproving computer performance
Comments (22)also you can download the free belarc advisor which will scan your pc and give you an excellent list of everything that is on your pc including the memory, the type you have installed how many slots you have on the pc and if you have any open slots etc, it is something I advise everyone to do and keep a print out of the list in case they ever need it when the pc is not working. Belarc Advisor you can use the crucial page also but you do not have to buy from them. I buy my memory from newegg.com I find their prices are excellent, usually go with kingston brand. Replacing or adding RAM is easy to do, there are some great guides online with pictures and also if you go to youtube and search for installing ram you will find video tutorials. Belarc will also tell you what kind of hard drive connections you have so you would know what you need to buy if you were to replace it. Installing Desktop Memory Modules...See MoreI need a new PC, am confused
Comments (26)1st: I would have to agree with what Asolo and Asylum said about the IMac..... for a "regular user" there is nothing better, "it" just works....Or maybe go to Sears Roebuck and get one of their brand new Linux PC's at less than $200(US) BUT......Right at $200(US) Go to: pricewatch(dot)com and click on "Computers PC no OS" since you: >>>> "I do not game, I do not download music, I do not want to watch movies or TV on my computer, I am the only user, only computer in house, I want a desk top." Pick out one of the systems that are less than $170 and increase the installed RAM to 2GB....I would at the least get one with a CDR/RW, but there are always USB CD/DVD drives if you want to stick with the lowest possible price. Now that you have the PC, get a copy of PCLinuxOS, LinuxMint, SimplyMepis7.0, ZenWalk, or VectorLinux or DreamLinux and do the install........If the CD doesn't have all the software you are looking for/want/need, LOL, check out the distro's repository...More than you'll ever know what to do with, and if that's still not enough, there is more than you could possibly imagine available on the WWW. A repository is where a distro maintains all of their compiled specifically to run with that distro software. (Yes geekers I know, but that's the simplest way I know to say it) Your new PC w/Linux will run extremely fast, much faster and with more stability and "robustness" than any MSWin version on the same hardware. Run the OS in RAM and all your MSWin-fan friends will be amazed and jealous of the lightening speed your "budget PC" will outperform their super whiz bang with all the high dollar bells and whistles, maybe even astounded when you offer them a FREE AND LEGAL copy to try on their own machine. Oh yeah, and you don't have to pay the MS or the Apple tax for your Operating System either...And, Linux requires much less high dollar hardware, and I can say this from personal experience.... There is never any need for "Security" software... no scanners, no "Anti-Virus", no registry mechanics, no de-frags, no nothing.....This thing has been running for just a few weeks now w/o being powered down or ever disconnected from the WWW. It is currently running 3 browsers/14windows/44 tabs (I just counted). I have gone as long as 10 months w/o ever shutting down or rebooting or disconnecting from the WWW, and other than an outgoing firewall, I run ABSOLUTELY ZERO "security" software The Linux "learning curve" is, quite honestly, a vastly overblown issue mainly bandied about by people who either: A) sell PC's and know that there is a lot more commission to be made on a $200 OS installed on a high hardware requirement PC than on a "naked" hard-drive PC w/o no need for unnecessary hardware "upgrades" B) that have no idea what they are talking about, or C) can only figure things out when somebody is there to step by step them through virtually every click... If you can figure out "Vista" you can figure out almost any Linux. SimplyMepis7.0 is a 4 click install that your Grandma could figure out how to install, run, modify, and download/install to. But some folks swear that the others mentioned above are just as easy an install, I just prefer SM7 Get a few LiveCD's and try them out, and install the one (or ones) that you like best.... But if you don't mind spending the money, for "Joe and Jane User", an IMac is pretty hard to beat. AMD Sempron 3000+ Computer System; SATA DDR2 PCI-e -MBoard; 2GB DDR-2 Dual Channel RAM; 40Gb Hard Drive; CDr/RW DRIVE; DeltaChrome 3D 256MB Shared Video; 6-Channel Audio; 10/100 Ethernet (LAN); MIDTOWER CASE Assembled & Tested! $210 (US) or, $230 to my door in 3 business days... But then again, there is that $0.1325 per CD for burning an ISO image of each Linux distro you might want to try.....Or you can order them from the vendors advertising on DistroWatch.com for real cheap...like you can get maybe almost 100 complete operating systems and all the included software for the price of JUST ONE COPY OF MSVista! Oh yeah....BTW.... with a Linux OS you are free to copy, modify, trade, sell, give away, install on 3256 separate machines. Ever actually read the MSXP/Vista EULA? You don't actually even own the contents of discs you just paid $200 for. And with Linux you can add/delete/change hardware devices at will and unlike with an MS OS, you won't have to buy a new OS whenever the MS decides that you have made too many changes and need to buy a new OS, as in MSWorld your clicking on "I agree" you agreed to give MS the right to determine the hardware changes make your old PC a new PC,and therefore to disable your system in in its entirety. And your new (or old) PC won't be "phoning home" everyday to report to MS what your software and hardware configuration was yesterday, is today, or what it is tomorrow. Go to your friendly local Barnes and Noble, or Borders bookstore and get a copy of one of the Linux mags, I would suggest "LinuxFormat" and get the multiple OS DVD with the mag and try whatever versions are on the DVD..or CD.... And while you're there, get a copy of "Knoppix Hacks" you get Knoppix5.1.1 with the book. Knioppix, never leave home without it...no kidding... Don't pay any attention to anyone telling you you need even more memory, a big video card or any such bull.....Unless you insist on getting a "MSVista" PC, in which case you need a minimum of 2GB RAM, and a pretty good video card would help too....And don't fall for all ANY talk about buying "Vista Home Basic", if you want a "Vista" that actually works at a speed you can tolerate (with enough hardware resources) you gotta "upgrade" for a whole lot more $$$. And for a whole less than what a free Linux distro will get you, except for a whole lot more money? HAGD! Here is a link that might be useful: OS 's for a new PC...See MoreAny possibility to improve desktop responsiveness?
Comments (13)azmom, I'd really have to assess your current computer to give you a fair and true opinion! The Specs you gave us were very general but lead me to believe it would be better to a new computer. If you did decide to go with upgrading your current computer those upgrades (if you went with a 500GB - 1TB Hybrid) would be in the range of $125-$175. Using an SSD Drive would be slightly higher. If you're able to do the work yourself you wouldn't have to pay someone to install and set up your new Hard Drive and RAM (you could also Clone your old hard drive to the new hard drive or do a clean install). With the price of Laptops these days it might be better to go that route! You can pick up a pretty decent Laptop for around $300-$400. You can definitely get them cheaper, but you will get what you paid for. Example: here is a link to a 2-in-1 Laptop for $379.99 Lenovo 2-in-1 Touchscreen Laptop I found this in less than a minute searching at Best Buy. I'm sure there are many others out there for a great price. This one has an Intel Core i3 5th Gen. Processor at 2.2GHz, 15.6" Touchscreen, 8GB Ram, 500GB Hard Drive, Backlit Keyboard, Can be a Laptop or Tablet, looks to be preinstalled with Windows 10, etc......See More- 8 years ago
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