Computer Clean

[vegyjones]

My computer became incredibl slow last week.

To the point where it was taking 30 minutes from turning Betfair on to placing a bet!

I decided to spend this week giving it a wholsale clean up.

I've defragmented, cleaned up, defragmented again, installed Superantisoftware, deleted unnecessary programmes, deleted unwanted files.

I've managed to increase the space on my Hard Drice from 5% to 18%

However, it's still going slightly slow.

Is there any thing else that anyone can recommend to speed things up!

Apparently my Temporary Files take up 2 GB. Are these needed? Can I delete them? And if I can how do I reach them?

Thanks all.

[Win2Win]

You can get rid of the Temp files using the Windows>Tools>Clean up software in your Start menu.

Extra memory will speed it up no end, and it's cheap now, how much do you have now?

Another way of speeding up is change the graphics card.

Uninstall any software you don't need.

And use this to clean up the system registry, it's free http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cleaner/registry_cleaner.htm

[TheOldhamWhisper]

Be VERY careful with registry cleaners and use them ONLY if you don't mind losing everything when it all goes wrong!

The software does give you the option to 'back up' before making changes - but this is of little value if you can no longer log into windows because something has changed that the software isn't programmed to deal with. I speak from experience! (and I have to try and recover this type of problem every day!!)

Go for the memory option - 2GB is the optimal for XP, 3GB for Vista.
Check to see if you hard drive is more than half full - if it isn't, leave the Temp files alone (at least for now).

[John]

Also, check to see what applications are running when your computer boots up. There may be loads of background applications / processes running that are memory hogging, that you don't even know are there.

I think the more RAM you have, the better, but Oldham is no doubt correct with those optimum figures for XP and for Vista.

How old is your computer? Buying a faster HDD would also help.

Oh, and uninstall RealPlayer if you have it. :D

[Win2Win]

Oh, and uninstall RealPlayer if you have it. :D
:doh Then some sites don't work! Like those with horse racing on them! :splapme

[John]

:laugh Oh God, it's probably one of the worst applications ever made... I absolutely hate it. Use something else... plenty of others out there!

[Win2Win]

You can get 'spam' free versions on the Torrents, the original is :ass2

[Yoda]

Go for the memory option - 2GB is the optimal for XP, 3GB for Vista.
Check to see if you hard drive is more than half full - if it isn't, leave the Temp files alone (at least for now).

Hello All, sorry for butting in, I've been having similar problems, How do you check your memory space and how do you "buy" more. I do understand just how backward sounding I am :splapme

Also, I've deleted my old norton and Symentec(?) i'm trying to get the anti virus that virgin.net provide. Is this wise? Part of me already knows the answer I think, but times are hard, etc.
Thanks in advance.

Yoda

[chancer]

If you go to the start menu, open" run... "type in chkdsk, press ok. I find this helps speed thngs up

[TheOldhamWhisper]

...How do you check your memory space and how do you "buy" more...


Right Click on 'My Computer' and select Properties. It will say xxx of RAM (it will either be in MB or GB - 1024 MB = 1 GB). You need to know what type of memory you are buying and how many 'slots' you have available to use to increase the memory. If you have had the computer for more than 3 or 4 years, it might not be worth spending the money which could be put to better use saving for a new machine.


...Also, I've deleted my old norton and Symentec(?) i'm trying to get the anti virus that virgin.net provide. Is this wise? Part of me already knows the answer I think, but times are hard, etc.


You can download and install superantispyware without getting rid of your regular anti-virus software. The only drawback is that superantispyware doesn't automatically scan (unless you buy the full product) so you need to run it once a week for it to be effective.

[Yoda]

Many thanks.

[Yoda]

Right Click on 'My Computer' and select Properties. It will say xxx of RAM (it will either be in MB or GB - 1024 MB = 1 GB).

1.10 GHz, 224MB of RAM

Does this mean anything to any one? I've had my HP pavillion 431.uk probably about 7 or so years, is it just time to let the old boy go?

"If you go to the start menu, open" run... "type in chkdsk, press ok. I find this helps speed thngs up"

it completed stage 2 of 3 and then said something like...."error found, cannot......" but then it went of. :helper

Yoda

[bigcumba]

I think you need to consider having that pc humanely put to sleep. Perhaps dropping it from the roof of Canary Wharf.... with the added satisfaction of maybe taking out a few bankers as well!

[Win2Win]

Oh, one thing that people never do and can speed up your computer multiple times is hoovering. Open up the case and hoover everything, especially the fans. This can result in the computer speeding up in multiples. If any of the fans get clogged, the chips they are protecting start to overheat so they are automatically throttled back these days.

I went to repair a friends computer yesterday which was very slow and kept locking up, first thing I do is hoover it and clean all the connections. After that is was flying along and worked perfectly.

I clean my own computers, and give the laptop a good hoover once a month, how many times do you clean yours? That goes for all of you, and I bet NEVER is the answer for the majority.

....and keep BACKUPS! :splapme

[Win2Win]

Download SPEEDFAN and this tells you your comps temperature, if any have a fire icon next to them you need to give the inside a good suck :)

[TheOldhamWhisper]

Yoda, BigC is right...


it's time to let go :compcrash:dead

[Yoda]

I'll miss her, but its probably for the best.
Thanks chaps.

[eruptive plot]

veg,hows your computer running now.
ive had a lot of problems in the past with pc running slowly etc.
the program that i use to optimise my machine is "glary utilities",and its free from download.com.
its a program that has a registry cleaner,spyware remover,memory optimiser,and a lot of other useful tools,i generally run it twice a week and find it very good.
i would also recommend taking a ghost backup of your c drive just in case things go tits up.
hope this helps

[vegyjones]

It's been on and off since I posted. No more problems with google not loading but it has been working.

I've got a new puter saved on my favourites suggested by Mat but I very much like ringing the very last bit of life out of my current stuff before getting new stuff :D

I keep getting messages telling me that my virtual memory is very low.

I now try and avoid downloading anything (even cleaners) because I find that my computer just has an internal ability failure altogether when downloading anything.

[barrelmaniac]

Keith is right, I remembered one of his posts a while back about vacuming the internal fan, My desktop PC has been running terribly until last week I decided to clean inside, Hey presto! I cant believe the difference its made!:thumbs

Now all I have to do is convince the rest of the family to stop using the AOL browser as its so heavy on the computer it makes it run about 20 times slower than using explorer or firefox :headbange

[fragle123]

Hi dont forget to delete the files in your prefetch folder either as this can slow a pc down because as it says when you boot up it pre fetches the programs that you have been using in anticipation that you will want to use them shortly after you have booted up and so saves these files in this folder but never deletes them so over time as you use more and more programs it adds to the file making it bigger and bigger.
To get to the prefetch folder go to start, my computer, click on c: drive, windows and you will see the prefetch folder go into it and press Ctrl+A and then delete those files and reboot. (you can get to the temp folder the same way)

[piggy]

Hi dont forget to delete the files in your prefetch folder either as this can slow a pc down because as it says when you boot up it pre fetches the programs that you have been using in anticipation that you will want to use them shortly after you have booted up and so saves these files in this folder but never deletes them so over time as you use more and more programs it adds to the file making it bigger and bigger.
To get to the prefetch folder go to start, my computer, click on c: drive, windows and you will see the prefetch folder go into it and press Ctrl+A and then delete those files and reboot. (you can get to the temp folder the same way)

just read this so i thought i'd better post so people can do their own research.

Deleting files in the prefetch folder as described will impair performance. Prefetch files are not shortcuts, they are files used by Windows to optimize application launch times. They are not referenced until the application is launched. Obsolete or rarely used entries will have virtually no impact on performance. In any event the folder is self cleaning after 128 entries. I have seen this occur many times. Manual deletion of these files has no benefits and will most certainly impair performance.

Ignore any and all advice to clean the prefetch folder. It is written by people who are ignorant of how prefetch really works.