How can I speed up my PC

stigofthedump

One for all you computer philes.
My 3 year old PC has become so slow as to make browsing and Bikeradaring something of a chore.
What simple (free) steps can i take to speed it up a bit?
Is there any great/ worthwhile software out there?
Do I need to upgrade?
Should I get a Mac? (Dont go there)
It has a Core2 duo E4500 2.2Ghz Processor and 1.00 GB Ram. Running Windows Vista (SP2)

Crapaud

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Seriously, you've got a better spec than mine and it's fine. How full is your hard drive. Maybe it just needs a clean out and a defrag.

deptfordmarmoset

I'm nowhere near an expert, but if your internet connection is ok, I'd guess that it's your browser that's slowing you down. Try clearing out your cache/cookies and see if it's any better. My daughter was going very slowly mad using IE on Vista so I got her to download Firefox and it all speeded up. Chrome is also free and pretty clean and smooth.

dodgy

Free:

Uninstall any unneeded applications
Empty internet cache (delete temp files)
Perform a defragmentation of your C drive (and do it regularly)

Consider reinstalling windows = my preferred method.

Cost:

Double your amount of memory at least (1gb is fairly low these days)
Buy an SSD drive (£££ but an awesome speed increase in most things will occur).

Aggieboy

Try these to clean up your computer - http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner and http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

Recommended on here a few times by the 'nerds'

Edit.

Crapaud

Aggieboy wrote:

Try this to clean up your computer - http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner Recommended on here a few times by the 'nerds'

Same here. I run it regularly and it does a good job.

Sirius631

If it's anything like my old work laptop, the only way to accelerate it to my satisfaction was to drop it off the roof and let gravity do its job.

acidstrato

if you havent already, try cleaning out 3 years worth of dust from the fans and heatsinks. components dont like over heating.

then clean the hard drive. run disk cleanup and see how much space you can freeup

all show no go

De-fragging, empty your cache, and overclocking.

Or buy a Mac :idea:

fast as fupp

wipe the hard drive and install ubuntu

dodgy

fast as fupp wrote:

wipe the hard drive and install ubuntu

It's surprising how often you see that advice given on forums without any attempt to understand the needs of the original poster.

northernneil

this often helps -

http://www.delete-computer-history.com/ ... emory.html

dmch2

More RAM will help but it worked perfectly fine 3 years ago so that's not the solution.

Defragging has been mentioned - that's a good plan. Basically the disk uses whatever space it can. If there isn't a spare gap big enough for something it breaks stuff up and spreads it across the gaps it can find. Overtime you can end like you've got a book with every page in a different place and the PC spends all it's time finding pages and no time actually reading them.

However, I suspect that it's mostly all sorts of things running in the background that aren't actually needed. You can probably get rid of a load of these by doing Add/Remove programs from control panel and removing everything you don't use. Some programs like 'spybot search and destroy' and 'lavasoft ad-aware' can also help finding things that don't necessarily want to make themselves easy to remove such as automated advert things etc.

bagpusscp

Get one of these.
http://www.staffords.co.uk/coverdogs/sharoc/index.htm

freehub

More RAM, Windows Vista runs like a dog on 1gb of ram, upgrade to Windows 7 and it might run abit better on 1gb.

Also use apps such as CCleaner and a good defrag tool to keep all the crap off yer system and HDD's as fragment free as possible.

A re-install of the OS is probably needed too.

father_jack

More RAM. 1GB isn't enough.

zanes

dodgy wrote:

Consider reinstalling windows = my preferred method.

+1, and get in the case and clean it all out. I can't remember if the Core2 processors throttle but won't hurt in any case.

dmch2

Reinstalling windows is a bit drastic. It's like a car garage selling you a new car when it just needs a bit of maintenance.

windows 7 is less intensive than vista so there's an argument for upgrading if you're set on the idea of a reinstall.

zanes

dmch2 wrote:

Reinstalling windows is a bit drastic. It's like a car garage selling you a new car when it just needs a bit of maintenance.

Meh, I'd equate it to a major service for a car. What others are proposing (throw £££ at it) is like selling a new car IMHO.

If it's slowing down as much as the OP says, installing more RAM etc is just a temporary stopgap. A fiver says the HDD is jammed up with shed loads of cr*p (not a dig at the OP) and a simple clear out will get performance back up to the level it was originally. Obviously an OS reinstall is also a stopgap, but it is free.

Stupidboypike

Chuck vista in the bin and try windows 7.

the thieving tissers.

don_don

Go here and download Glary Utilities (free version), Piriform CCleaner and IObit SmartDefrag (also both freeware).

When CCleaner asks you if you want to back-up your registry before optimising it, answer 'Yes'...

bompington

1. Get windows 7, it's like vista but it works
2. Most computers (especially if pre-loaded with software) come with all kinds of useless junk installled, and a lot of it fires up as soon as your machine does. Simplest way to clean it up:
find & run msconfig - use it to a) switch off all non-microsoft services
b) uncheck everything in the startup tab
***BUT** do this 1 item at a time & wait a few days to see what doesn't work, cos some of these things will actually be stuff you need, e.g. antivirus

stigofthedump

Thanks a lot everyone. Looks like an interesting weekend ahead.
Is Smartdefrag better than the defrag utility on windows already?
I alsohave an externalhard drive (Seagate usb connection). Could this have a detrimental effect?

Aggieboy

bompington wrote:

1. Get windows 7, it's like vista but it works
2. Most computers (especially if pre-loaded with software) come with all kinds of useless junk installled, and a lot of it fires up as soon as your machine does. Simplest way to clean it up:
find & run msconfig - use it to a) switch off all non-microsoft services
b) uncheck everything in the startup tab
***BUT** do this 1 item at a time & wait a few days to see what doesn't work, cos some of these things will actually be stuff you need, e.g. antivirus

Therein lies the problem, for me and possibly other computer numpties. It's too difficult to now what's needed in the Add/Remove progs and what the programmes actually do.

fast as fupp

dodgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

wipe the hard drive and install ubuntu

It's surprising how often you see that advice given on forums without any attempt to understand the needs of the original poster.

the op said he wanted a free method to speed up his pc and browser

ubuntu is free , will run fast on his spec pc and wont need reinstalling every six months

its also much more secure than windoze

bexley5200

just Ram it in the wheele bin mate

don_don

stigofthedump wrote:

Thanks a lot everyone. Looks like an interesting weekend ahead.
Is Smartdefrag better than the defrag utility on windows already?
I alsohave an externalhard drive (Seagate usb connection). Could this have a detrimental effect?

A little bit 'cleverer' maybe. It has a couple of settings that apparently allow programs to start up quicker (can't vouch for this though) and you can also schedule it to run while your machine is idle.

I can't see that an external HD would have any effect on the actual speed of the PC.

cooldad

fast as fupp wrote:

dodgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

wipe the hard drive and install ubuntu

It's surprising how often you see that advice given on forums without any attempt to understand the needs of the original poster.

the op said he wanted a free method to speed up his pc and browser

ubuntu is free , will run fast on his spec pc and wont need reinstalling every six months

its also much more secure than windoze

+1

OP said they wanted to browse. Ubuntu and Firefox or Opera is ideal. Fast, simple and virus/spyware proof.

dodgy

fast as fupp wrote:

dodgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

wipe the hard drive and install ubuntu

It's surprising how often you see that advice given on forums without any attempt to understand the needs of the original poster.

the op said he wanted a free method to speed up his pc and browser

ubuntu is free , will run fast on his spec pc and wont need reinstalling every six months

its also much more secure than windoze

Precisely, but you don't know why he chose Windows in the first place. Like I said, you should understand the requirements before you post the time honoured "install another OS" classic.

stigofthedump

Ido need windows as i also use it at work (i am a teacher). Also Mrs stig and all the young stigs use the computer too.
But thanks for the idea of ubuntu.

Anonymous

Hi Stig,

Pretty much agree with most of the above, but it is worth saying that 1Gb of RAM isn't very much and RAM is pretty cheap these days.

It'd be well worth spending a bit of cash on upgrading that to 2Gb, 4Gb, or even 8Gb. You will be surprised the difference it makes.

If your not confident taking you computer to bits, you'll need a computer literate friend, but it's not a huge operation and well worth the money.

There are on-line tools available to help you choose the right sort of RAM, but I'm not familiar with these. A friend who knows what they're doing is a better option.