Computer Help

[Tom]

My computer is slow. How slow is it?
I can go to the library and checkout a book faster than I get anything out that stupid box.
Well, not quite, but my puter is just about not worht the bother of turning it on anymore. On the web, going from one sit eot another might take 5 minutes, sometimes you can never get there. I have to almost always go to my home page and then to a new page-one page directly to a new one is very hard to do.
Links to sites on PA's board are ususally impossible.
Off the net. it is just plain slow-takes forever to open a program, scrolling is hesitant, saving is slow. It was not always this way - it used to be fast as lightning. I have RoadRunner, 900 mz processer,128 mb, 32 mb video, 60 gig hard drive.
I check out clean for viruses and I clean out trojan horses daily.
I get rid of temp files, have de-fragged, and no improvement.
I feel my computer days might be limited and I have decided I will not replace this one - ever. Not until someone other than Microsoft can make an operating system and there are programs out there to run on it. I would prefer to keep this going a while, but I have no idea what to do next.

[RERACING]

Did you go to preferance. internet properties, delete files and clear history. This might help

[cj]

Add more memory! It's very simple, anyone can do it. This especially helps if you have multiple windows open at once (ex. PA, BrisBET, GP video, Formulator, etc, LOL:D)

CJ

[BillW]

MS has an SQL server worm out and about clogging up some sites. UDP1434 is getting hit and you should make sure it is shutdown by your firewall. It is possible this would cause you some problems.

Routing has been slowed badly causing the 5 mins to access some site problem (while others are not affected). You can't do anything about this except wait for it to clear.

I'm not running MS so I'm not sure if your symptoms match, but your firewall should shut this out anyway.

Good luck,

Bill

[KyRacer]

Which version of Windows are you using? How old is your hard drive. It might be time to do a complete reinstall of Windows. That will usually solve most problems. Not a fun thing to do because you probably would need to reinstall all your other problems too. A 60 meg drive is probably not to old, but your never know. Make sure you have backed up everything on your computer. My setup is similar to yours. Your computer should not be running that slow.

I recently added another 256 megs to my 128megs the computer came with and it has speeded things up. Windows never seems to get enough memory. I'm running Windows Me and haven't had to reinstall it since I got the computer over a couple of years ago, but some things are starting happen to make me think that it might be time to do a reinstall.

A few months after I bought my computer, it became very slow starting Windows and there was constant grinding of the disk. At a suggestion of another user, I disabled "System restore" and restarted the computer a couple times and it has ran much better since. You then need to back up the windows directory on your own. In Windows Me you go to control panel, system, performance, file system, troubleshooting and check "disable system restore". You might want to occasionally turn it back on for awhile so it take a snap shot of your sysytem. It worked for me, but do so at your own risk!! Might be worth taking it to a computer shop and having it checked out.

KyBen

[sq764]

I have a nice laptop that I use at work, which is what I generally use for all video of races and such. But our other desktop is a piece of crap.. It was running Windows 98 and once I installed WIndows XP on it, it had new life. Everything is faster, including the startup...

If you haven;t installed XP yet, you might want to try it..

[Larry Hamilton]

Tom, I think the problem is the worm. We are all affected by it because your browser soaks up the site that is taking forever to download. Then when you say to hell with it and shut down the internet, your broswer is still trying to download that site. By doing that it is choking the "multactivity" capabilty of your computer. The fix I have been using is TURN IT OFF. Come back and dont go to the net...I will continue doing it this way till the worm is dead.

[MarylandPaul@HSH]

Certainly, the worm could be the major cause of what you're experiencing, but 128mb of RAM just isn't enough anymore, especially if you're opening up multiple apps, or even multiple browser windows. I wouldn't consider WindowsXP without at least 256mb.

Another possible cause of net congestion is any "spyware" you may have picked up over time. Your virus scanner won't pick this stuff up, I'd recommend installing AdAware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com) and running it.

MP

[sq764]

I run 300Mhz and 128 Meg Ram, and XP is just fine. The video is clear as well..

[Tom]

Thank you all for your replies. I think the worm might have been the main culprit. My whole area was out of service for a while yesterday and when it came back, everything was back to normal.
Normal being boarderline performance. I used Adaware and it really urks me to find so many spyware programs every time I use it. To me, it is like finding someone hiding in my closet watching what I do. I wish there were a way to "send" something back to them that would, shall we say, hurt them badly?
I guess more RAM is what I really need, although this machine used to perform much better doing what I am doing today.
I use Win98 SE and I will never go to XP. This is my last windows os ever. I am serious, I will give up the computer before I will ever buy anything else from that pathetic little POS Bill Gates.

[fmazur]

I run 300Mhz, have 48 Meg Ram and am running under windows 98. I bought my computer in 1998, a Compaq yet. Apparently I am very lucky, never (knock on wood) having experienced any problems as of yet. Maybe somebody up there likes me.
I have a dial up 56k modem and can download a 6 million byte file in less than 15 minutes. I was looking to upgrade, but after what I am reading, perhaps I will keep what I have. My main problem is lack of room on my hard drive. I only have a 4 gig. drive and it is 90% full.

[gillenr]

fmazur.
If you're using Outlook Express, try File>Folder>Compact all folders. This may free-up a lot of space on your HD.
You do need a bigger HD. Files are probably fragmented all over!
I had the OE problem & regularly compact.

[sq764]

And a 10 gig hard drive, especially for a desktop is very cheap

[JustRalph]

Tom,

Make sure you are not a victim of startup files. Win98 is very vulnerable to this. Re-start your computer and let it finish rebooting and then hit control-alt-delete just once. a window will open listing all programs running. You should only see two things running if you want to run as clean as possible. These are "Explorer" and "Systray". If you run anti-virus software all the time, and you want it that way, maybe you should see that also. Anything else is robbing you of resources. Cancel the window and hold down your "windows" key (between ctrl and alt on newer keyboards) and reach up and hit your pause/break key at the same time. This will open a window with the system properties. Hit the tab at the top right and it should list your resources available in a percentage format. A healthy win98 machine should be around 92-98% resources on a fresh boot. If its lower than that ( I mean in the 80's or lower) you can probably adjust your startup apps for better performance. Let me know if you need any help with that. This is the main culprit on Win98 systems. It can drag you down to very crappy performance. You have plenty of computer, don't upgrade. Plenty of ram for win98 also.

[hurrikane]

fmazer, wow...you must have a lot of time on your hands.
Disk space is cheap. Just be careful with compaq. Open the case and be sure you have room to add a hard drive. Also, compaq us a jerk about configuring things so you have to use their hardware. It sells at about a 40% markup..of figure. Don't take my word for it though. You have to check it out.

Tom..a lot of anger there buddy. BG didn't do you right?

[Lefty]

I bght a 40 gig external HD from TigerDirect for $149 including shipping. Since I couldn't install anything internal it plugs right into USB port. Nifty.

[BillW]

Lefty,

How is the speed of that drive?

Bill

[Lefty]

Must be pretty slow; hasn't moved since I put it down.
Seriously, ad says 7200 RPM It cost $129.99 and about $20 for shipping.

[Tom]

OK. I have 15 programs running at start up. On performance, I am at 67%
Interesting.
I will look into this.
Thank you.
Tom

[JustRalph]

Tom

15 at Startup and 67% is dismal. If you need help on this, please post a note and I will be glad to help you out. I am sure this is seriously degrading your system performance. Let me know.

[justin]

Originally posted by Tom
OK. I have 15 programs running at start up. On performance, I am at 67%
Interesting.
I will look into this.
Thank you.
Tom

Tom,

Go to Start, then run, then type msconfig in the box. Once you've done that, click on the tab that says startup and you can easily remove anything you don't want running at startup.

-Justin

[ranchwest]

For anyone interested, those external disk drives make for a great way to backup!

[Larry Hamilton]

I have one too for exactly that reason--backup. What they do not do is run applications well. Because mine works thru usb-2 port it is much faster than usb but it is no where near the operating speed of an internal hard drive. Another point: they are portable because they have been "ruggedized".

[hurrikane]

'ruggedized' :D

you should be an ad man Larry.

[sq764]

I ordered from Tiger Direct as well, they are excellent. I got a 4 gig drive for my laptop for $63, which is a great price. Shipped out same day.. Works great

[Larry Hamilton]

its a great made up word...

[Boris]

Originally posted by Tom
OK. I have 15 programs running at start up. On performance, I am at 67%
Interesting.
I will look into this.
Thank you.
Tom

A little late to this thread....

www.mlin.net has some utilities you may be interested in if you want to jack with your start up config and monitor what goes in there. I usually recommend to my customers that they remove things one at a time in case the system hangs at re-boot. That way, you know which program you removed that caused the problem should a problem arise.

Good Luck

[Tom]

Thanks, Boris.