# PC Optimization



## Highlander II (Jun 11, 2008)

Okay, since I only know enough to be dangerous, I need help optimizing my PC so that it runs faster on it's tiny little 4y/o 512MB RAM.

I've mindwiped it about 4 times already, the last time, it didn't do much.

(Yes, the ultimate option is 'buy a new PC', but that's not in the cards just now.)

Ideas?  Suggestions?  Jumping up and down screaming 'I totally know how to do this, here's how:'?


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## Commonmind (Jun 11, 2008)

Optimization has a lot to do with what types of components you have installed (beyond how much physical ram is in your box). Go ahead and list your other components so we have some idea as to what you can do to improve performance.

If you don't know what's in the machine, most of it can be found in your System Information, which can be accessed by going to your Start menu, navigating to the Accessories folder, and from there to the System Tools folder.


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## The Ace (Jun 11, 2008)

If you're running XP, there are a couple of steps that could help.

1) Right-click, 'Start,' select, 'Properties,' and tick, 'Classic start menu.'

2) Right-click, 'My Computer,' select, 'Properties,' click, 'Advanced,' tab and tick, 'Adjust for best performance.'

These turn off a couple of the more advanced (and memory-hogging) components of XP.

You should also do regular disc cleanups, check the disc for errors a minimum of every three months and run a disc defragment with similar frequency.

I would also make sure that antivirus and antispyware software is kept up-to-date, windows updates are installed and the computer is checked for spyware and viruses at least once a week.


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jun 11, 2008)

Yes it's dead easy. Now I realise The Ace has given very good advice and that may be the way you want to go however :-

Install a copy of Vista - Professional is best.

Use it and sample the pleasure of the latest OS money can buy.

Uninstall it and and re-install XP.

You'll now find your PC is running 3 or 4 times faster. It's a magical thing it must be the way Vista organises the hard drive just prior to the uninstall, it truely is amazing.

Even better results can be obtained by going back to Win 3.11 although I expect this will be too advanced for you as yet.


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## The Ace (Jun 11, 2008)

Service pack 3 for XP actually boosts your computer slighly.  The jury's still out on the reputed 10%, but you can see the difference.


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## Highlander II (Jun 11, 2008)

I already do have it running on 'classic' - b/c I don't like the XP layout (probably the only I *don't* like about XP).

I'll have to wait 'til I get home to report the other info / try the other tips... b/c I'm at work currently and all the stuff here runs off an external server, thus less slowed down PC.  (B/c you should SEE all the stuff they put on these things!)

Now - if I could just talk my workplace into using a *good* tabbed browser (ie: NOT Internet Explorer).

Thanx!  I'll try this stuff out when I get home and let you know what I get.

Well - everything but the upgrade to Vista.  2 reasons there - a) I don't like it and b) I can't afford it. *g*


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## Happy Joe (Jun 11, 2008)

Memory is cheap right now get some more (3 GB limit on 32bit XP, more may fit but it won't make any difference).

Regular registry cleanups help (use a cleanup tool), as do regular spyware/adware scans and virus scans.

System restore takes up a lot of disc space for few benefits (I turn it off)

Eliminate as many programs that run in the background as possible (if your tool bar is loaded with icons it is slowing your machine down).

Eliminate unneeded services form starting and running (google; xp optimization for some guides)

Consider overclocking; it can lead to free performance; depending on your hardware (Warning; excessive overclocking can lead to new equipment (both through addiction and breakage)). Not all hardware is easily overclockable though.

For surfing; I run quite a few protection programs. 
For solo gaming; I turn them off or disable them (after disconnecting the internet).

Enjoy!


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jun 11, 2008)

Happy joe: Cracking Avatar. Has Loopy seen it?


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## ktabic (Jun 11, 2008)

Install Linux. Vast improvements in performance immediately.

There's always one of us, isn't there


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## Momoka (Jun 11, 2008)

*Ahem*

I believe there are at least *two* of us, young whippersnapper


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## Highlander II (Jun 11, 2008)

re: Linux - That actually makes 3 - someone else recommended that too. 

Adware/spyware scans - all the time.  Ditto on virus scans.  I think I have a registry clean-up tool... gotta check that too.

Last defrag I ran didn't do squat.

I have the EnditAll2 program to shut down bkgrnd 'stuff'.  But beyond that - I'm a little nervous about just 'ending processes' - b/c my sister crashed her machine that way once (though, I think she ended explorer - which is kind of important on windows - d'oh!).

I'll check out some other stuff when I get back home (at like 7pm - ugh) - I'm all for anything to make it go FASTER.

Also - optimizing web browsers?  I have a program that works for Firefox and it's supposed to work for Flock too, but I can't figure out how to make it work for Flock.  But SeaMonkey eats the world in CPU - evil browser thing.


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## ktabic (Jun 11, 2008)

Excellent, I stand happily corrected


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## Lenny (Jun 11, 2008)

Highlander II said:


> I have the EnditAll2 program to shut down bkgrnd 'stuff'. But beyond that - I'm a little nervous about just 'ending processes' - b/c my sister crashed her machine that way once (though, I think she ended explorer - which is kind of important on windows - d'oh!).


 
Ah, ye olde *Task Manager Roulette* - almost as fun as *System32 Roulette*. 

Not much else to add on to what others have said.

If you need a tool to delete cookies, History, temp files, etc, then you won't find much better than Disk Cleaner.

It might also be worth going through all of your programs an uninstalling those that you don't use - you know, free ones that you installed, used once, and haven't touched in months.


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## The Ace (Jun 12, 2008)

If Linux is so great, why are we still using Windows after the Vista disaster ?

BECAUSE WINDOWS WORKS !!!!!  Every linux distro ever written has at least one fundamental flaw, and if it wasn't on the original disc, there isn't a hope in h*ll of installing it.


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## Highlander II (Jun 12, 2008)

Okay - while I'm waiting for all my scans to finish - how does one tell if one has SP2 installed?  I have autoupdates turned on for Windows and those all run, but I don't know if the Service Packs update in there too or not.


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## ktabic (Jun 12, 2008)

The Ace said:


> If Linux is so great, why are we still using Windows after the Vista disaster ?



Because, despite the best attempts of the US DoJ and the EU Competition Committee Microsoft still have a monopoly. Microsoft still bend and break the law to get their own way.



The Ace said:


> Every linux distro ever written has at least one fundamental flaw



As opposed to Windows, which consists of fundamental flaws built upon design errors.


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## Lenny (Jun 12, 2008)

Highlander II said:


> Okay - while I'm waiting for all my scans to finish - how does one tell if one has SP2 installed? I have autoupdates turned on for Windows and those all run, but I don't know if the Service Packs update in there too or not.


 
Right-click My Computer > Properties, and the first tabe should tell you that you're running Windows XP. If you've got SP2 or SP3 installed then it will tell you.

You can also run dxdiag to check - Windows Key + R, type "dxdiag" into the Run box and hit enter, and click "Yes" when the pop-up... pops up.


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## Highlander II (Jun 13, 2008)

Okay - I have service pack 2 installed, so i'm good there.

Next question - adding RAM (since I'm at a miserable 512MB), a) can it be done and b) what's the best way to go about adding it?


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## Lenny (Jun 13, 2008)

First of all, you need to know if your motherboard can take it.

There's a nifty program called CPU-Z which tells you all your hardware details. Download it (the link is at the top of the menu to the left of the page), run it, and printscreen the third tab, *Mainboard* (if you hold Alt when you press the Print screen button only the active window will be captured). Once you've got it, upload it, and I'll try and find out how much extra RAM you can take.

EDIT: Alternatively, click the end tab of CPU-Z (About) and click the *HTML dump* button. Then e-mail me the HTML document that it saves (it asks you where you want to save it). My e-mail address is the MSN one in my profile.


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## Highlander II (Jun 13, 2008)

Lenny said:


> First of all, you need to know if your motherboard can take it.
> 
> There's a nifty program called CPU-Z which tells you all your hardware details. Download it (the link is at the top of the menu to the left of the page), run it, and printscreen the third tab, *Mainboard* (if you hold Alt when you press the Print screen button only the active window will be captured). Once you've got it, upload it, and I'll try and find out how much extra RAM you can take.
> 
> EDIT: Alternatively, click the end tab of CPU-Z (About) and click the *HTML dump* button. Then e-mail me the HTML document that it saves (it asks you where you want to save it). My e-mail address is the MSN one in my profile.



Will do - as soon as the 2nd run of ad/spy/malware removal tools is finished... they take so darned LONG to run!


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## Lenny (Jun 13, 2008)

No worries. Are they picking much up?

I'm off for my beauty sleep now, so there's no need to rush with CPU-Z.


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## Highlander II (Jun 13, 2008)

no, not really.  Well, mostly cleaned out temp files and the like.  Doesn't seem to be a whole lot in the way of malware... which i'm not complaining about, but it does mean that I'll need to do something *else* to speed it up.

Mostly - I want to try to avoid spending $100 to have some 'computer place' go over it for me if I don't have to.  If I can get the instructions from folks in the know and do it myself, I actually prefer that.  I'm all independent like that and all.

And it'll probably be tomorrow evening (EST) before I get to the CPU-Z file.


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jun 13, 2008)

$100 dollars would be more usefully spent upgrading that pathetic 512K ram than having someone rumage through your intimate places.

HOw much are new PC in your area. (just interested about the differentials)


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## Lenny (Jun 13, 2008)

OK, Highlander. Your PC has DDR RAM - PC3200, which runs at 200mhz. The motherboard, an AsusTEK Guppy can take a maximum of 2gb. Currently, you have a single stick of: DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, Hyundai Electronics RAM, which means you can put in another three sticks. If you're interested, your processor is a [single core] Intel Celeron which is running at 2.93ghz - a speed which is at the higher end of the single core scale.

A Yahoo Page with your full PC specs
A page telling you the motherboard can take 2gb

You're in America, aye?


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## Happy Joe (Jun 13, 2008)

HighlanderII; if possible, please post your hardware... (no need to be embarrassed; I still have pieces of old H/Ps, e-machines, Packard-Bells, etc. around and in use).
(EDIT; OOPs! I didn't see Lenny's post ... sorry!)

There are often upgrades that can be done for very little money (and you may learn something about your machine and its workings in the process).

Everest (free edition) will give a lot of info, both hardware and software (for older equipment, it doesn't seem to recognize the newer chips), and will run some simple memory benchmarks allowing your performance to be compared;

|MG| EVEREST Free Edition 2.20

Unfortunately some of the older proprietary (dell, H/P etc.) computers are not always easily upgradeable... so even a brand name and model number can help us identify possible ways to help your machine (and eliminate some others).

TheEndIsNigh; glad you like the avatar, it took a bit of searching to find a pic which had the right expressiveness. The avatar that I have historically used in technical forums was;







which seemed a bit dated.

Enjoy!


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## Lenny (Jun 13, 2008)

Joe:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97/Lenny1882/CPU-Z1_45HTMLreportfile.jpg

And the first link in my post above yours - HP Pavilion a1010n Specs : Yahoo! Tech

It's a HP Pavilion A1010N (PS563AA-ABA).


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## Happy Joe (Jun 13, 2008)

Yep! I see it now, got abit distracted in the midst of my post (Useless, the cat, decided he needed to get some attention) and yours got posted first...

Edit; I thought that board had 2 memory slots; 2 one gig sticks might help a bit.
The processor is a fair one and shouldn't be slow. 
The 845 chip series (onboard video) needs help for the demands of modern gaming.
Does the board have a slot for a vid card?

Enjoy!


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## Lenny (Jun 13, 2008)

No worries, I know from experience that a cat should not be left without attention. 

What American sites are there that H2 might be able to get RAM from, out of interest? I've had a look on Newegg, but it doesn't have the RAM he does. I know it might be a long shot to think he can get the same RAM, but I've never been comfortable with mixing brands.


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## Happy Joe (Jun 13, 2008)

a selection of 184 pin DDR ram;

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

as cheap as it is... for this age of machine I would probably just add a stick of 512 similar latency, same speed ram from a name brand manufacturer.
As long as the speed/latencies are similar I wouldn't expect a problem (the system will just run at the slower speed of the two sticks).

If the machine is limited to on board video (if it has no vid card slot) I don't know that I would spend the $60 for 2 gig of ram.

Enjoy!


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## Happy Joe (Jun 13, 2008)

Some retail parts sites (I deal mostly with newegg);

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

ClubIT.com - Find Great Deals On Computer Parts, Laptop Parts, Desktop Computers, Notebooks, and Electronics

Computer Components - Motherboard, Computer Cases, Power Supply, Intel

Directron-Best Discount Store-CPU Computer Parts Cases PC Power Supply Houston Hardware Software PC Motherboards Hard Drives Network Memory Repair Used Texas Compare Lowest Prices Cheapest Reviews Guide

ZipZoomfly.com Special deals - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Camera, Networking, Electronics and more

CompUSA.com - Computers, Laptops, Televisions, Software, and Electronics from the All-New CompUSA!

TigerDirect.com - Computers, Computer Parts, Computer Accessories, PC Components, & Electronics

SVC.com - Computer Hardware & Cooling

Enjoy!


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## Highlander II (Jun 13, 2008)

TheEndIsNigh said:


> $100 dollars would be more usefully spent upgrading that pathetic 512K ram than having someone rumage through your intimate places.
> 
> HOw much are new PC in your area. (just interested about the differentials)



And considering I just ran about 15 different scans on the thing, if there's anything else on there, the only way to get rid of it would be to reformat the harddrive - which, would essentially be 'starting over' anyway.  So, yeah - I'll put my $100 toward upgrading the PC I have.

New PC's - depending on what you want, run from about $500 for a P.O.S. eMachines to upwards of $2500 if you get really sweet upgrades and installs through HP or Alienware.  I'm sure you can get them far pricier than that if you want lots of gaming stuff, etc.


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## Highlander II (Jun 13, 2008)

Happy Joe said:


> Yep! I see it now, got abit distracted in the midst of my post (Useless, the cat, decided he needed to get some attention) and yours got posted first...
> 
> Edit; I thought that board had 2 memory slots; 2 one gig sticks might help a bit.
> The processor is a fair one and shouldn't be slow.
> ...



Re: the vid card - I have no idea.  

I don't do a lot of gaming, so I haven't really thought about it, but I can't do 'video capture' using WinDVD, so I know I *don't* have a vid card.  Not even sure how to check for one.

The most involved thing I've done is replace the modem.


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## TheEndIsNigh (Jun 13, 2008)

Highlander:

Thanks for that. 

Interestingly the prices seem similar to those over here

HP Pavilion PC System G3200 Intel Dual core E2140 1GB RAM 160GB HDD DVD RW Vista Home Premium Keyboard mouse 1 year manufacturer's warranty - KA773AA#ABU - www.microdirect.co.uk

This seems to be the entry level type machine from our local supplier in the uk. As you can see the price is roughly $400 before tax (VAT is our purchase tax which provided it is for business use you effectively don't pay) Of course you would have to add $60 for a copy of XP. Unless for some perverse reason Vista is for you!?!!!?

I saw a 17 inch lap top for less that $600 recently and there is a rumour that $500 is now becoming the entry price for them.


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## Highlander II (Jun 14, 2008)

Ok, so, here's a few more questions, b/c digging around inside the tower makes me a little nervous if I don't know what I'm looking at/for...

1) Upgrading or replacing RAM - what lives on the existing memory card/stick and is it imperative that the existing one remain in the machine?

2) Where do I look to see if it takes a vid card (on the off chance I might want to put one in)?

3) What's involved in adding the RAM?  Is it basically 'open PC, insert memory here'?

4) Are there certain manufacturers of memory cards/sticks that are better in quality than others?  Recommendations?

Thanx!


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## Happy Joe (Jun 14, 2008)

> 1) Upgrading or replacing RAM - what lives on the existing memory card/stick and is it imperative that the existing one remain in the machine?


 
The memory stick contains the memory chips. no as long as the memory is compatible it is not imperative that the existing memory remains.



> 2) Where do I look to see if it takes a vid card (on the off chance I might want to put one in)?


 
(After a bit of reserch) Your board has no video card slot;
mother board pic;





layout;







> 3) What's involved in adding the RAM? Is it basically 'open PC, insert memory here'?


 
Yep! pretty much... as long as the memory is compatible.



> 4) Are there certain manufacturers of memory cards/sticks that are better in quality than others? Recommendations?


 
Most brand name manufacturers have good products, overclockers go for more performance (your machine is not considered overclockable) and thus more expensive sticks.

Given the age of the machine and its limited upgradeability I would not put much money into it for upgrades unless replacing the motherboard and processor were a part of the deal.

You say that this machine is slow, yet you are not a gamer; what, specifically, bothers you most about the machine, and what is it mostly used for?

Enjoy!


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## Lenny (Jun 14, 2008)

1. No, not really. If you get two sticks of RAM, then you can replace the one already in there as well as add the second one.

2. It'll be noticeable. The easiest way to check, really, is to look at the back of the the computer - where does the monitor plug in?

3. More or less.

4. I'm a sucker for Corsair memory, I must admit, so that's what I always recommend to people. 

EDIT: #2 - Specs : Yahoo! Tech. Integrated video, which means there's no separate card, rather it's a chip in the motherboard.


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## Highlander II (Jun 14, 2008)

As for why the 'slow' bothers me?  I'm impatient more than anything else. *g* It takes too long to boot up, programs load incredibly slowly - even now after running 8-zillion malware and virus scans and cleaning everything out and defrag'ing, it's still slower than I'd prefer.

It shouldn't take two minutes for a web browser to OPEN and load the page.  I understand that some programs are slow (ie: anything by Adobe), but web browsers?  Word docs?  the 'My Documents' folder?  Those shouldn't open slowly.

And my Peak commit charge is still higher than my physical memory (it did go down considerable after some of the optimization steps, but it's back up again).


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## Lenny (Jun 14, 2008)

Slow to start up, then?

In which case, you need Startup Control Panel!

Install it, and run it (you'll find it in the Control Panel as "Startup" - if you can't find that, then hold the windows key and press R, type "control panel" into the box and hit enter). Go through each tab and untick the things you don't think you need. Alternatively, if you're unsure, take a screenshot of each tab when you click it (you may need to take a couple if the list is big) and upload them, and we'll tell you what you need to leave on.

There'll also be a few programs which update automatically which you can turn off, which are probably slowing things down a bit.


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## Highlander II (Jun 14, 2008)

Already did something kind of like that - and since I had it run chkdsk this last reboot, I haven't 'timed' it since I turned things off.  But when I reboot again, we'll see.  

It still takes a while for all of the desktop stuff to load though and the fan on my PC runs quite a lot.

I may need to just open 'er up and blow the dust out.  As well as add more memory - b/c it really is slow when I do all the stuff I do.  I tend to run LOTS of programs at one time, since I'm one of those 'perpetual multitasker' types.


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## Lenny (Jun 14, 2008)

Welllll... Startup CPL does different things to CHKDSK - what CHKDSK does is displays the file system integrity status of hard disks and floppy disk and can fix logical file system errors, whereas Startup CPL is a program that actually allows you to stop things starting at Startup. The same can be done in Spybot S&D, but Startup CPL is a much friendlier program.

And yes, it's definitely worth cleaning out the dust.


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## Highlander II (Jun 14, 2008)

No - I meant that I'd already used a program like Startup CPL, but, since the last time I booted up the PC I had chkdsk run, I don't know if the startup routine went faster than it had been in the past.


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## Lenny (Jun 14, 2008)

Oh, OK. How many things did you have starting up in the end?


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

Only necessary stuff or things that I wasn't quite sure what they did.  Things like the mouse and keyboard and anti-virus and the modem and other HP things that make the computer work and G!Talk (b/c I'd open it anyway).  

So, like 12 or 15, but I think there were something like 25 to start with.


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## Erin99 (Jun 15, 2008)

Perhaps it might help to show us what's set to run on your machine at startup.

Go to *Start* > *Run...* Then type in *regedit*

In the left window, navigate your way to the run folder by double-clicking each heading: *HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE* > *SOFTWARE* > *Microsoft* > *Windows* > *CurrentVersion* > *Run*

(And don't delete anything, please! )

Maximise the window, then take an *Alt Gr* + *Print Screen* screenshot. Then we can examine if you've any Bad Things loading that shouldn't. 

Here's my "run" folder:







See? Not many things at all.

And you know, you could still get a PCI graphics card. Sure, they're rare these days and don't handle as well as AGP or PCI Express ones do, but I'm sure it would be fine for your purpose, since you said you don't play all that many games. In my old PC I had one.


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

There seems to just be 15 things running there:


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## Erin99 (Jun 15, 2008)

Hmmm... that's a weird list for XP. Looks like you've used the Get-ItemProperty. Wierd!

Normally the "run" folder does not list all the directories for the various Windws files. Normally it just lists the actual _programs_ starting up at startup. 

Hmmm... okay, do you think you could have a virus or malware slowing down your machine? Because you can download and install a free program called HijackThis and it creates a logfile that you can post here, and that logfile tells people like Lenny or I what's running. If there _is_ any malware, we can point it out to you after seeing your logfile.


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

I don't *think* I have a virus or any malware (I spent 3 freakin' days running umpteen scans) but I suppose it *is* possible there's something on there that those scans missed.  

I went through everything here - found via searching on google at a suggestion from someone in this thread... I just can't recall who.

And I also have SP3 and all available Windows updates (I do have to reinstall the drivers for my modem b/c SP3 is a doofus and does something wacky to D-Link).

But one of the things that's really odd is that the PC fan starts up EVERY time I load Firefox and it comes on w/ a FAR increased frequency than it had in the past.  Again - I could need to just open the thing up and blow off the dust, but I'm hitting all the angles to be sure.


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

Instead of editing the previous post:



(( I did get 2 errors when this ran, but that may have been related to the D-Link issues that I have yet to resolve. ))


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## Erin99 (Jun 15, 2008)

You don't have to tell me about updates. I downloaded SP3 for Vista recently and it killed my internet _every single day, every single hour!!!_ I've only just managed to get it working.

I had a friend with a few problems, one of which was too much whirring inside the machine. I recommended he try downloading a free temp reader, and he discovered his system had been running at 70 degrees!  However, dust will also clog up your fans, like you say. It's always worth checking them. Once every couple of years I open up my laptop and take the dust balls (literally) out from my fan and grills.

Have you tried a different browser, or upgrading Firefox? Perhaps it's not quite compatible with something on your machine (I won't say SP3 here ).



Edit: I'll have a look at the log tonight, unless someone else gets there first.


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

I'm running FF 2.0.0.14... and everything about it is slow - opening menus, etc.  

Now, the browser I'm using for Chrons atm is Flock and I also use SeaMonkey.  I don't typically have issues w/ Mozilla-based software, but I don't know what's going on w/ FF.  It wasn't like that before.  I've run FireTune on it to optimize it, but it always seems to eat about 60K of CPU (tho, that seems to be typically for the Mozilla browsers; ie: now, Flock's got about 122K.)


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## Erin99 (Jun 15, 2008)

Hmmm you could try a non-mozilla-based browser. Lenny will hate me for saying this, since I always do, but Opera is an alternate browser. I don't used anything else. Some people hate it, some love it. Oddly enough, there's a flaw with this site and Opera, though, to do with new post not showing up in bold. I wrote a fix for it a year or so ago, and popped it in the Feedback section.

Anyway, other browsers are Safari, Netscape something-or-other, the one Len uses that I cn't recall now... (he'll no doubt come on and tell you). There are quite a few other browsers.


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## Lenny (Jun 15, 2008)

Maxthon is my browser.

Safari is a waste of time on a Windows PC - in the same time it would take Safari to load the Chrons, you could have gone to each and every member's house and had an hour-long conversation with them, and even then a few images would still be loading.

Personally I despise FireFox - I find it extremely clumsy and clunky, and can't for the life of me see the speed that people claim it has.

Nor do I like Opera. Sure, I'd take it over FireFox, but I just don't like it. For some reason, when I use it I feel like I'm trying to walk through syrup.

IE... yeah... nothing to see here folks, move along.

Netscape is old. So old, that PayPal are blocking users who use it, claiming that the browser isn't secure.


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

Tried Opera - hated it.  Netscape eats up too much CPU too.  I have several IE variants and I had Safari on here at one time, but I may have taken it off b/c I didn't use it.

The reason I like FF tho is b/c of the LJ/IJ/etc login widget (I do online text-based RPG) and the fast switching between accts can be an essential headache-reducer!

I have K'Meleon too - which is a 'lite' version of the Mozilla browsers, but it doesn't allow for the widget, so I don't use it much.  

I multi-task like the world's gonna end, so I have, typically, 2-3 browsers running at a time, sometimes more, depending on what I'm doing, then if I'm working on the few graphic things that I do, I'll have PS, and since I don't have a tv in the same room as my PC, WinDVD gets a lot of screen time.   Oh - and trillian... gotta have that messaging tool! 


ETA:  I do have Maxthon, as well as NetCaptor as 2 of my IE variants, but neither will let you 'quick reply' from GMail, thus their 'fail' factor.


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## Erin99 (Jun 15, 2008)

Hmmm... how long ago did you try Opera? It has a "wand" feature that remembers yourpasswords. I always use that feature, I wouldn't like a browser without it. And Opera keeps changing in it's versions. Also, I've always used Opera to send and receive my mail, so it alerts and shows me any I get. I don't need to log in at Gmail, or have another program (Outlook) running.

Each to their own, I guess. One of these times I'm gonna try Maxthon. I've been meaning to see what Lenny likes about it.


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## Highlander II (Jun 15, 2008)

Most browsers now have a 'password' remembering feature.  The login widget is an addon that's been developed for Firefox and it's even FASTER than just password remembering - it keeps all of your logins in a dropdown that you can select when you need it.  Fast account switching, thus the love for FF. 

Maxthon is a nice browser, it's IE based and has tabs.  I do still use it, but not for my email.  I put my GMail tab in SeaMonkey so if I need to 'quick reply', I can do it.  Maxthon won't let me - for reasons I've yet to figure out.

I'm not kidding about the multi-tasking.  I do LOTS of things at a time.


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## Lenny (Jun 15, 2008)

Quick reply in Gmail? Can't say I've come across that yet.


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## Erin99 (Jun 15, 2008)

I usually multitask too. [size=1"]I think that's a woman's trait.[/size] 

Opera handles password super fast. Once you go to a site for the first time then type a password/other data in, a box pops up asking if Opera should remember it. Then next time you visit the site, you just press the wand and in pops your data. If there are more than one passwords in its memory, it will show you a list of all the ones it has stored for the site.  I love it.


Anyway, I've had a look through your HijackThis log and it's clean. You have a few entries for IE that you could remove, but you don't use IE anyway. 


Edit: Bah! 1,7001 posts now! Ow, I preferred the rounder number.


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## Highlander II (Jun 16, 2008)

Lenny said:


> Quick reply in Gmail? Can't say I've come across that yet.



It's specific to LiveJournal and other sites using it's codebase.  As long as an entry isn't locked in some way (ie: Friends only), you can reply to a thread direct from GMail.  Mostly, I use it for RP that I do through LJ/IJ, etc when I'm being too lazy to log in and don't really have any desire to change from the default icon being used for the particular character.

Something in the settings / features of Maxthon won't let me do that.  Seamonkey et. al. will.


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## Highlander II (Jun 16, 2008)

I've beek poking around with Opera and while it's fast and better than it used to be (it used to be v. v. clunky) and has some interesting widgets (the gmail one is kinda cool ) - I'm not sure I like how the widgets 'float' around the desktop and have their own buttons on the taskbar (that annoys me to have multiples for the same program).

Not to mention, it doesn't use much less CPU on my machine than the mozilla-based browsers, so it's not 'winning' for me as far as that goes.


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## Erin99 (Jun 16, 2008)

Oh well, at least you tried. 

I've been using the browser for... um... over 8 years, with various versions. IIRC, though, you can right-click on each widget and change the options... some have limitd options, though.

Edit: Whoa! I just switched a gadget on, told it to "Always go below", and now I've lost it! I can't find it anywhere - and I know it's still running!


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## Highlander II (Jun 16, 2008)

Yeah, from a practical standpoint, why should each widget have it's own button?  From that view, they're not, then, the same as Fx add-ons, which are incorporated into the browser itself and get some type of icon in the status bar or somesuch.

I don't 'hate' this newer version of the Opera browser, but I don't 'love' it.


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## Highlander II (Jul 10, 2008)

And - it is amazing how much QUIETER my PC is now that I blasted all of the dust out of all the fans, etc.  The only thing compressed air is good for.  Well, airbrushes, but still... 

It's not really faster now, just quieter.

Next up - more RAM!


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## Highlander II (Jul 11, 2008)

And now I come to you from my PC full of 1GB RAM...

only 1 b/c I'm horribly impatient, but also poor.  So, maybe next month we'll speed this sucker up one more gig!

So so nice!


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