What Things Or Accessories Can Make A Computer Faster?

[mikemarrs]

the reason i ask this is because i'll sit while my screen freezes up for a minute or two sometimes.already checked and no viruses.

[conversationpc]

One common thing is to have too many programs and/or Windows services running in the background. Also, sometimes closed programs are still resident in memory. Case in point, I use Outlook 2003 on this laptop and it is often still running in the background even though it's been closed.

[Rick]

the reason i ask this is because i'll sit while my screen freezes up for a minute or two sometimes.already checked and no viruses.

Could be overheating Mike. If it's a desktop, open it up and see if the processor heat sink is clogged up with dust bunnies. Let it cool off before you touch it though. I've lost skin on those things before. If it's a laptop, make sure the airways aren't blocked. Laptop cooling is extremely crucial.

If it's not heat, as Dave said, try reducing the number of start-up items. You'll notice a lot of icons down in the system try, where the clock is. Each of those represents a program that is running, taking up RAM and processor cycles. Determine which ones you don't need running all the time. Open that program, and somewhere in the programs "settings", you'll find something that says "Start When Windows Starts" or something similar. Disable that. You can run the program from it's shortcut when you need it.

You might also try downloading a good spyware program. I use Spybot Search & Destroy, and it does a great job. You can get it from www.download.com Make sure you let it update before it runs.

[Ehwmatt]

The single biggest thing you can do to increase performance is to upgrade your RAM to maximum capacity. Don't chintz on it, get good RAM (not cheap RAM).

Go to www.crucial.com . They have a good selection and a Web App that will detect the optimal RAM for your computer, as well as how much it can accept.

[Rick]

Oh, and to answer your question, for an existing computer, RAM can make it much faster. Find out how much RAM your computer can hold and max it out. You also need to know what RAM it takes, as there is a million different kinds. If you're buying a new one, make sure it has a multi core processor, and at least 4 gigs of RAM.

[S2M]

the reason i ask this is because i'll sit while my screen freezes up for a minute or two sometimes.already checked and no viruses.

Upgrade your TRS-80, and your Color Computer II....

[Rick]

The single biggest thing you can do to increase performance is to upgrade your RAM to maximum capacity. Don't chintz on it, get good RAM (not cheap RAM).

Go to www.crucial.com . They have a good selection and a Web App that will detect the optimal RAM for your computer, as well as how much it can accept.

Nice find!

[rockinfayrose]

My suggestion is to buy an external drive to transfer any photos and music files from your slow computer - it's these large file types that really slow a computer down. Once the files are transferred to external drive and deleted off your computer, do a thorough disc cleanup scan and defragment. Also, if you do have a laptop, buy a cooling fan pad.

[Memorex]

the reason i ask this is because i'll sit while my screen freezes up for a minute or two sometimes.already checked and no viruses.

You may want to list your computer's stats. CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, Windows Version, etc. If you know it anyway.

There are some third party tools that can help keep things clean. I use PC Tune Up. But be careful - make sure it is a reputable one. I also use MalwareBytes which is very good at keeping the malware off. It doesn't take long these days for a computer to get overloaded with all that crap.

Of course, there is always the good old fashioned fresh install. I do that every 6 months or so. Actually with Windows 7 and these other tools, it's been a lot longer than that now.

Like the others said, RAM is number one cheapest method of speeding things up.

[Rip Rokken]

The single biggest thing you can do to increase performance is to upgrade your RAM to maximum capacity. Don't chintz on it, get good RAM (not cheap RAM).

Go to www.crucial.com . They have a good selection and a Web App that will detect the optimal RAM for your computer, as well as how much it can accept.

Nice find!

Very hard to beat Crucial's prices, too. I use them regularly and have never had a problem with anything that's come from them.

[steveo777]

Three main issues:
1. Core processor speed
2. Amount of RAM
3. Hard Drive size, Cache Size, RPM.
3. ATA, UATA, SATA, SCSI or RAID...1, 5, 0, striped, parity, etc? (oops 4)


From there we can get into what your bus speeds are, thoughput, branch predictor capability, video card, video card ram, etc.

Operating system, installed programs?

[Kilaya]

Clear your cache. Download Spybot and see if you have any adware, tracking cookies or malware on your computer. I don't think all virus scans detect this. Defrag your hard drive. Remove old programs you are no longer using.

What else hmmmmm....

[Duncan]

The single biggest thing you can do to increase performance is to upgrade your RAM to maximum capacity. Don't chintz on it, get good RAM (not cheap RAM).

Go to www.crucial.com . They have a good selection and a Web App that will detect the optimal RAM for your computer, as well as how much it can accept.

Nice find!

I have just run the app and it tells me I have 4 memory slots each with a 1GB memory card in each slot. It recommends changing these to 2GB cards giving a total of 8GB RAM. However, I have 32 BIT Windows Vista, which I understand can only recognise 3.5GB of RAM. So am I correct in thinking an upgrade is pointless?

Thanks

[mikemarrs]

CPU shows between 2 and 4 percent.memory says 338 MB,total physical memory 444,cached 142,free 3.the physical memory is 80 percent..windows vista 160 GB hard drive,512 MB DDR2...i have an emachine T5082 desktop

[Rick]

CPU shows between 2 and 4 percent.memory says 338 MB,total physical memory 444,cached 142,free 3.the physical memory is 80 percent..windows vista 160 GB hard drive,512 MB DDR2...i have an emachine T5082 desktop

Hey Mike, you can max that thing out on RAM and make it run much better. It maxes out at 2GB, which is 4 times the RAM you have now. The RAM sticks are $19.99 a piece at the link Matt supplied. Actually, here it is. http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=T5082

I'm not sure if you're in a position to buy it or not, but it will most certainly give you a marked improvement in performance. You have a Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading, so that's like having a dual core. If it were me, I would max out the RAM and keep it another few years.

[Rick]

The single biggest thing you can do to increase performance is to upgrade your RAM to maximum capacity. Don't chintz on it, get good RAM (not cheap RAM).

Go to www.crucial.com . They have a good selection and a Web App that will detect the optimal RAM for your computer, as well as how much it can accept.

Nice find!

I have just run the app and it tells me I have 4 memory slots each with a 1GB memory card in each slot. It recommends changing these to 2GB cards giving a total of 8GB RAM. However, I have 32 BIT Windows Vista, which I understand can only recognise 3.5GB of RAM. So am I correct in thinking an upgrade is pointless?

Thanks

Yes, unless you upgrade to the 64bit operating system. The 32 bit OS will recognize 4GB total memory. Which includes video memory, cache and all that added up, so your RAM may be as little as 3 or as much as 3.5, depending on what all the other memory adds up to, subtracting from the overall whole of 4GB. The 64 bit operating system can handle up to 128GB, I think.

[Duncan]

The single biggest thing you can do to increase performance is to upgrade your RAM to maximum capacity. Don't chintz on it, get good RAM (not cheap RAM).

Go to www.crucial.com . They have a good selection and a Web App that will detect the optimal RAM for your computer, as well as how much it can accept.

Nice find!

I have just run the app and it tells me I have 4 memory slots each with a 1GB memory card in each slot. It recommends changing these to 2GB cards giving a total of 8GB RAM. However, I have 32 BIT Windows Vista, which I understand can only recognise 3.5GB of RAM. So am I correct in thinking an upgrade is pointless?

Thanks

Yes, unless you upgrade to the 64bit operating system. The 32 bit OS will recognize 4GB total memory. Which includes video memory, cache and all that added up, so your RAM may be as little as 3 or as much as 3.5, depending on what all the other memory adds up to, subtracting from the overall whole of 4GB. The 64 bit operating system can handle up to 128GB, I think.

Thanks Rick.

[Behshad]

Get a Mac !

[parfait]

Get a Mac !

Yeah, listen to the grown man with 12 year olds dancing half naked in his signature.

Mac is gay.

[mikemarrs]

CPU shows between 2 and 4 percent.memory says 338 MB,total physical memory 444,cached 142,free 3.the physical memory is 80 percent..windows vista 160 GB hard drive,512 MB DDR2...i have an emachine T5082 desktop

Hey Mike, you can max that thing out on RAM and make it run much better. It maxes out at 2GB, which is 4 times the RAM you have now. The RAM sticks are $19.99 a piece at the link Matt supplied. Actually, here it is. http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=T5082

I'm not sure if you're in a position to buy it or not, but it will most certainly give you a marked improvement in performance. You have a Pentium 4 with Hyperthreading, so that's like having a dual core. If it were me, I would max out the RAM and keep it another few years.

i'm going to do that,thanks!!!

[mikemarrs]

so that would be around 4 sticks x 19=80 plus tax,correct? or would i need less?

so this gives you more speed or faster correct? sorry been a long day my thinkin' cap isn't on

[Monker]

CPU shows between 2 and 4 percent.memory says 338 MB,total physical memory 444,cached 142,free 3.the physical memory is 80 percent..windows vista 160 GB hard drive,512 MB DDR2...i have an emachine T5082 desktop

Upgrade to Windows 7. Vista is known to be slow.

[Ehwmatt]

Also if it's surfing speed, check your ..Tools..Internet Options... and choose...settings... then maybe UP the amount of Disc space to use for Temp Int Files...you will definitly NEED to do this after the RAM upgrade anyways.

Dump your temp int files often, at least weekly or more if a lot of surfing gets done on that machine.


HTH's

These steps are especially important if you frequently surf porn sites

[Behshad]

Get a Mac !

Yeah, listen to the grown man with 12 year olds dancing half naked in his signature.

Mac is gay.

So are you. Aa usual , You talk out of your ass without any kind of explanation PissMasterPee
I was anti Mac and living in the dark just like you. But the last two years I have enjoyed my iMac without ANY slowdowns , crashes , viruses or blue screen. Bring on some valid points as why you think Mac " is gay" ... Lets see what you got Mr Uringotang

[conversationpc]

I was anti Mac and living in the dark just like you. But the last two years I have enjoyed my iMac without ANY slowdowns , crashes , viruses or blue screen. Bring on some valid points as why you think Mac " is gay" ... Lets see what you got Mr Uringotang

I've had my laptop with Windows XP for over three years now and it's crashed maybe once the entire time I've had it and that was my fault. As long as you know what the hell you're doing with a computer, unless the hardware is bad, you really can't go wrong with either a Windows OR Mac machine.

[Behshad]

I was anti Mac and living in the dark just like you. But the last two years I have enjoyed my iMac without ANY slowdowns , crashes , viruses or blue screen. Bring on some valid points as why you think Mac " is gay" ... Lets see what you got Mr Uringotang

I've had my laptop with Windows XP for over three years now and it's crashed maybe once the entire time I've had it and that was my fault. As long as you know what the hell you're doing with a computer, unless the hardware is bad, you really can't go wrong with either a Windows OR Mac machine.

Not true. No matter how "careful" you are with your pc , you still get the slowdowns. You still get programs running in the background you have to force kill. And you still can get the blue screen.
I am still using a pc as I've used them since 1990, but lately I prefer Mac. Besides my whole point was that SirPeesAlot doesn't know squat about Mac or PC !

[conversationpc]

Not true. No matter how "careful" you are with your pc , you still get the slowdowns. You still get programs running in the background you have to force kill. And you still can get the blue screen.
I am still using a pc as I've used them since 1990, but lately I prefer Mac. Besides my whole point was that SirPeesAlot doesn't know squat about Mac or PC !

Happens on Macs, too, the slowdowns anyway. As for programs running in the background, I'm not so sure that's a Microsoft fault as it is the fault of piss-poor software developers.

[Ehwmatt]

I was anti Mac and living in the dark just like you. But the last two years I have enjoyed my iMac without ANY slowdowns , crashes , viruses or blue screen. Bring on some valid points as why you think Mac " is gay" ... Lets see what you got Mr Uringotang

I've had my laptop with Windows XP for over three years now and it's crashed maybe once the entire time I've had it and that was my fault. As long as you know what the hell you're doing with a computer, unless the hardware is bad, you really can't go wrong with either a Windows OR Mac machine.

Not true. No matter how "careful" you are with your pc , you still get the slowdowns. You still get programs running in the background you have to force kill. And you still can get the blue screen.
I am still using a pc as I've used them since 1990, but lately I prefer Mac. Besides my whole point was that SirPeesAlot doesn't know squat about Mac or PC !

I agree with you B. I went Mac six years ago and haven't looked back. I don't need PCs for anything I do anyway.

[Behshad]

Not true. No matter how "careful" you are with your pc , you still get the slowdowns. You still get programs running in the background you have to force kill. And you still can get the blue screen.
I am still using a pc as I've used them since 1990, but lately I prefer Mac. Besides my whole point was that SirPeesAlot doesn't know squat about Mac or PC !

Happens on Macs, too, the slowdowns anyway. As for programs running in the background, I'm not so sure that's a Microsoft fault as it is the fault of piss-poor software developers.

It is Microsofts fault. With Apple , no programs run in the background. The OS terminates the program upon exit and doesn't just allow any programs to go into the startup registry and start in the background As soon as you start up the OS.

[conversationpc]

It is Microsofts fault. With Apple , no programs run in the background. The OS terminates the program upon exit and doesn't just allow any programs to go into the startup registry and start in the background As soon as you start up the OS.

I have programs starting in the background on my Mac at work.