Slow computer

[Partsman41953]

Hello,

My wife has a 7 or 8 year old Dell Optiplex computer which is running very slow as she has a lot of information stored on the system from a business we owned a while back and now with school. I would like to know what would be the best way to free up some memory on this system and get the system running faster. I run the free version of Advanced System Care on it once or twice a month and that helps a little bit but not much. I believe the system is a 3 gb system and when I check the hard drive it still has plenty of space left on it but the system runs very slow. She is running Windows XP on the system.

I would like to free up the system for her as she needs to have the computer running better for school.

I would appreciate any info that you could offer.

Thanks,

[EzyStvy]

Its slow cause its old. For $300 you can get a much faster system - hook up the old drive in an external case and still have access to the data/

[mikeL]

I agree, time to retire the Optiplex.

[kilgoretrout]

System specs please. All windows operating systems suffer from bit rot due to the way they are designed. Over time they get slower and slower. While there are many utilities around to help stave off this deterioration and there are practices designed to improve performance over time, eg. regularly defragmenting your hard drive, sooner or later you need to do a nuke and pave - i.e. backup the data you want to save, format the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and programs you use, then restore your data.

Also, a common cause of performance deterioration in windows is the accumulation of viruses, malware, adware and crapware over time. Again, there are tools around to clean up this mess but many times it's just easier to do a nuke and pave. Sometimes that's the only way to get rid of some of this stuff.

If you have never reinstalled windows in over 7 years and you have the windows installation disks or system restore disks, I would recommend that you seriously consider doing a nuke and pave. You will need an external hard drive to backup the data you want to save, but if the data is important, you should be regularly doing that anyway, particularly when all your important data is stored on a 7 year old hard drive.

[Partsman41953]

I need help. My wife uses an old Dell Optiplex GX270 computer that has a lot of info stored on it but still shows on the C drive that it has more than 3/4 free space left on it but the computer runs in "snail mode" even when not on the internet. One other thing I should mention is that around 7 or 8 months ago she happened to pick up a virus on the computer but I was able to get rid of it. This computer has been running slow for quite some time now and I was interested in finding out what possibly could be done to speed up the system. The computer uses Windows XP. I really would not want to replace it at this time if something else can be done. Would reformatting the system work if that is my last resort?

Thanks,

Glenn

There are several things you can do:
1. Download and run CCleaner
2. Defrag the HD
3. Ram is cheap, you might consider adding some.
4. Run Msconfig and see what start-up and processes you have running that you may not need.

What kind of anti-malware programs are you running?

[Partsman41953]

I have CCleaner on the computer and ran it Saturday when I was working on it. I also defragged the system and ran a virus scan and just about any other scan I could find to get the system running faster but it is really slow. I use Avira for my virus protection, Zone Alarm for firewall, Advanced System Care to keep the computer clean (or try to). How would I be able to tell how much ram is on the system and what is being used?

Also, my wife uses AOL for her internet browser but also has Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox on the system as well.

We previously used that computer for business and it still has some business info on it but like I stated earlier when I went to clean up the temporary files I noticed that the C:drive still has over 75% free space left on it.

Glenn

Just open up Task manager (clt, alt, del), click the performance tab and look for physical memory total, that will give you the ram installed in mb increments., 6134mb=6 gig, ect, ect. I would definitely open up Msconfig and see what loads on start-up, I'm guess you have items loading on start that you don't need. Forgot to mention you can also use Task manager to check how much ram each process is using, just open the process tab.
Read the info here, some of the tweaks may help you.
http://www.pcmech.com/article/operat...indows-2000xp/

[glc]

2 threads merged, in the future please follow up on an original thread and do not start a new thread on the same issue. Thank you.

- Admin -

Save your data, then press Ctrl+F11 immediately on startup to run Dell PC Restore, this will reload it to the way it came from the factory. This will work if the computer was built after 7/2004. If it's older, nuke and pave it, it's time. Do NOT reinstall AOL.

[rwest]

There is another option if you have an OS or recovery disk. And if you have room in the case for another drive.
1. Pull the hdd drive.
2. Put in another hdd,.
3. Load your OS or recovery disk to the new drive.
4. Slave the old drive.

While the OS will still be installed on the old hdd, it won't be active. The drive will still have all the info on it, but you will automatically boot to the 'C' drive. This only works by completely disconnecting the initial drive and only connecting the new drive first. You must load the OS with onlhy the bare drive connected. Then after the fresh install is complete, you can slave the old drive.

Note: The COA and license is good because the OS on the first drive is inactive. Your key on the side sticker of you pc is still legit Essentially your moving the OS from one drive to the replacement drive. You could actually remove the file 'windows' from the slaved hdd(old) if you want to. Your data will be in documents and settings-or wherever you put it.