[trishh]

Under system properties it says:

System:
Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 3

Manufactured and supported by:
Dell Dimension DIM2400
Intel®
Celeron ® CPU 2.40GHz
2.39GHz, 512 MB of RAM


The computer runs at a decent speed when 1 or 2 programs are running but when something is downloading, or more than 2 programs are running, it is VERY slow and starts freezing. What can I do to stop this? Should I improve this hardware or run some programs and clean up?

If you need any other information that wasn't given, please let me know.
Thank you

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Howdy trishh.

I would recommend you invest in at least another 1GB RAM, if not 1.5GB RAM. You are running Vista on very low RAM and as a result will be getting a slow computer.

Once you have gotten more RAM then we can look at software and how to keep your computer at top notch. But the RAM is an extremely important factor in your computer's speed.

[Robin Hood]

Howdy trishh.

I would recommend you invest in at least another 1GB RAM, if not 1.5GB RAM. You are running Vista on very low RAM and as a result will be getting a slow computer.

Once you have gotten more RAM then we can look at software and how to keep your computer at top notch. But the RAM is an extremely important factor in your computer's speed.

[damddrew]

1GB RAM, if not 1.5GB RAM. You are running Vista on very low RAM and as a result will be getting a slow computer.

sounds good, EXCEPT, she said XP home was in the sys properties

[rshaffer61]

Even with XP 512 megs is minimum for running it correctly.
The so called sweet spot for XP is 1 gig. I suspect her video is built onboard so that would mean that it is sharing 64 megs of the memory she has. This then drops available memory down to 458 megs. Once you calculate that XP minimum requirements say 256 megs that drops the available down to 202 megs. Figure in startup and Autoruns and you can see how the available memory is quickly used up. by increasing this would allow at least 512 for just extra programs.
Go to HERE and run the Crucial online scanner.
This will give you the exact memory configuration for your system.
You do not have to buy the memory from there, but write down the information and if you need assistance in purchasing the upgrade memory GTG can assist with suggestions also.

Now before you do all that you should have your Autoruns checked out for any un needed programs running. Once that is done then clean temp files and use Auslogics Defrag to straighten everything up.
Another suggestion is to uninstall any nonused or no longer needed programs.

What I would suggest is Uninstalling All Programs you don't need or don't want anymore through Add/Remove Programs

Do this by going to
Start and then to Control Panel
Click Add/Remove Programs
Carefully choose the program(s) you don't need
Click on each Program then click Change/Remove and Follow the Uninstall Instructions

You may be prompted to Restart your computer.
Restart once you have all the programs you don't need uninstalled.
Be careful not to remove anything needed by your computer, some of which you may be unfamiliar with the name,

Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:
1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
7: Attach to your next reply.

[trishh]

Thank you all for your responses. I might need your help to see what memory I should buy. I have 2 memory slots, 1 is currently filled with the 512MB. I'm not sure if I should fill the empty one with another 512MB or a 1GB memory.

The Autoruns.txt file is attached.  AutoRuns.txt   110.54KB   192 downloads

Edited by trishh, 24 January 2010 - 08:09 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Go to HERE and run the Crucial online scanner.
This will give you the exact memory configuration for your system.
You do not have to buy the memory from there, but write down the information and if you need assistance in purchasing the upgrade memory GTG can assist with suggestions also.

[rshaffer61]

Open Autoruns, click on "Logon" tab, and UN-check:

"DellSupportCenter"
"IgfxTray"
"QuickTime Task"
"SunJavaUpdateSched"
"TkBellExe"
"Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk"
"DellSupport"
"Google Update"

The next file needs to be manually disabled and is only needed if you use multi language on your keyboard. If you do then skip the step.


To turn off just ctfmon.exe go to:

Control Panel then to Regional and Language Options

Click on the Languages Tab then click the Details button

Click on the Advanced tab

Check the box that says Turn off advanced text services option

Click A and then OK



When done restart computer and then:



Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:
It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged

Let me kow how everything is running when done

Edited by rshaffer61, 24 January 2010 - 08:24 PM.

[Robin Hood]

Oops my bad. I should've read the post properly.

I'll leave it to you rshaffer61.

[rshaffer61]

No problem RobinHood I am here to assist since you are the original responder.

[trishh]

Wow! Thank you very much. This helped a lot!

[rshaffer61]

That is great to hear. If you do the memory upgrade to 1 gig of total memory you will see even better speed.

[trishh]

We just might try that! Thank you very much for your help! I will definitely continue to use this defrag program.

[trishh]

I now have a virus that does not let me log into windows called worm.win32.netsky. I posted a topic for the under viruses but no one has answered. If you can help me I'd gladly appreciate it.