[vyung]

My computer is responding to commands very slowly. Often it takes 5-10 seconds to response to a click. I suspect that it is time for me to upgrade some components of my system, but I am not sure where I should start.

I do not play games on my computer. I mostly use Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, Access), and Internet Explorer on this computer.

I have run virus check, and can confirm that it is free of spyware, virus, etc.

Any expert advices on increasing the speed and responsiveness of my computer would be most grateful.

================================

Below are my system stats:

System
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)

Computer
Intel Pentium III processor
935 MHz, 256 MB of RAM

Hard drive
Full Capacity: 28.6 GB
Used space: 14.0 GB
Free space: 14.6GB

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Hi vyung

To be honest, upgrading the cpu on your system will involve a new motherboard & possibly different memory as well as the actual CPU. It may even require a better power supply, and to stop other components slowing it down, possibly a new video card & hard drive. In short, you would be better off simply buying a new computer & selling the old one.

However, there is a simpler (and much cheaper solution) :

Firstly, backup all important data you have on the drive (either to a CD or another hard drive etc). Remember to backup things like your emails, email account settings, internet settings, favourites etc as well as your documents/downloads/work)

Next stage, wipe the drive completely & re-install Windows from scratch. Given the symptoms you described, the most likely reasons for the slowness, are things like malware/spyware infections (despite what the AV program reports), a badly fragmented drive, registry problems etc. Wiping the drive & performing a fresh install of windows will solve all of these problems.

The only other thing you may want to check first, is that there are no problems with the actual drive itself, i.e bad sectors. You can do this by running the full scandisk test.

If you want a cheap hardware upgrade that will make a significant difference to the running speed, you can add another 256MB RAM. This, along with a fresh install of XP, should be plenty fast enough for running Office applications & the Internet.

[Samm]

Hi vyung

To be honest, upgrading the cpu on your system will involve a new motherboard & possibly different memory as well as the actual CPU. It may even require a better power supply, and to stop other components slowing it down, possibly a new video card & hard drive. In short, you would be better off simply buying a new computer & selling the old one.

However, there is a simpler (and much cheaper solution) :

Firstly, backup all important data you have on the drive (either to a CD or another hard drive etc). Remember to backup things like your emails, email account settings, internet settings, favourites etc as well as your documents/downloads/work)

Next stage, wipe the drive completely & re-install Windows from scratch. Given the symptoms you described, the most likely reasons for the slowness, are things like malware/spyware infections (despite what the AV program reports), a badly fragmented drive, registry problems etc. Wiping the drive & performing a fresh install of windows will solve all of these problems.

The only other thing you may want to check first, is that there are no problems with the actual drive itself, i.e bad sectors. You can do this by running the full scandisk test.

If you want a cheap hardware upgrade that will make a significant difference to the running speed, you can add another 256MB RAM. This, along with a fresh install of XP, should be plenty fast enough for running Office applications & the Internet.

[vyung]

Thanks Samm for your quick and detailed reply.

I forgot to mention that I also use the computer for video editing as well.

It sounds like buying a new computer is the go.

Again, thank you for your kind response.

[Wombat52]

You COULD wipe your system and do a fresh install, which would take, well probably more time than you really need to.

My suggestion would be, if you haven't already done it, would be to go to www.majorgeeks.com and download the Intel Application Accelerator.

This will help eliminate some of the bottlenecking that occurs between transfers of data from the hard drive to the memory.

You will notice quite a bit of difference on a PIII system.

Good Luck.

[Samm]

You MAY get away with just upgrading the Video card & the RAM in that case (as well as a fresh install), but it's up you.

Let us know what you decide to get in the end!

[vyung]

Thank you Wombat52 and Samm for taking your time to response to my problem. I am grateful for getting your advices.

I am going to do a big operation with my computer this weekend.

Wombat52, I will try the Intel Application Accelerator.

Samm, I think I will get another RAM for the moment, and see if the performance will go up.

If after doing the above, my computer is still slow. Then I will need to throw some money out for a new computer.

Please keep your finger-crossed for me that the computer will go faster after the operation this weekend.

[Samm]

Let us know how it goes!