Have dial up and it seems to get slower every day.
2006-09-05 03:03:23 · 2 answers · asked by Puzzler 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Internet
Leave the updates!
Things that slow your system down!
1. Computers basically have two types of memory. Ram and Rom. Lets start with Rom. Read Only Memory is a storage place where files, programs, music, pictures, etc are stored. An example of Rom is your hard drive. Your hard drive is a storage system not unlike your basic cassette player. The hard drive stores your files and programs on a disc platter. The platter is the same material as you would find on a cassette tape. People get easily confused thinking that a bigger hard drive will make their computer go faster. Next comes Ram or Random Access Memory. This area of memory is where your files and programs are moved to when you use them. You give the computer a command to play a game or maybe to listen to music or perhaps even do your math for you. You click an icon or program and the processor or brain finds that data on the hard drive or cd and loads it into ram. Ram is the place where most all of your programs and files run when you are using them. The processor then controls the ram and runs the software you have chosen. Now lets say you have 100 megabytes of ram in your system. You decide to edit some photos and you start your photo program which takes 40 megabytes of ram plus 5 megabytes to load the picture you edit. You now have 65 megabytes of unused ram. You decide to fire up your media player and play a selection of songs. The media player decides it needs 40 megabytes for the player operation itself plus another 20 megabytes for the stored album you want to play. We now have a total of 5 megabytes of unused ram. You decide to fire up Weather bug or google earth or some other software and its asking for another 20 megabytes of ram. You are now choking the death out of your rescources and what do you think the system will do? Any number of things can happen including simple system shutdown. Most users seem to think that they need everything but the kitchen sink running when they start their system and then scratch their bum and wonder why their system is running so slow. A few examples of software that loads on startup would be winzip, your audio mixer, music download programs, etc! You DO NOT need this crap running! Weatherbug for instance eats up about 20 megabytes of ram just sitting there not being used! Winzip takes another 5, Most everything you have running in the background is not needed!
2. Viruses, adware, trojans, malware, and hijackers! NOTHING ON THE NET IS FREE! It all comes at a cost to the user! PORN SITES, GAMBLING SITES, FREE MUSIC DOWNLOAD SITES, FREE GAMING SITES, etc are FILLED with this crap! Some of it simply redirects your search to a page they make money off of or hijacks your homepage, some of it constantly monitors what you are shopping for, have you ever wondered how uncanny it is that you browsed the net for a new digital camera and the next day you were spammed to death with camera ads in e mail or have started receiving digital cam popups? Some of it simply is full of malwar and viruses that will destroy data and in severe cases wipe out your hardrive!
3. I have heard everybody and their brother claim that their system is free and clean of adware. Adware removal tools are good to have but there isnt any one that will detect all adware! I dont care if its free or costed you a hundred dollars! Think about it. Adware is being produced daily. It takes the average adware removal company 2 months to even realize that there is a new piece of adware. Now they have to develop a tool to remove it! Theres another month! How much hidden crap is really in your sytem?
4. One of the biggest problems is anti virus software. It keeps your system safe alright but in the process it slows you down sometimes even worse than the original problem did! I use NO VIRUS PROTECTION! It sucks!
Bottom line....the best system protection comes from the users own brain! If you browse the net wisely and follow the simple ideas above you will find your system runs far better! Dont get me wrong....do use your adware removal tools.....keep them updated and when they tell you something is trying to enter your system DONT IGNORE IT! Dont waste money on adware removal tools either! The best is still free! Spybot, Spyware Blaster, Adaware, etc are all excellent choices!
One last thing I would like to ad, everyone thinks they need a new faster 3 bazillion gigahertz machine to browse the net! The average hi speed internet connection is around 1.5 megs a second. Some boast 4 meg but in any event consider the fact that your processor in that old clunker is a 266 megahertz processor, it is STILL far faster than what you need to browse the net! Dont let people tell you it is too slow!
2006-09-05 03:07:58 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, do not delete any of them...you'll just have to redownload them. You might want to try scanning for spyware and viruses. Also, clean up your temp files and registry with CCleaner:
Spyware Tools:
http://www.lavasoft.nu/software/adaware/
http://www.safer-networking.org
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsdefender
http://www.merijn.org/programs.php
Anti-Virus:
http://free.grisoft.com
Cleaner:
http://www.ccleaner.com
2006-09-05 10:08:32 · answer #2 · answered by Yoi_55 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋