how can i speed up my computer and load a digital camera?

Question

i have 2 questions. i have a old windows98 computer that is so slow and dose nothing right half the time how can i clean it up and speed it up? also i bought a digital camera and after i instaled the software it dose not work. it keep telling me to fix my resolution to 800 by 600 but it wont let me do this.it refairs me to the divice manger i dont understand it. some help please. i dont have the internet.....

Answer 1

You may find that the drivers written for your digital camera were not written with Win 98 in mind. The website of the manufacturer of your camera may have a patch to remedy this but not having net would be kind of tough doing so. For a computer that was built to run 98 I'd imagine it being very slow, without correct USB support for your camera and not really worth upgrading unless you have a super custom case or something. Mid range PCs are quite reasonably priced these days.

Answer 2

The digital camera may not be compatible with the old PC and Win98.

To fix the speed...

Clean up the PC by uninstalling software programs you don't use anymore.

Defragging the hard drive.

Clearing Internet caches and history pages. I don''t know if you have a browser that is installed - I know you are not on the ''net, but even if it not used, the cache can still use system resources.

Emptying the Recycle Bin.

Running Scandisk - do this LAST!

Then after you reboot, see how your system runs.

Next....

USB - Is supported in Win98. You will need to check that USB is activated in the BIOS. Assuming it is, you need to know what motherboard is in the computer (or at least the chipset), or the make and model of the computer itself.

Answer 3

You need a new computer, or at least you need a new operating system. There aren't many utilities out there for win98 anymore. You could get yours running like new again by formatting your hard drive and reinstalling Win98. I'm guessing that's probably not what you had in mind. Besides, you will likely never get that camera working with win98. Your best option is to call the manufacturer and ask them if they have a set of win98 drivers for that camera. They're likely to laugh at that question though.

Win98 is now way outdated. Linux is a good stable os but it takes some knowledge to use well (if you are knowledgeable enough to use Linux then you don't need to be told this). WinXP is recommended otherwise. You may be able to install XP on your current computer. I run XP on one of my old P3 600MHz systems and it works fine, even fast. You may want to think about a new computer though. You can usually find deals on some of the lower end computers in the $200-$500 range and it will likely be way faster than your win98 system (if it's anything like the one of mine I mentioned earlier).

One thing to keep in mind. The new windows operating system "Vista" is going to be coming out in the next year or so. If you want to buy a computer and don't want to have to buy another one for a long time, you might just want to wait a little longer or buy a computer with a 64bit processor so that you will be able to put Vista on it eventually.

Answer 4

Hi Corky,

OK you can change your resolution easily - minimise or close all your open windows so you can see your desktop. Right-click on an empty spot of your desktop and click Properties. Under the Settings tab, you will find the resolution slider. Slide that onto 800x600 and click OK. Job done.

There are a coupe of things you can do to speed up your computer. One involves spending money on a faster processor and more RAM (memory)... you could get these items pretty cheaply on ebay; if your PC is old, you could probably greatly increase its speed for about £50.

There are alternatives to spending your hard-earned cash though. You can clean up the PC using the following:

1) Click Start > Run. Type in msconfig and click OK. Go to the Startup tab and untick everything in the list. This will stop all those annoying programs starting up each time you switch on your computer, using up all its resources.

2) Defrag your hard disk. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Defragment. This could take an hour or more, depending on the size of your hard disk but will speed it up. If you're interested, your PC saves parts of each file in different physical locations on the disk, then has to spend more time loading the file next time it needs it. Defrag works by moving all the parts of each broken up file into the same location.

3) Free up unused hard disk space by deleting temporary files (in C:\WINDOWS\TEMP) and emptying your recycle bin. In control panel, go to Add/Remove programs and remove any programs you no longer use.

4) Reboot your computer and reap the rewards!

It's a good idea to do this once every couple of months or so to keep your machine clean and lean.

Hope this helps - good luck!

Cheers

KaiBosh

Answer 5

i dont think windows 98 suports usb, 98se does. the device manager should tell you what graphic card you have, write the name down and go to the companys web page and look for new drivers.

Answer 6

If you switch to Linux from Windows98, your machine will perform much betterw without hardware upgrade.

Answer 7

Get a new computer, the one you have is out of date.