Why does my laptop do this???

Question

my laptop is from 2003, outdated by todays standards thats for sure.. but it works fine with a couple of programs.. but if i put about 4 medium sized programs.. which isn't a lot, its limewire, fruity loops(an older version) a picture program, and the internet.. it crashes.. and then i have to use the os disk to get it running again.. is it the harddrive? what?? i do not care to get some different parts.. maybe more memory, or whatever else it might need. could it be a virus i once had.. i do download...?if so, what could get rid of it.. i have had some guys remove everything completely, install new drivers, and have been through this twice, and also have reinstalled windows from the os disk multiple(around 8) times over the past couple of years.. now i just use if for the internet and to download songs.. but i would like to at least have it hold 4 programs without crashing? and right now i cannot afford another laptop.. any suggestions??

khuram678, cool thanks. that really helps me.

Answer 1

Primarily, I think that you need to know that Windows XP uses up 512 MB of your RAM. Also, it usually needs 6 - 8 GB of your HDD space to run with, because of the "System Restore" information that it keeps filling up with.

Now, a P2P Client like Limewire will, again, eat into the space since, I'm fairly sure that you've loaded it on the "C" Drive.

Now, just think of that poor camel and all that great load of straw it's already carrying!

Little wonder that it screams "That's the last straw!?" and throws in the towel, isn't it?

So, to correct this problem on a long lasting basis, shall we make a few informed changes now?

First of all, increase your RAM to 1 GB +.

Now, move all your music and video and documents that you want to keep safe to the "D" Drive.

It might just be a good idea for you to make a back up on removable media like a CD or DVD.

Now, put the OS disc in the ROM device and boot from the CD.

When you come to the "Partition" part, resize the partition for "C" to, at least 10 GB. By the way, you can make you "C" Drive in the NTFS Format, rather than the FAT. It's a myth that OS needs to be on FAT.

Now, finish the re-installation with the new partition in place.

Voila, you shouldn't be having any more trouble.

Just to ensure that you don't have any more issues, when you load the new programs like Limewire etc, make sure that you install them on "D" Drive. In fact, I'd advise you to load all other programs on the "D" Drive, just to be on the safer side.

Please check the system requirements for the softwares that you load, because if you load incompatible software, it will crash.

This should resolve the issue permanently.

All the best.

Cheers

Answer 2

G’day

It sound like your laptop does not have enough RAM (memory). As far as your hard drive goes, since you did not have a lot of memory, the computer had to use space on your hard drive to swap the information in memory, form the RAM to the hard drive.

If it is a Microsoft system you might want to run check disk on your system and also run Disk Defragmenter on the system, both programs should already be on your system

I hope this helps

Cheers

Rich

Answer 3

No, it is not the harddrive. I think its the RAM. Laptops in 2003 came with standard 256mb ram. Todays programs, its good to have atleast 512mb. I personally cannot work with slow computers, so I upgrade all my PCs to 1GB of ram. eBay has ram for really cheap, usually $20 - $40 depending on what you need. Upgrading is easy as well.. just google "upgrade laptop ram".

Answer 4

Try to run "disk clean up" often as your hard disk accumulate a lot of temporary internet files. Also occasionally run "Disk Defragment" this will help to speed up your notebook.

Last but not the least, also try to run "Scan Disk" so that your hard disk remains in a healthy condition.

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 5

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Answer 6

How large is your HDD? It wouldn't hurt to delete programs that you're not using and then do a "defrag". Increasing the RAM can help also.

Answer 7

get a free cleaner and clean it ccleaner,hd cleaner,defrag it regular,search for spyware adware se does good,go to ,run>type in misconfig see how many programs are running on startup, uncheck any like msg,nero,etc. hit apply

Answer 8

Cada vez que compro memorias RAM de aquí estoy contenta con la compra, buscaba una memoria vieja que es muy difícil de encontrar, una memoria SDRAM para una amiga, me he quedado muy contenta cuando le he podido comprar de sitios web por un excelente precio, muy bueno el producto, una súper compra.

Answer 9

i got a great suggestion 4 words

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