What makes a computer quick?

Question

What makes a computer fast? i have a compaq and its an ok computer i guess but i would like it to be faster like as in when i click on a program it instantly pops up. Right now if i clicked on, for example, windows media player it takes like 2 minutes to load up to where i can actually play music on it... I know its not a virus or spyware or anything like that because i have a good virus and spyware scanner.

Answer 1

A good virus and spyware scanner can make your computer slow. The thing that can make your computer fastest is if you do this:

- Click Start | Run, type msconfig, Press Enter.
- Click the Startup Tab and click Disable All.
- Click Services, check Hide All Microsoft Services. Click Disable All.
- Apply, Ok, Restart.

Answer 2

For one you have a Compaq, Compaq is the more generic brand owned by HP. HP's are the more premium brand. Compaqs are popped out of the factory with lower grade parts, and at higher rates without as much looking over. So a Compaq is going to tend to lean towards being lower quality. Yes Compaqs are slow, I sell them and even sometimes when customers want a cheap piece of junk, they will just lag by logging into Windows. I will say, "As you can see right now, this particular computer is considerably less reponsive, and probably won't be ideal for any activity beyong the Internet." and 80% of them seem to ignore me and keep their eyes glued on that $379 - or what be it - price tag. Sometimes I have people actually come back to me a couple of days later immediately spending money on Upgrades. I had an old couple come back one day to tell me, "The computer is slow." after I warned them 1,000 times, in which they reply, "Oh I don't use my computer that much I mean how much slower will it be, a milisecond? I'm not worried about that."

Primarily what will aid the computers quickness is the RAM, how much you have and what type it is. Atleast 1GB of DDR2 RAM is considered fast enough. If your motherboard doesn't support DDR2 RAM, you'll need a whole new Motherboard, which is like saying, "buy a new computer." Also make sure you have a good processor, the Intel Core 2 Duo is a good processor, *note* Core 2 Duo, Core Duo, and Dual-Core are not all the same thing. You'll primarily either want a Core 2 Duo, or an Athlon 64 X2 processor, that, along with the RAM will greatly pep up a computer. Video cards and harddrives might also speed a computer up but very very minimally.

As I said, the Motherboard will determine if you will be able to put a DDR2 or certain processor type in your computer. But being a Compaq the chances become less likely for it to have that kind of Motherboard.

Answer 3

Having a good virus and spy ware scanner doesn't mean you don't have it. Many people often do.

The parts of the computer that would make apps load fast, or lower end common ones would be the hard drive, and how much RAM you have. High end applications would require a faster CPU, and naturally, games would need a faster GPU.

If your computer used to run fast, and now its dragging along, there are a few things that could be causing it, and some things you can do to help.
First you can Defrag your hard drive, after a while of moving creating, and deleting files, your hard drive can become fragmented, which slows down loading or using anything.
Second, you may have a lot of services starting up when you log on that you dont even know about. Click on Start -> Run -> msconfig
After that click on the startup tab. In here I would suggest unchecking EVERYTHING. Then restart our computer and open the application's you want to start on startup, and find in options to have it start on start up again, dont' try and recheck them in msconfig, it'll lead you to rechecking things you didn''t mean to, or only checking one thing, when really the program uses two. Just don't do it, open the program and renable it that way, its the best to make sure everything works fine after.

After that, go back to msconfig and click on the services tab, click on hide all microsoft services and then you can uncheck anything left that remains.

To get some good tips on speeding up your PC, and your start up time, make a post on http://xtechforum.com

Answer 4

Your Compaq may be busy doing other things. Have you looked at Task Manager (right click in Task Bar and click on "Task Manager"). Check that when your Compaq is not doing anything, the System Idle Process (in Processes tab) is 97 to 99 meaning the CPU is 97% to 99% idle. If this is not the case look at what process is consuming CPU time and check it out!

Answer 5

truthfuly i'd like to know what you have for your virus and spy ad ect.....i got compaq as well..max your (ram)vertiaul memory times by 4 over clock prosser(mother boaed dul prosser a must) devide your hard drive you will have 2 master hard dirves you whole systems recorvery will be split into 2 hard drives get the fastest graphics sound you go with boardband.and after all this if your cp makes it past 6 months your luckly

Answer 6

Using registry cleaner can fix your computer and then make your computer faster,Why?the reason is that there are some regsitry errors in your computer to cause "computer slow".
Everytime you install and uninstall software on your computer and surfing online you create junk in the computer registry.Good Regisry Cleaner will improve your computer and Internet performance dramatically by 300% or more!
There are some comparisons and reviews of TOP 5 registry cleaners.

http://www.registry-Cleaners.info

You can download and scan your computer for free.

Answer 7

GET A NEW PROCESSER this core2 duo in mine is hella fast not even funny. starts up enough to load up a large game in under a minute, from the power off state!

get a dell xps

Answer 8

Ram,Depending on Cpu Clock speed,Memory partioning,deleting unwanted files,not storing too much of movies in a system

Answer 9

Get a faster cpu, (central processing unit )
and perhaps more memory.

Answer 10

DDR , good CPU ,adn a Video Card a good one of course