Speeding Up An Old PC?

Question

How can I speed up my old computer?

Answer 1

If it has less than 512mb ram, go with memory first.

What makes it slow? What are the specs of the machine?

If it already has enough memory, you may consider wither replacing the CPU or the entire motherboard. However, depending on how old it is, a motherboard replacement could mean a new power supply, new memory, videocard, etc. Could even mean a new HD if the old one isn't fast enough.

Repost the question with the computer details and we could provide better answers. Could just be you need to remove some clutter or have a virus or spyware, etc.

Answer 2

Thats an impossible question to answer accurately without knowing what equipment you have now. Generally an old computer will benifit most from reinstalling the operating system. If its been in use for a few years with a wipe/reload, it will have years of garbage installed that probably isn't used. Even if you uninstall a lot of this junk, there is still leftover bits and pieces.

Next up would be increasing the amount of memory installed. But this may not be needed. Basically, if its a windows 98/ME computer, 256MB of memory should be fine. A windows 2000 or XP computer is decent enough with 512MB for most users. Vista needs at least 1024MB (1GB) of RAM to run well.

Processor speed is a big factor DEPENDING on what you're doing. Anything Pentium 3 or better should run 2000 or XP reasonably well for home use. Pentium 4's and up are more than enough processing power for all but gamers. As a good example, my primary home use computer (internet, word processing, print server for my small home network) is a 850Mhz Pentium 3 with 384MB of ram running Windows XP Pro, and it suites me just fine.

If its for gaming that you need more speed, todays games aren't suited for running on 2 year old or older hardware. A new PC would be a better investment than trying to upgrade an old one. Just remember that you get what you pay for.

And if it's your internet that seems slow, all this means nothing. The internet will go just as fast on a 10 year old 486DX2-66 computer as it will on a brand new $5000 computer....thats all depends on the internet connection and if there is a virus/spyware problem on the pc, or a firewall that is malfunctioning (common with McAfee Security Center among others.)

But, I digress. I have reinstalled windows on more computers than I can count, and almost without exception they ALWAYS run faster with a fresh install.

One last thing to consider - if it's an "old" computer that has seen a lot of use, it is possible that your hard drive may be going bad. This will cause a computer to seem like its running super slow, because the drive has to try to seek the same information over and over until it gets it right. Get a copy of "Ultimate Boot CD" and test the hard drive.

Hope this helps.

Jason

www.onestoptechnologyshop.com

Answer 3

This depends on what type of speedup you are looking for.

Start off by using a registry cleaner and disk cleaner to clean up the unused disk space and regitry entries.

Another thing to do would be cleanup all unused programs. Also, check to see that your antivirus does not slow down the system to crawl. I have noticed that Norton products of 2007 and earlier year do, I do not have experience with 2008 products. I will recommend getting Kaspersky instead. Get a free trial before you buy the software.

Next step will be increasing the RAM.

If all above does not help, then I would recommend that you get a new computer and do not worry about upgrading the processor etc.

Answer 4

Upgrade the RAM first. Then you can start with the hard drive and CPU. That's really all you can do to speed up an old computer other than getting a new motherboard.

Answer 5

You could try a number of things. : )

Defragmentation and cleanups are good things to do! Could also try scanning the disk for errors? You can do this by right clicking on the hard disk in My Computer.

First off, how much free space do you have on your hard disk? If your hard disk is 90% full or more, you could be leaving yourself open for performance problems as your system needs some free disk space to use as "virtual memory" on a regular basis. If you have a very small amount of free space, your system will run slower. You can increase available disc space by uninstalling rarely-used programs or files.

Another common problem is that you have too many programs running. Now, you may see a large number of icons in your system tray next to the clock on your task bar. Every one of those is taking up part of your system memory. The less memory you have available, the slower your computer may run. Try right clicking on some of the icons and selecting Close or Quit. Things may run faster!

However, not all running programs have an icon by which you can control them. If the above doesn't do it for you, assuming you're using XP, I'd click on Start and then Run and then type "msconfig" in the textbox there. This is a neat utility that lets you customize what is loaded into memory at startup. Easiest way to use this tool is to click on the Services tab at the top and scroll through the list, unchecking things you do not want to load. A word of warning, however, is that you won't want to unload some things as they are a fairly important part of Windows. But things like Realplayer, yahoo messenger, and many other programs have "smart starters" that basically load most of the program into memory at startup so that they load quicker later should you choose to use them. This, unfortunately, means that your PC will possibly run slower when you're not using them even!

You also could have a virus or some malware installed if your PC runs too slowly. If you do not have software to check for these, I recommend AVG irus scanner and Ad-Aware for malware scanning. They are both free resources available from grisoft.com and lavasoftusa.com respectively.

Now, if it USED to run faster than it does now...

It may just be time to back up your data and reinstall Windows from restore or installation CD. Overtime, even if nothing is "wrong" per se, Windows' performance can degrade just as small, unreported things happen behind the scened of your PC--like botched software or driver installations. It's unfortunate, but sometimes it comes down to this.

Hope this helps!

Answer 6

How old is it? Is it a pentinum 1 or 2 or 3 or 4? If its too old, like mine a compaq presario pentinum 2, 333mgz, then theres no hope for it.

Answer 7

First, what kind of computing gadget are we speaking approximately? Processor velocity, RAM, hdd? What working equipment? I presume its domicile windows... What purposes/ classes do you run? Did you considered linux as a decision? No viruses (and no anti-virus classes to decelerate your gadget), no spyware, no unuseful classes working ... not greater fragmented complicatedcontinual and its unfastened.

Answer 8

There are many ways , let me know the make and model number and i will help you out

Answer 9

put in new memory into your motherboard