Re: Speeding up XP
- From: "JoeSpareBedroom" <newstrash@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:05:48 -0400
"BillW50" <BillW50@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OsoUo8FOKHA.4964@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In news:m6Lsm.6411$Fj1.1087@xxxxxxxxxxxx,
JoeSpareBedroom typed on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:33:23 -0400:
I'm running XP SP2 with a 1.6 ghz Semprom processor, 1/2 gig of RAM
and a 19 gb hard disk with 4 gig of free space. Gets pretty slow at
times. If you were going to throw money at some part of the system
first, would it be more RAM, or bigger HD? I know they're both cheap,
but money's a bit tight and flipping a coin is not giving me the
clear answer I want. Most of the work I do for my job does NOT
involve huge files. Rather, the machine gets creepy when I have 4-5
apps running. I could be wrong, but I don't think registry clutter is
the issue. I don't constantly install & uninstall experimental
software like some people. I defrag monthly, and the computer is
scanned nightly for viruses (AVG) and other nasties (ZoneAlarm).
Upgrading 512kb is the first thing I would do, at least 1GB. 2GB might
be overkill and a maybe a waste of money. Later if that hard drive is a
4200rpm model, a 5400rpm should beef up the speed a tad bit. But not as
much as memory would.
And let's talk about AVG. There was a time when it was very good. But it
has gotten slower and slower with every newer version. And it is very
slow during a schedule scan. Avast is much better and doesn't slow down
the system at all.
Here's something I've noticed and should've mentioned earlier, although I
don't think it's part of the bigger issue: When I open Excel or Word files,
they come up on the screen quickly, but with some of them (not always large
files), as soon as I move the cursor or type even a slight change, there's a
pause of 10-20 seconds with lots of HD activity. This happens even if Excel
or Word are the only app running just after the machine's been started. I've
wondered if AVG was at fault, but that doesn't make sense, since it should
be scanning files before they're opened and on the screen.
ZoneAlarm? Another oldie and good for its time. I don't know much about
the newer versions and I would question if you even need anything more
than the Windows built in one.
ZoneAlarm's spyware scan is pretty quick - just 2-3 minutes for my hard
disk, so it doesn't really get in the way. I prefer a firewall which checks
for outgoing nonsense, which the Windows firewall does not, as far as I
know.
--
Bill
Windows 2000 SP4 (5.00.2195)
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
.
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