Another PC computer question

[Filo]

So, I have a Dell Inspiron 1525 that is a year or two old. It is getting slower and slower, to the point of being unusable. I know that it is a few years old and the electrons wear out, so I took it in and they flushed the processor oil and blew out the memory pneumatics. Even though that was $250, it still isn't working well, so I assume that it was the software all along. Who knew?


It is a Celeron 550 @2GHz
1G memory
136G Hard drive
Windows Vista Home Basic, SP1

I realize this isn't the top speed demon out there, but it has come to its knees lately. It is reporting about 70% memory usage. It shows Mcaffee as 140M of memory, then 2 svchost instances taking about 100M more.

What can I do to clean things out and get them running faster? Any registry cleaners or general crap removers? The system is real basic - office, email, the occasional card game. It belongs to my 76 year old mother, for gods sake, so I suppose it could just be porned out?

Ideas (besides burning it and claiming insurance)?

[Nick_Ninja]

>It is a Celeron

^problem found

try this:

http://www.stevengould.org/

[WolFeYeZ]

Best bet to get it all back running very well would be to re-install windows. But you could try this too:

- Uninstall McAffee, Install Avast(free). Run a scan.
- Start>Run>"msconfig" and go to the Startup tab. Uncheck items such as itunes, quicktime,weatherbug, office, skype, etc. When in doubt, either dont uncheck it or google what the process is.
-Uninstall unneeded programs.

[Nick_Ninja]

Oh -- go here:

www.support.dell.com (http://www.support.dell.com)

enter the service tag number and get the latest updates (BIOS & Chipset @ minimum).

[WolFeYeZ]

Oh -- go here:

www.support.dell.com (http://www.support.dell.com)

enter the service tag number and get the latest updates (BIOS & Chipset @ minimum).

Updating the BIOS can be a huge pain the the ass, but I just have bad luck on that one.

[stitch]

Best bet is to wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install. What is happening is all sorts of stuff has been installed and is running in the background, thus bogging down the system. Kind of like having a fat chick on your 250cc. You can see this by running the command "msconfig" from the run command prompt under the start menu. It will show you all the running processes and what gets loaded at start up.

What I usually do is back up what files are needed and format the drive, then do a fresh install OR I get a new hard drive and use the old one as a secondary drive (internal or external) to keep the files need.


Personally I don't like the registry cleaners as they have hosed systems up before. I do use a program called CCleaner that is pretty good (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner). But that doesn't fix all the crap running in the background.

Start there and PM me if you need more help.

[~Barn~]

+1 to everybody that's said to do a fresh install of the OS. You can probably speed it up a bit (startup wise) by doing what WolfeYeZ with MSCONFIG, but nothing ever does quite as good a job as a new install does. G'luck.

[Zanatos]

If it slows down a lot when you have multiple applications running, then you should get some more RAM. I think you can upgrade it to 4 gigs for around $60.

Use this Web site to find out what memory will fit: http://www.crucial.com/

Alternatively, you can visit MicroCenter at 8000 East Quincy Avenue,Denver, CO 80237. The customer service guys there are super geniuses, and the store has every friggin' hardware and software item you can imagine for PCs, Macs, and even homemade systems.

[Sarge]

Did you say that you had the "Processor Oil" changed and "Memory Pnuematics" blown out? I assume you're joking, but if not I'd have a serious issue with wherever you took it to.

Anyway, the quickest way to get any real results out of extended memory usage is going to be to go with Wolfeyez suggestion and use MSCONFIG to modify the running services and startup applications. The SIMPLEST way to do this is as follows:

Click START--> RUN (Or, if using Vista or 7, just click Start and type "MSCONFIG" into the search box)

Type "MSCONFIG" and hit Enter or click Run.

Select the "SERVICES" tab.

Check the box at the bottom that says "HIDE ALL MICROSOFT SERVICES"

Click the button that says "DISABLE ALL" (You can pick and chose some of the obvious ones that you may use, such as anything that says McAfee.)

Click the "STARTUP" tab.

Click the button labled "DISABLE ALL" (Again, if you see any OBVIOUS entries that you WANT TO START WITH WINDOWS select them here. Likely the ONLY thing you'll need to check are the McAfee entries, if any.)

Click the "APPLY" box and follow the prompts to restart.

***Keep in mind, anything you DON'T select here is NOT uninistalled from you computer, it just doesn't run AUTOMATICALLY. Most programs that you actually use will re-check these boxes automatically as soon as you open them, but if you follow my instructions your computer should instantly be noticeably faster after you apply the settings and reboot.***

If this doesn't work, either you need to completely reinstall Windows (can be a pain) or you might actually have a failing hard drive (Unlikely as the computer is only a year old, most HDs last at least 4-5 years.)

*EDIT*

Re-reading through your original post, 1GB of RAM just doesn't cut it for Windows Vista. Windows Vista is a bloated beast that needs at LEAST 2 GB of RAM. I've got a lot of DDR 1 I'd be willing to part with if that's the case (and for a LOT less than $250). Combine a little added RAM with my instructions above and you'll feel like you have a new computer.

I have 4x1GB DDR1 Kingston HyperX just laying around. Make me an offer and I might be willing to part with some of it. (Assuming your Celeron 550 still uses DDR1)

[Filo]

Did you say that you had the "Processor Oil" changed and "Memory Pnuematics" blown out? I assume you're joking, but if not I'd have a serious issue with wherever you took it to.


Yep - joke. I was going to say I took it to the Geek Squad...

I'll check my mem specs and see what it takes. I came to the too little mem conclusion myself. It fills up the ram and then goes into paging hell...

[MAZIN]

Yep - joke. I was going to say I took it to the Geek Squad...

I'll check my mem specs and see what it takes. I came to the too little mem conclusion myself. It fills up the ram and then goes into paging hell...


Whats sad is I wouldn't doubt taht the Idiot Squad would tell a person that.

[Filo]

Hey Sarge, it is DDR2. Thanks for the offer tho.

[TFOGGuys]

JUST INSTALL LINUX>LINUX RULZ>WINDOZE SUX...

[/linux tards]

Yeah, what the other guys said....

Although I would add that Windows 7 would be a nice upgrade, as Vista was pretty much a complete clusterfuck. 7 will usually run faster on the same hardware, with about 1% of the problems.

[slim775124]

so this hasn't been said yet but you could chuck the PC out the window and take yourself to the closest apple store and just get a computer that works. haha just kidding but I wish I could help you out, I just no nothing about PC's

[InSuPress]

[QUOTE=TFOGGuys;573886]JUST INSTALL LINUX>LINUX RULZ>WINDOZE SUX...

[/linux tards]
Installing a flavor of linux on it would defaintely be an option. I can't tell you the amount of people that i have old hardware around and doing this will get you a good number of years out of even the oldest hardware. in most cases you can try out a live CD before installing.