Computer speed-up

[michaelb15]

ummmm, I am not sure if this is in the right place.... But here is my friends problem...

On my friends computer:he has:
128 MB RAM
Windows XP
1.8 GHZ Prossor (running at about 1.79 GHZ for some reason)
30 GB hard drive

Ok, the problem... in the last couple of weeks he has been very slow.... it has been acting like my old windows 95 computer with a 233 MHZ, and 32 MB EDO ram

What can I do to speed it up

[Daz]

are you sure the cpu is running at that speed? check the bios for settings may find something there that is out of place. more ram wouldnt hurt especialy as more games require it nowadays. hope this helps

[michaelb15]

okk, how do I change the BIOS settings? please give detailed instructions...

Thanks alot Daz

[Ivan]

which motherboard maker and type?

if it's a compaq or dell you're stuck with the speed it has now

[Daz]

on boot up it will say press F1 to enter setup or Del key one of these will bring you into the bios to change the various settings..in there you will find cpu speed in mhz and should be turned to auto and checked for the corect speed against spec..

[Exile34]

not true! with my compaq i shoved some stuff in it (a new vid card and more ram) and its alot better a constent 20 fps on high graphics
compared to the 3 FPS i got on low with a 128 meg ram and a 32 meg vid
im not sayin compaques are good its just not impossable to tweek

[Scottler]

RAM!

XP alone requires 128mb to run.  That doesn't leave much for anything else.

The older of our new systems I bought with 128 because I didn't know any better.  Another 512 and it made all the difference in the world!

[Gixer]

If it has suddenly appeared to get slower than it was though I would do a little more digging around.  Granted more ram is deffinately needed to help XP run better though.

I would suggest checking for Spyware, Adware and Viruses.  These can cause your system to slow down greatly too.

[Ivan]

ad-aware will do wonders on 'slow' machines... first thing that i do if someone is complaining about bad performance. (and ask 12euros afterwards  ;D)

[4_Series_Scania]

More RAM, a DeFrag, and some anti spyware should see that machine heathy again.

I've tried XP with 256MB RAM - that was bad enough!

XP = 512MB Minimum

1024MB = Optimal

1GB+ = Too much spare cash!

[Dan]

If you want to check whats in the box then get PC Wizard 2004, or to check that CPU speed get CPU-Z. www.cpuid.com
Dan