help speeding up computer

[MainFramed]

i need to know how to speed up my neighbors computer, he wants help (cuz he knows nothing about them at all) uhm here are some of his specs:

AMD Athlon 1.3ghz Processer
256MB PC2100 DDR SDram- 1 Dimm
OS- Windows ME

I have told him that windows me sucks, but he insist thats it's fine for him so :-\

should i add some kinda memory to his machine, new processer? ram? please help me-

</here4amission\>

 

[Utterman]

They only thing I could think of would be to upgrade his hard drive if it takes time to load up stuff. Get something like a 80 gig hard drive w/ 8 megs of cache. My guess if that either the hard drive is bogged down or ME is to blame. My computer is nearly identicle sans Windows ME and I have great performance. I suggest trying to persuade him to make the switch to win 2k or XP. ME was very buggy for me, and I am happy to use XP now.

 

[Bovinicus]

One of the most important things to do is to set his pagefile to none, then set it back to an unchangeable number (192-192 for example). This will prevent the pagefile from becoming fragmented. Also, 2 defragments per month definitely makes a big difference.

There are endless ways to tweak a computer. My suggestion is to goto Google and search for Tweaking Windows ME, or something along those lines. It should display several pages that can assist you in tweaking the OS.

 

[Sid59]

i'd steal his money then his computer and ...

install another 256 Dimm
clean format XP

order pizza and beer and kick it.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Cleaning all of the unnecessary crap out of his startup file will probablyl do more good than adding more memory. Then set his page file to 2x his memory, both maximum and minimum. Also, disable any system restore that might be present.

You aren't going to accomplish much with that computer as long as it has ME on it.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Utterman
They only thing I could think of would be to upgrade his hard drive if it takes time to load up stuff. Get something like a 80 gig hard drive w/ 8 megs of cache. My guess if that either the hard drive is bogged down or ME is to blame. My computer is nearly identicle sans Windows ME and I have great performance. I suggest trying to persuade him to make the switch to win 2k or XP. ME was very buggy for me, and I am happy to use XP now.

And in addition to that drive, also look for 7200rpms.
If he insists on WinME, make sure he goes to Windowsupdate.microsoft.com and gets the latest updates. Also get the latest drivers, particularly for the chipset.
What kinds of apps does he run? Does he have a lot of background apps? Check on how much memory he has available; I use
Resman for that sort of thing.

 

[Duvie]

I agree.....Have him get a good memory managment program like memcache...it helps set all those pagefile, ram defrag, clearing ram stuff that winsuck does so poorly...

Before I could recommend ram which I am not I would need to know the apps he runs....Clean up thet systray that is likely full of crap....bios tweak a bit maybe and fine some more aggressive ram timings...

 

[MainFramed]

the main program he runs on the computer is photoshop, he is a artist and uses photoshop-gonna start up a clothing company soon....he also uses zone alarm, kazaa, uhm i think those are like the main programs he runs

btw he currently has a 60gb hdd (7200 rpm) i think i will get him to switch to like an 80. would changing his CPU help at all?

 

[thomsbrain]

don't forget good old "ConservativeSwapfileUsage = 1"

 

[Duvie]

with photoshop he definitely could take advantage of better memory management and likley a bit more....

Memcache can take care of the swap file setting by going into its presets and picking winme and what type of user he is...ie power user, gamer, multimedia, etc.....

I think the size of the hdd and likely speed is fine....


I think the cpu is fine for what he does....


BY speed up what do you mean??? Bootup time??? Loading apps??? Copying files??? Overall feel in programs doing task??? If so what programs???

Let say in photoshop he has several things open plus the fact he likley has tons of crap in the systray he may very well have all available resources of ram either used or windows is not clearing unused ram so it start to run swapfiles off of HDDs that drastically effect performance speed. Added ram and ra manangement can help this tremendously...Clogged resources can definitely bog things down....

List mobo so we canhave a better idea of possibility of a cpu upgrade working without a wholesale change of mobo and other components...

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: Duvie
with photoshop he definitely could take advantage of better memory management and likley a bit more....

Memcache can take care of the swap file setting by going into its presets and picking winme and what type of user he is...ie power user, gamer, multimedia, etc.....

I think the size of the hdd and likely speed is fine....


I think the cpu is fine for what he does....


BY speed up what do you mean??? Bootup time??? Loading apps??? Copying files??? Overall feel in programs doing task??? If so what programs???

Let say in photoshop he has several things open plus the fact he likley has tons of crap in the systray he may very well have all available resources of ram either used or windows is not clearing unused ram so it start to run swapfiles off of HDDs that drastically effect performance speed. Added ram and ra manangement can help this tremendously...Clogged resources can definitely bog things down....

List mobo so we canhave a better idea of possibility of a cpu upgrade working without a wholesale change of mobo and other components...

by speeding up i mean-
booting up
loading apps
and yes overall feel in programs doing task-photoshop

hard drive couldnt be it either-he has a 61 gb hdd and has only used 8 gb's of it :Q

 

[Scarpozzi]

Everyone that said to ditch ME is correct. Windows ME is the sorriest OS that Microsoft ever made. We had a group of systems that came straight from Dell with that OS...we upgraded them all to Win2k because they were crashing about 3 times a day. Either downgrade to Windows 98SE or upgrade to Windows2000 or XP. Just keep in mind that XP is a little more bloated than 2000 and it may have some driver issues with older hardware. (not all vendors support XP even now)

 

[Scarpozzi]

One more thing. If he wants to speed his system and it has 256 megs of RAM, adding another 256 wouldn't help him any if he sticks with ME. He won't see any difference until he upgrades his processor. ME can't possibly need more than 256 unless he's running some heavyweight services, or he's installed a program with a memory leak. (losing memory to a heap that doesn't reallocate it to available resources)

 

[MainFramed]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Everyone that said to ditch ME is correct. Windows ME is the sorriest OS that Microsoft ever made. We had a group of systems that came straight from Dell with that OS...we upgraded them all to Win2k because they were crashing about 3 times a day. Either downgrade to Windows 98SE or upgrade to Windows2000 or XP. Just keep in mind that XP is a little more bloated than 2000 and it may have some driver issues with older hardware. (not all vendors support XP even now)

i forgot to mention i did convince him, that upgrading to win 2k or xp (think i am gonna give em xp)

 

[MainFramed]

so baiscly i should add some SDRAMM or what? hehe

i know this thread has been dead for awhile..but i am just jumping back on the situation. your help is once again sincerily (cant spell it right ) appricated (can't speel (jk jk) spell that right either )

-Joe

 

[Ben50]

You should backup his computer, then format and put windows 2000 or xp on it. After that, add another 256MB stick of PC2100 DDR RAM and he should be all set for photoshop.

 

[thorin]

Ditch WinMeGotsSuckeredByMS .... uh I mean ditch Windows Millenium (it SUX). And Grab a good copy of 98SE, 2K, or XP.

Thorin

 

[Cerb]

If he's OK with WinME, get him XP. Most of us take the time to unfriendly it, but anyone who can stand ME might actually benefit. Aside from that, make sure to backup, do a clean format, and then what everyone else said (512MB and ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1 in 2k/XP makes a great difference...one of these days I need the money to get up to 512 DDR...darn Durons can't even run for 10 minutes w/o a fan ).
Also, XP will not BSOD from user error as much (you know, like forcing those beta drivers on...oops!) as much as 2k (If I hadn't eventually managed to get such a BSOD, I'd say XP won't BSOD from that at all )

 

[amdskip]

Ditch ME is right, blah! Upgrade his memory for sure with photoshop. Add 512mb more. I'd run win 2k personally because XP has too much eye candy if he is running his computer for business purposes.