Is it a CPU upgrade situation or hard drive?
Have a A64 3000+ and a WD 250GB plain sata 7200rpm drive... Everything just feels SLOW....
Have a A64 3000+ and a WD 250GB plain sata 7200rpm drive... Everything just feels SLOW....
I want my computer to "feel" fast again...
- Thread starter davidos
- Start date
Yeah, reformat. The only reason that rig wouldn't seem snappy is software. Here's a hint: get Norton Ghost, do a format and reinstall, install all the software you need, then make a disk image. And in the future, if you want to reformat, just restore the image.
Yep. I do that like every 1-2 months. I have all the applications that I need already. So setting everything up thats less then 1/2 hour.
Refering to Fresh Daemon's post.
Refering to Fresh Daemon's post.
74GB Raptor, 400GB SATA2 16mb w/ NCQ, X2 4800+ processor upgrade, reinstall OS
toss out 60, 80, lite-on, wife FTW.. jk haha
toss out 60, 80, lite-on, wife FTW.. jk haha
Ad-aware, Spybot Search & Destroy?
Got the right drivers for everything?
Yeah, I might reformat, especially if you changed mobos.
Got the right drivers for everything?
Yeah, I might reformat, especially if you changed mobos.
akugami
Diamond Member
- Feb 14, 2005
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Load your system with all apps that you would normally want loaded, Photoshop, video editing and burning software, games, etc. Next up, disable any services that you don't normally use, for instance, I never use Windows Firewall, opting instead for Zonealarm. I also don't need the stupid help service running nor do I need MS Messenger. Perform any tweaks to the UI that you normally would, then ghost your system.
For maintenance to keep your system feeling zippy without needing a re-install, defragment your system about once a month. Run virus and malware checks once a week or at the least once every two weeks. Use Hijack This! to make sure there aren't loads of crap starting up on your system that you don't want. Even apps that you installed and want to keep can install crap that loads up at startup. Each one won't take much RAM or CPU resources but add a lot of them up and it can kill the zippy feeling of your new system. Disable any that aren't needed or wanted. Clean your browser cache and temp files every month or so. Try not to install a lot of crap on your system.
For maintenance to keep your system feeling zippy without needing a re-install, defragment your system about once a month. Run virus and malware checks once a week or at the least once every two weeks. Use Hijack This! to make sure there aren't loads of crap starting up on your system that you don't want. Even apps that you installed and want to keep can install crap that loads up at startup. Each one won't take much RAM or CPU resources but add a lot of them up and it can kill the zippy feeling of your new system. Disable any that aren't needed or wanted. Clean your browser cache and temp files every month or so. Try not to install a lot of crap on your system.
Window Washer program works well too. It clears cache and you can clear unneccesary windows files that it accumulates over time.
akugami
Diamond Member
- Feb 14, 2005
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I agree that re-installing your system every 6 months is idiotic, that's why I put up some maintenance tips. I do recommend ghosting your system after a complete install with all apps you normally use so if the brown stuff hits the fan you can easily get back up and running. The only times I re-install are if a system gets so messed up that even using the recovery console won't fix the mess.
:thumbsup:
I am thinking you may not have enough resources....check to see what your pagefile usage is....
exar333
Diamond Member
- Feb 7, 2004
- 8,518
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no its not idiotic at all...no cleaning program works flawlessly, and you never know if all viruses/worms are completely gone...to be honest, taking 1 day each 6 months to clean that up is less time/wasted energy than using (often flaky) programs to clean up my cpu...
With win98 I'd reformat every month or two XD
Now I just format when I feel like experimenting w/different OSes (which is ~6 months anyways)
akugami
Diamond Member
- Feb 14, 2005
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I don't disagree with what you say but with a good anti-virus app to catch the obvious stuff, a good firewall to keep out unwanted intruders and not downloading and installing questionable apps or viewing questionable web sites your system shouldn't get cluttered to the point where you feel it getting slower and slower. Thereby making a re-install a time consuming pointless task.
Rob_63
Diamond Member
- Dec 12, 2003
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Well I guess I fall into this catagory then. With all the kids that play on my rigs there are always little quirks popping up, like when you are editting an e mail and use backspace, it pulls back and erases the letters to the RIGHT of the cursor while it goes back and removes the ones left of it, problems with the right cllck menu, etc.... My kids know there way around a keyboard and what they can and shouldn't do but it is the neigborhood kids that come over to play with them that usually ends up being the problem. impatience and the "keep clicking it till something happens " attitude.
My point being that there always seems to be some odd quirk or two that pops up that a registry clean, system restore, spyware removal doesn't fix. It becomes annoying enough to warrant a reformat and reinstall.
But, maybe it is just me, I am sure there is a lot more for me to learn as far as repairing windows.
Zap
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 1999
- 22,377
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That's a good point. Reinstalling is a "sure thing" and us guys appreciate that kind of stuff.
If you keep all your important software CDs handy, reinstalling shouldn't be an all day thing, just a few hours should suffice. Also, there is the option of doing a "delete install" instead of a "format install."Being able to reinstall doesn't mean you should have sloppy computing habits that force you to reinstall frequently, but it does give you the benefit of a virgin OS from time to time. Hmmm, too bad I can't reinstall my wife.
My computer was feeling very slow once, so i put up adaware and found about 400, after that, i felt how mycomputer was fast
but yeah, formatting is always good, to start fresh.
I usually format when i have had enough with windows (and maybe go to linux) or when one of my viruses i create destroy my computer when i accidently runned it. XD
But yeah, i sometimes go to winmdows 98 and play some of those classical ones, but i dont really do so much formatting, ithnik the reason is because i have so many computers to test Os'es that i dont want to format one to test, just put one up
OFFTOPIC:
I have about 6 - 9 computers, and the oldest one is 386 SX (25 mHz) and i have been having some problems with setting it up, but i wont give up
I also have a 100 mHz computer running DOS XD (Love it!!!) and that computer, i have filled the 600 mb hdd with games and the best part: NO VIRUSES or SLOW or anything
but yeah, formatting is always good, to start fresh.
I usually format when i have had enough with windows (and maybe go to linux) or when one of my viruses i create destroy my computer when i accidently runned it. XD
But yeah, i sometimes go to winmdows 98 and play some of those classical ones, but i dont really do so much formatting, ithnik the reason is because i have so many computers to test Os'es that i dont want to format one to test, just put one up
OFFTOPIC:
I have about 6 - 9 computers, and the oldest one is 386 SX (25 mHz) and i have been having some problems with setting it up, but i wont give up
I also have a 100 mHz computer running DOS XD (Love it!!!) and that computer, i have filled the 600 mb hdd with games
and the best part: NO VIRUSES or SLOW or anything 
RichUK
Lifer
- Feb 14, 2005
- 10,341
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QFT
i constantly maintain my PC like every time i log on, just simple checks, and weekly tasks, and the speed of my PC has never degraded.
I have had in that past a pc that i did not maintain for like six months, this had fours users on it just putting crap on it, and it just eventually seemingly grinded to a holt, with general use .. times like that I re-install as it is a lot easier, otherwise it is a lot easier to just maintain from the beginning (aka as soon as you re-install the new OS), instead of just re-installing every so often that is most definitely not the answer, and generally
that is for people that do not have a clue about PC's :disgust:
Another vote for an OS re-install if you find things too sluggish. Not that you shouldn't practice safe computing habits as well, but sometimes it's easier/better just to re-install every now and then. I do it about once a year on average per PC - but I also make a lot of hardware upgrades over time, so it's often necessary (i.e. mobo upgrades). And as a bonus, you get to upgrade a lot of your software/drivers which may improve performance and compatibility, or add new features (e.g. latest firefox, etc).
Certain types of legit software can really have a cummulative slow-down on performance over time. I know (from sad experience) that Norton can be quite the resource hog - it can also lead to progressively slower boot-up times, for some reason (not on all systems, but it did a real number on my A64 rig). Having recently re-installed the OS on that rig (and switched to ZoneAlarm has greatly increased by computing enjoyment.
Certain types of legit software can really have a cummulative slow-down on performance over time. I know (from sad experience) that Norton can be quite the resource hog - it can also lead to progressively slower boot-up times, for some reason (not on all systems, but it did a real number on my A64 rig). Having recently re-installed the OS on that rig (and switched to ZoneAlarm
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