Let's Fix Peter's Computer

[Chris]

Peter reports problems with Flash!

What are your system specs, Peter? How much memory, which version of Windows, etc.?

[Peter]

Windows XP home edition 2002. Compaq Presario. Performance options set to custom. 30GB of free space. 248MB RAM. Latest version of adobe flash.

[Chris]

That's about the bare minimum of RAM required to run Windows XP. Having more would help a lot. Did you always have these slowness problems?

One thing to try would be defraging your hard drive.

Go to Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter

This might take a while, so do it when you are not using the computer.

[Peter]

That's about the bare minimum of RAM required to run Windows XP. Having more would help a lot. Did you always have these slowness problems?

One thing to try would be defraging your hard drive.

Go to Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter

This might take a while, so do it when you are not using the computer.

Yes I've tried defragmenting before with little difference - I've also set the PC to update on start up and not constantly through out the day as it used to - that helps a bit. How do I go about extra RAM and how much should I have?

[Chris]

It depends on what your motherboard requires. You could either open it up and take a look, possibly check the documentation that came with the computer, or call up Compaq and ask. I'd say having 2 GB in there would be nice.

[Peter]

It depends on what your motherboard requires. You could either open it up and take a look, possibly check the documentation that came with the computer, or call up Compaq and ask. I'd say having 2 GB in there would be nice.

Thanks for that Chris - what will I be looking for exactly in the documentation (if I can find it!)? Will there be something there about the motherboard and RAM? This is all getting very technical for me!

[Chris]

Thanks for that Chris - what will I be looking for exactly in the documentation (if I can find it!)? Will there be something there about the motherboard and RAM? This is all getting very technical for me!

Yes, there should be something in there about what kind of RAM chips your motherboard will accept. It should be either DDR2 or DDR3, I would think. There may also be something about latency. If you can't find it, you may just be able to look at the RAM chips themselves. If you aren't comfortable with that, you can just e-mail Compaq with what kind of computer you have and ask them what kind of RAM you should get.

[PDG]

Or else ask the ram himself what he thinks. BAA-AA-AA....

[Peter]

Yes, there should be something in there about what kind of RAM chips your motherboard will accept. It should be either DDR2 or DDR3, I would think. There may also be something about latency. If you can't find it, you may just be able to look at the RAM chips themselves. If you aren't comfortable with that, you can just e-mail Compaq with what kind of computer you have and ask them what kind of RAM you should get.

Thanks for the help Chris - I think I'll send them an email.

[Preston]

Peter, yes your RAM is extremely low. I would recommend getting 2, though probably, 3 gigabytes. It is probably all being consumed and you are relying on whatever that memory is that you set for your hard-drive incase you do run out of RAM, I think it is called virtual memory.

Also, after you run Speccy, please tell us what processor you are using. Having a fast processor is important.

Make sure your virus software is up to date and run an in-depth scan.

It would be good to get a list of the applications that are running on your computer, so that I can see if any unnecessary ones are running. It is highly possible that you are running unnecessary programs/application, and they are just hogging your computer.

Also, I urge to use CCleaner - this is key. It clears out all unnecessary files (temporary internet files, temporary files, cache, etc. It is very easy to use.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Use Speccy to find out what kind of chipset you have in your Motherboard. From the kind of chipset your motherboard uses we can determine precisely what kind of RAM you need.
http://www.piriform.com/speccy

[Sorrano]

Yes, there should be something in there about what kind of RAM chips your motherboard will accept. It should be either DDR2 or DDR3, I would think. There may also be something about latency. If you can't find it, you may just be able to look at the RAM chips themselves. If you aren't comfortable with that, you can just e-mail Compaq with what kind of computer you have and ask them what kind of RAM you should get.

If it's an older machine, then it's most likely DDR2. 2 GB will make a ton of difference to the performance. Also, getting a larger (and faster) drive might help somewhat. Defragmenting should help, but I would wait until I get the extra memory to do it.

[Peter]

Thank you all very much for your help - so far I've worked out that the motherboard is Xenon 4 with Intel 845G. Memory type is DDR 2GB with 2 Dimm sockets. Is that all the info I need to purchase? Then how to go about installing it?

[Chris]

What about the RAM speed it accepts? Something like PC2700, PC2100, or PC1600?

Installing it is simple - just pull the old RAM chip(s) out and pop the new ones in. You probably don't need to do anything in software.

[Preston]

Document on that shows the RAM speeds for the 845g.
http://www.intel.com/support/graphic...w=845g+chipset

That is an old computer. You can try upgrading the RAM but as shown in the document above the speeds are DDR2 266/200 mhz (PC2-4200) - which both are slow with today's software.

You can put 2 gigs on RAM in and that will help. But you may want to think about getting a new computer soon. They have some good ones for really good prices.

I looked for DDR2 266mhz and could not find it. Though I will continue to look.

[Peter]

What about the RAM speed it accepts? Something like PC2700, PC2100, or PC1600?

Installing it is simple - just pull the old RAM chip(s) out and pop the new ones in. You probably don't need to do anything in software.

Well it came up with all of those.