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AnimeSpirit · 09-28-2007, 11:30 AM

Well, if you're using Windows, here's a few tricks to speed the system up.

I'm going to assume you're using Windows XP. If you're using a computer that has an older version of Windows, you might consider replacing this computer with a newer one.

Try checking to see how much RAM the computer has. Do this by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting "Properties." A system dialogue will appear. The RAM is usually displayed on that dialogue somewhere. Windows XP can run on 256 MB of RAM, but doing so will slow it down. If you have 256 or less, get a RAM upgrade. You can sometimes even see your CPU speed here too. Having anything over 700 MHz is decent by today's standards. Having 1-2GHz is excellent for commercial computer usage.

You can try squeezing a little extra RAM from the system by adjusting your paging file settings. If you still have that system dialogue open, click the "Advanced" tab and notice how much virtual memory your paging file is using (the 3rd section at the bottom). Setting this too high will effect your available hard drive space, but you can usually bump this setting up 1 or 2 hundred MB and it will speed the system up some, but don't feed all of your resources into your paging file!

Close all programs currently running. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to display the Task Manager and notice how many processes are running at the bottom of the task manager. These are hidden programs running in the background. Window XP should never have more than 35 processes while no major programs are running. If you have more than 35, scan for adware and/or spyware and see if that doesn't free up some of the computer's RAM.

Many people have 20-30 small icons in their system tray and they wonder why their computers are slow. Close as many of these as you can and try to set them NOT to run on their own at startup. Check the startup folder on your start menu and see what programs are running from here.

There are other tricks, but they take a little more explanation. Try these first and see how it works for you.

09-28-2007, 11:30 AM	#4
AnimeSpirit SBLive! Veteran Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Nowhere Age: 41 Posts: 1,659 Rep Power: 261	Well, if you're using Windows, here's a few tricks to speed the system up. I'm going to assume you're using Windows XP. If you're using a computer that has an older version of Windows, you might consider replacing this computer with a newer one. Try checking to see how much RAM the computer has. Do this by right-clicking the My Computer icon and selecting "Properties." A system dialogue will appear. The RAM is usually displayed on that dialogue somewhere. Windows XP can run on 256 MB of RAM, but doing so will slow it down. If you have 256 or less, get a RAM upgrade. You can sometimes even see your CPU speed here too. Having anything over 700 MHz is decent by today's standards. Having 1-2GHz is excellent for commercial computer usage. You can try squeezing a little extra RAM from the system by adjusting your paging file settings. If you still have that system dialogue open, click the "Advanced" tab and notice how much virtual memory your paging file is using (the 3rd section at the bottom). Setting this too high will effect your available hard drive space, but you can usually bump this setting up 1 or 2 hundred MB and it will speed the system up some, but don't feed all of your resources into your paging file! Close all programs currently running. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to display the Task Manager and notice how many processes are running at the bottom of the task manager. These are hidden programs running in the background. Window XP should never have more than 35 processes while no major programs are running. If you have more than 35, scan for adware and/or spyware and see if that doesn't free up some of the computer's RAM. Many people have 20-30 small icons in their system tray and they wonder why their computers are slow. Close as many of these as you can and try to set them NOT to run on their own at startup. Check the startup folder on your start menu and see what programs are running from here. There are other tricks, but they take a little more explanation. Try these first and see how it works for you. __________________ Confuscious says~