slow computer?

Joe, you answered your own question with this,"... I don't have much spare memory..."

This forum takes advantage of a lot of the latest technology available on the net today. It is heavy with java applications within the site. If a new computer is not in the cards right now, the best thing you could do is to add more RAM (Random Access Memory) to your computer. RAM is very cheap now, and if your computer's motherboard has empty RAM slots, just plugging a couple more RAM chips into it will improve things tremendously.

If more RAM is not an option, a browser change may help. You didn't say what you were running, but Firefox and Google Chrome are both much faster and use less resources that Internet Exploder. You may want to check them out as an option to improve things, if you have not done that already.

I don't necessarily agree with Alfred's suggestion to turn the computer off. Other than during a power failure, the machine on which I am writing this has not been turned off for over five years. I have re-booted it hundreds of times, but I never shut it off. I never shut the OGR office machine off, either.

Rich, How much RAM would be ideal?

Joe

With all due respect to the Webmaster, I do not see the advantage of adding spare memory or investing $1000+ for a new computer when all that would be accomplished by doing so would be to continually load and reload annoying animated advertising. I see from your avatar you have kids and perhaps your finances have better priorities.

Some people with older computers have added software from Ghostery to block the animation but it seems this is not compatible with what I have. Others have installed adblockplus software but I can not seem to get that to work either. I already have software that manages flash players but that is not what is on here. Most such websites offer transitional non animated versions of the site for older computers so as not to alienate present viewers. Seems here these people are left out of the equation. My processor is 1 GHz, not necessarily antiquated or anemic for most tasks and I can use Firefox or a Safari browser,the latest versions. Adequate and works everywhere else I go on the net  Ebay,Yahoo,Amazon, ect,  everywhere except here. Every page takes 5 to 10 seconds to load due to the animated ads. 

I am not that literate about computers but my wife and daughter are. My wife has an MBA and managed computer systems throughout her career and my daughter has a doctorate in the subject. My next step is to get her to look at this. If it can not be resolved I like others will visit here less frequently. 

Dale H

My ISP says a minimum of 1 gig of ram, I build computers to run 8 or 16 gigs of ram myself. Those come in sets of 2 or 4 modules up to about 200 dollars. XP uses up to 4 gig of Ram for a 32 bit system (But will only "SEE" about 3.4 gig or so due to a hard rule in binary) If you are running a 64 bit system you can add up to whatever your motherboard can handle.

Since you are locking up, the problem is going to be in the Memory being inadequate or some other hardware is slowing you down. I prefer to attack a issue via software by dumping IE for example.

I also use Mozilla Firefox. Then some add ons to break the ads and other load heavy stuff. It's all free to use. Typical add ons are ad block and use the Computer's start menu/control panel/ Programs and features / uninstall unnecessary programs.

Some of the add ons will display a F with dot to show there is a Flash image and it would be your option to click it to play if you choose. It is one way they speed up the experience by halting resource hogging bloat online.

A third option is to create more hard drive space allocated to your memory.

Increasing your internet speed is another option. I went from DSL to Fiber Optic and it's much better.

If you are using Firewall and Antivirus such as Norton, dump it. It hogs your system. I use ESET and sit behind a Router with my several computers (Some up to 10 years old) to cut down on the lost time.

A fifth option will be to open your windows command bar and type CMD and it should open a little black screen known as DOS. Then type MSCONFIG and it will open a range of options including a "Start Menu" which your computer loads when starting up.

A sixth option if you have a available drive bay and the XP software with key, you can replace your hard drive with a SSD device. It is the one item that frees up a bottleneck on most computers. I believe a 120 to 240 gig SSD (Using a Sandforce foundation) will be about 120 to 200 dollars each.

There was a flood that destroyed a hard drive plant in Thailand last year and everyone raised hard drive prices double at least to gouge while they still can before SSD takes dominance.

A resource you can consider online is called "Tom's Hardware" they have a pretty good forum which common computer issues can be searched for and resolved.

You can probably set aside about 50 dollars a month and later this year purchase a new computer (Desktop or laptop) that will easily handle today's net.

Google will be tracking everything first of march, if you use a browser such as Duckduckgo, (One example of non tracking browsers) it will be just a browser for you to get online and that will help reduce the load on your machine.

I can think of other things however this post is long enough. A common question I will have to you is what are your hardware specs? That way we can see what your computer is and go from there.

The last thing you can think about is using the Add/Remove programs to eliminate Bing, MSN, and so on from your machine. That will help, especially if your computer is a typical store bought machine. I wont get into why I build my own, but store built machines cut corners and leave little room to upgrade or worse stick you with their own branded hardware or buy a another machine. They are literally disposable these days.

Right-click 'My Computer' select "Properties" and the amount of system RAM will be displayed as one of the system stats. Windows XP "needs" 256MB of RAM to run, but it will be inconveniently sluggish till you get to 1-2GB. Also, if your hard drive is running out of space (and you have a sub-optimal amount of RAM), the system will slow down even further as it hunts for space on the disk for "virtual memory" to take the place of the RAM you don't have.

---PCJ 

You can change the virtual memory by addressing it to your hard drive. I'm not even going to tell you here how to change it. Go to the www.windows.com website and type in the search bar "virtual memory." CLEAN OUT ALL UNNECESSARY memory in your unit. Desk top etc. While unsafe, open the box and let it breath. Your fan may have crapped !The processor could be more than hot.  ............148th

Guys, thank you for the help. I'm on a different machine running XP with firefox and it seems fine. It's a lap top with 1 gb ram. 

 I'll have to work on mine when I can. I remember changing memory allocation through some instructions after a crash. I'll see what's left.

You probably will want to consider a laptop cooling pad. Those things get hot.

If I am not mistaken, years ago on the old Raptors I had windows use exactly 1024 of disk space (Entered manually in the tab below "Allow windows to manage virtual memory" as min and max.

Today I have a entire 60 gig SSD as the cache drive backing up 6 more in Raid. Times have sure changed.

As a side note, never ever power a computer with the CPU's cooling fins or fan off it's die. It will burn up in about 10 seconds and that will be that.

Also always use double ball bearing fans. They last forever. Rifle bearings will burn up over a few months. Delta sells Server class fans that will move air and cool. A word of warning, always install the guard cage with it, it will chop a finger if running.

As much as your computer will take! 2 gigs minimum

Dale, as much as you hate that animated ad, it's file size is smaller than the typical Avatar image! A simple animated GIF file places almost no load on the CPU whatsoever and uses less than 40K of memory.

Please get your facts straight before you try to slam us yet again over Dave's ad. That ad is one of the reasons this forum available for you to use for free. Deal with it.

My ISP says a minimum of 1 gig of ram, I build computers to run 8 or 16 gigs of ram myself. Those come in sets of 2 or 4 modules up to about 200 dollars. XP uses up to 4 gig of Ram for a 32 bit system (But will only "SEE" about 3.4 gig or so due to a hard rule in binary) If you are running a 64 bit system you can add up to whatever your motherboard can handle.

 --32 bit system but only 512 RAM

Since you are locking up, the problem is going to be in the Memory being inadequate or some other hardware is slowing you down. I prefer to attack a issue via software by dumping IE for example.

I also use Mozilla Firefox. Then some add ons to break the ads and other load heavy stuff. It's all free to use. Typical add ons are ad block and use the Computer's start menu/control panel/ Programs and features / uninstall unnecessary programs.

 --I just tried a laptop with fire fox and it was fast. It had 1 gig of RAM. Should I add??

Some of the add ons will display a F with dot to show there is a Flash image and it would be your option to click it to play if you choose. It is one way they speed up the experience by halting resource hogging bloat online.

A third option is to create more hard drive space allocated to your memory.

-- I have wiped out any extra programs and pictures to help.

Increasing your internet speed is another option. I went from DSL to Fiber Optic and it's much better.

If you are using Firewall and Antivirus such as Norton, dump it. It hogs your system. I use ESET and sit behind a Router with my several computers (Some up to 10 years old) to cut down on the lost time.

 --What is ESET? My norton does seem to hog everything?

A fifth option will be to open your windows command bar and type CMD and it should open a little black screen known as DOS. Then type MSCONFIG and it will open a range of options including a "Start Menu" which your computer loads when starting up.

A sixth option if you have a available drive bay and the XP software with key, you can replace your hard drive with a SSD device. It is the one item that frees up a bottleneck on most computers. I believe a 120 to 240 gig SSD (Using a Sandforce foundation) will be about 120 to 200 dollars each.

There was a flood that destroyed a hard drive plant in Thailand last year and everyone raised hard drive prices double at least to gouge while they still can before SSD takes dominance.

A resource you can consider online is called "Tom's Hardware" they have a pretty good forum which common computer issues can be searched for and resolved.

You can probably set aside about 50 dollars a month and later this year purchase a new computer (Desktop or laptop) that will easily handle today's net.

Google will be tracking everything first of march, if you use a browser such as Duckduckgo, (One example of non tracking browsers) it will be just a browser for you to get online and that will help reduce the load on your machine.

I can think of other things however this post is long enough. A common question I will have to you is what are your hardware specs? That way we can see what your computer is and go from there.

Well, I won't say all the changes but I'm getting somewhere. I'll need to find a store to get some RAM. I've switched some programs out.

  I see under control panel,System props, performance opt, advanced, memory performance use can be switched for programs or system cache. Would this matter?

  Also, I've dumped programs but their files remain. Some old HP files take up a huge amount of HD space. I thought they'd get dumped with the program? I may need some type of extra clean up program? I ran file clean up also. I'm looking at 800,000 files! It used to have under 200,000.

 I hate the facebook thing. I wondered if it would lead to problems. 

Yeap, It's kind of like asking "do I have too many trains?" I know the answer. It's time for a new one. I would rather have the SS 2 rail steamer!

 I added Ram to an old PS1 machine years ago. (IBM Not MTH!)  By the time I bought and installed it, the computer was a boat anchor. It's frustrating to me that these computers have such a short lifespan. My tools last longer even when abused. I'll be looking for a newer machine. Seems like the specs looked closer to what I have. I'd better study up. Thanks for the help!

Fundamental fact to computers - if you can buy it, it's already obsolete.

And, I got a new montrosity of a computer that my son built for me that runs orders of magnitude faster than all of my other ones were a Tb HD - cost was a little over $300 for the hardware.  You may be better served finding the local high school computer wizard to build you something far better than you can buy off the shelf. 

And, be sure to install all of your Adware and Spyware software and run scans regularly - your computer will seriously start to drag otherwise.

Obsolete as I term it goes back to when I was using mainframes that filled basements and the companies then and now (PC's, etc...) informing me that the next generation or 3 replacements for what I'm buying today are already in the pipeline and will be released for sale right after marketing decides that they've squeezed the maximum from customers.

What you are describing is maintaining adequate technology at optimal functional levels; same thing I do and what everyone should do!  That should make it last for quite some time!

My laptop is closing on 5 years; my 1 desktop is 5 years old (2 250Gig drives where 1 backs up the other and backs up again onto a 870 Gig external); and my new desktop has the Tb drive.  All are totally synchronized and reconciled together as well as to yet another external drive in another location.  I refuse to lose files and data.  I had a hard drive crash - zero losses.  It requires diligence and effort, but it can be done. 

There was a time I clicked my mouse within a program and ran my ho scale QSI equipped engines on the track hooked up to the computer. It smoothly took off and ran it's assigned speed and had enough precision to couple up and walk off with a freight car.

I wonder when computers in train sets we play with or collect will get smart enough to tell us when we need water or coal etc.

It would be interesting. I imagine for a moment having to buy prepaid fuel cards from say Lionel or MTH to keep our engines running.

Heh...

Old style DC and AC prewar/post war HO and O will always have a place as long as I live. However Computers and Internet are probably on a path to two separate endings, one good, one not so beneficial.

Thus computers have become disposable. The Internet for things like banking and so forth is not easily thrown away.

You're gettin' there, Joe!

THIS is one of the best registry cleaners I have found I use it regularly.

Joe...

Is your computer situation better now?  

From scanning through these posts, there are just a couple of observations I have...

• Though a new machine can speed things up, an older one is fine for forum reading.  You do need more than 512K memory though.  If you try to have more than *one* program open, your computer will likely be spending most of its time "swapping" the "code" for the open programs in and out of memory to give each one its slice of time on the processor.  Where does the "code" go when it is swapped out?  It is written to your disk.  If your disk is "fragmented" it will perform slower because it takes longer to read all the pieces of data it is trying to find.  Combine that with a lot of swapping due to not enough memory and you have a major performance bottleneck.
• It is totally up to you but I wouldn't spend much upgrading your PC.  You can get AMAZING deals on computers for well under $500.  With prices what they are, it is worth considering the pros and cons of putting the money towards new rather than an upgrade.

Regards,

Eric S.

Saline, MI