Memory: Tonight will be a memory too

[mint]

No, not my memory because that's rubbish and not likely to be capable of improvement but memory for my computer.

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 and it's now so s l o w that I'm going to sleep whilst it decides what to do.

More memory needed and some advice, please.

What exactly do I need and where's the best and cheapest place to get it?

[woolybanana]

Whooooooo, where do I start. Are you a girlie, which would help in undestanding?[6]

[Dog]

First do some spring cleaning - get rid of all the stuff you do not need on the computer

Next sell something and buy a Mac the sales are on.

[AnOther]

Sweets there is no reason for your Dell to be any slower than it was the day you bought it. If it is painfully slow you need to find out why, shoving extra memory in will not necessarily make any difference at all if there are other issues.

PS: I bet Mac fans make excellent Jehova's Witnesses or Mormons [:D]

[Dog]

I'll take the fan out of my old Mac and send it to you for your religious devotion.

[tenniswitch]

Well, that's not entirely accurate (the slowdown, not the Mac fan comment).  Maybe she, like my DH, bought a computer with the absolute minimal HD memory and RAM for her OS and then installed a bunch of memory hogging audio and photo-hogging software on it.

There is a reason why we have his and hers computers.

OTOH, if it's gotten slow fairly recently, you're right, Sweets may have something malfunctioning or a nasty little infestation.

[Théière]

Sweets its just as likely to be a windows registry problem although a bit of extra memory never hurts these days.

I would suggest using a registry cleaner like Regcure, it's good but sadly not free.

[Quillan]

[quote user="sweet 17"]

No, not my memory because that's rubbish and not likely to be capable of improvement but memory for my computer.

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 and it's now so s l o w that I'm going to sleep whilst it decides what to do.

More memory needed and some advice, please.

What exactly do I need and where's the best and cheapest place to get it?

[/quote]

Before you go spending money try a few things out.

Before doing anything make a System Restore point, you can use Start - Help and Support then search on "Creating a system restore point" then follow the instructions given. This means that if you do something wrong you can put your machine back as you found it.

Next, as Dog says, do a 'spring clean' i.e. get rid of any rubbish, including programs, that you no longer use. If you are deleting software always look in the software fold for that program under the Start menu as many have a uninstal program. If it doesn't you will have to remove it via the Control Panel.

Now do a Disk Cleanup which is found under Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools (this gets rid of all the old Temp files the system has created)

Finally do a Disk Defragmentation which is also found under Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools

If after that there is no improvement and you still think you need more memory then you can go to THIS website and run the scanner which will tell you what you have and what you can do re an upgrade. Once you know what you need you don't have to buy from that company, you can search the Internet. Personally I install 'branded' memory like Kingston Memory, it costs a bit more but having seen their product installed in to thousands of machines over the years I know it to be good stuff. It's an average price (not the cheapest nor the most expensive) but then you get what you pay for. Be aware that the cheapest memory is not always the best and often works on a slower clock speed which in turn can actually reduce the speed of the machine and not increase it.

If you find all that a bit confusing then PM me and I can connect to your computer and do it for you.

 

[AnOther]

You're absolutely right tenniswitch however that does not negate my statement that there is 'no reason for your Dell (or any computer for that matter) to be any slower than it was the day you bought it'. OK I'll add 'significantly' to that to that because Windows updates themselves can have a negative effect. Balanced against that though is all the trial and crapware which most machines come with preinstalled and if you filter all that rubbish out you can almost always end up with a machine which actually performs better than 'out of the box'

The basic point is though that if a machine has become dramatically slow enough to make you complain about it then whatever is causing that has to be the first problem to solve and memory upgrades, whilst all to the good, are not a panacea or cure all.

Even the most disciplined and cautious users will eventually end up

needing a big cleanup. The best way to do this is with a complete clean

reinstall of the operating system of course but I understand that that is a step too far for many.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="AnOther"]

Even the most disciplined and cautious users will eventually end up

needing a big cleanup. The best way to do this is with a complete clean

reinstall of the operating system of course but I understand that that is a step too far for many.

[/quote]

Or, as other learned members have said, get a Mac

[:D]

.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

I've got a Mac, as well as a couple of PCs, and haven't found it any better-behaved. The same number of problems, just slightly different ones.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]I've got a Mac, as well as a couple of PCs, and haven't found it any better-behaved. The same number of problems, just slightly different ones.[/quote]

I doubt those problems were related to redundant programme removal, file recovery, processor speed or memory though Albert.

And Time Machine just has to be the finest automatic backup system ever devised.

27" & Gorgeous

.

[Théière]

[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="sweet 17"]

No, not my memory because that's rubbish and not likely to be capable of improvement but memory for my computer.

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 and it's now so s l o w that I'm going to sleep whilst it decides what to do.

More memory needed and some advice, please.

What exactly do I need and where's the best and cheapest place to get it?

[/quote]

Before you go spending money try a few things out.

Before doing anything make a System Restore point, you can use Start - Help and Support then search on "Creating a system restore point" then follow the instructions given. This means that if you do something wrong you can put your machine back as you found it.

Next, as Dog says, do a 'spring clean' i.e. get rid of any rubbish, including programs, that you no longer use. If you are deleting software always look in the software fold for that program under the Start menu as many have a uninstal program. If it doesn't you will have to remove it via the Control Panel.

Now do a Disk Cleanup which is found under Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools (this gets rid of all the old Temp files the system has created)

Finally do a Disk Defragmentation which is also found under Start - Programs - Accessories - System Tools

If after that there is no improvement and you still think you need more memory then you can go to THIS website and run the scanner which will tell you what you have and what you can do re an upgrade. Once you know what you need you don't have to buy from that company, you can search the Internet. Personally I install 'branded' memory like Kingston Memory, it costs a bit more but having seen their product installed in to thousands of machines over the years I know it to be good stuff. It's an average price (not the cheapest nor the most expensive) but then you get what you pay for. Be aware that the cheapest memory is not always the best and often works on a slower clock speed which in turn can actually reduce the speed of the machine and not increase it.

If you find all that a bit confusing then PM me and I can connect to your computer and do it for you.

[/quote]

Whilst I agree with the above Quillan, none of the above actions tackles the windows registry file and that is where most bottlenecks occur as after deleting etc stray files, paths etc eventually clog the registry.

Do the house keeping chores Sweet and if there is not a dramatic improvement look to the registry cleaner.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

Nope, but I don't get those problems on any of my PCs either. My wife mainly uses the Mac for basic Web browsing and WP. She sometimes gets it hanging for extended periods (spinning wheel of death) and on occasion I have to force-close programs for her. It has a particular dislike of PowerPoint presentations that her friends use for slide shows.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="Albert the InfoGipsy"]I've got a Mac, as well as a couple of PCs, and haven't found it any better-behaved. The same number of problems, just slightly different ones.[/quote]

I doubt those problems were related to redundant programme removal, file recovery, processor speed or memory though Albert.

And Time Machine just has to be the finest automatic backup system ever devised.

27" & Gorgeous

[/quote]

Nice machine but still not the same amount of software available as PC's although its very good for working in the graphics and media world. I am afraid 'Time Machine' type products have been around for years (2001) with regards to PC's, thats if you discount fileserver systems. More recent types (those in the last 2 or 3 years) do a lot more than just backup a single machine, you can share media to things like a TV etc without even turning on your PC. Not only that but they are cheaper than the Apple product. Its horses for different courses and probably best left at that else we will start the old 'whats better, Mac or PC' argument again.

[Bugsy]

Oh yes, the dreaded spinning wheel.

I've seen it a few times when I had 2Gb of ram - much less now with 4Gb.

Different subject, but have you tried Google Chrome yet?

I've installed it (beta version for Mac) and it works fine (very quick) but I cannot get it to accept passwords from Safari (the transfer box on passwords is blanked out). It accepts full transfers from Firefox, though, strange.

[sid]

I'm running a SIX-YEAR-OLD [:-))] Dell Inspiron, bought just before we moved here. It was a top of the range model in those days and at around £1300 I thought it would last about 3 years. Well, it's still going strong, and still does everything I need. However it has been getting progressively slower despite regular Registry clean ups and clearing out the temporary files etc etc with CCleaner. I recently increased the memory which helped only a little.

I took advantage of the bad weather and being indoors to do a complete reinstall of Windows XP. It's not something to be tackled on a whim and needs plenty of planning to ensure that you have everything you need, especially the installation discs or files for all of the programs you're going to want to put back. Also take copies of Outlook files, contacts etc.

I have an external hard drive so I was able to take a Ghost (Norton Ghost) copy of the system disc (:C) plus My Documents in case I needed to get it all back in the event of a disaster!!

It took the best part of 2 days to get back to a fully working pc; there were a few small apps which I had overlooked.

What a difference! It's back to it's original speed and all the flakey bits have gone. I have reformatted the hard drive so all the relics and cr4p form previous sofware have all gone, totally clean! It boots up in about a minute and a half (it used to take about 5 minutes before Christmas!!).

I'm afraid this is the only sure-fire way!

Sid

[AnOther]

[quote user="Bugbear"]Or, as other learned members have said, get a Mac[/quote]Other than for eulogising for it's own sake I really don't see the point of this 'advice' and it does get just a tad predictable and tedious. It's ironic that any upsurge in the popularity of Macs is largely down to the change to Intel CPUs and the subsequent development of bootcamp allowing, for the first time, the ability to dual boot and run Windows !

Well said Sid. The machine I'm currently using is 5 years old and because I keep it lean and mean it still runs like a dream. Unfortunately it may soon have to be relegated to a spare as I want to move to Windows 7 but having installed it I've discovered that there are no drivers available for some of the hardware [:(]

OH's PC is about 6 years old and has an AMD Sempron 3000+ CPU but does all she demands of it and quite fast enough for her needs.

BTW, with a fresh install and your machine running exactly as you want it now is the time to take an image so you you can always go back to that state and will never have to fish out the Windows CD ever again [;-)]

[Bugsy]

[quote user="AnOther"][quote user="Bugbear"]Or, as other learned members have said, get a Mac[/quote]Other than for eulogising for it's own sake I really don't see the point of this 'advice' and it does get just a tad predictable and tedious.

[/quote]

you can always ignore it, even though you know deep down that it makes sense.[:)]

[quote user="AnOther"]

...................................... as I want to move to Windows 7 but

having installed it I've discovered that there are no drivers available

for some of the hardware [:(]

[/quote]

and its bloated, unreliable and still not 'bug-free' ..................I rest my case. [Www]

.

[mint]

Thank you, everybody ,for your advice and a special thank you to Quillan for offering to actually spend some of his precious time to help me.

I have a veritable computer whizz kid (except he's past the age for being a kid) coming to lunch next week and I shall feed him my best food and wine and ask him nicely to go through my computer and the things that you have recommended.

I did invite him BEFORE this post so that shouldn't count as sneakiness, does it?

[AnOther]

[quote user="Bugbear"][quote user="AnOther"]...................................... as I want to move to Windows 7 but

having installed it I've discovered that there are no drivers available

for some of the hardware [:(][/quote]and its bloated, unreliable and still not 'bug-free' ..................I rest my case. [Www][/quote]But BB, if you're such a committed Mac man how would you know these things, you'll have blown your cover completely if you tell me you actually use it [Www]

[sid]

[quote user="AnOther"]
BTW, with a fresh install and your machine running exactly as you want it now is the time to take an image so you you can always go back to that state and will never have to fish out the Windows CD ever again [;-)]

[/quote]

Good point! I'll do it tonight!! [geek]

Sid

[Bugsy]

Duplicate post.

.

[Bugsy]

I didn't always have my iMac, of course, in fact I still have both a windows-based desktop and laptop, both gathering dust in the corner.

I just got fed up with the bloat, the crashes, the viruses lurking round every corner. The difficulty in completely removing programmes because of the stupidity of windows-based software persisting on its use of shared .dll files.

I don't have any problem with what others wish to use, each to his own. My digs are only ever said 'tongue in cheek'[Www]

The only serious view I have on it is that after years and years of using all sorts of computers I have finally found one with a system that perfectly suits my needs.

A lot of people who join in on the Mac versus Windows debate have never even tried a Mac and are, therefore, rather poorly equipped to comment.

I've another post running on the Snow Leopard' software update I have just installed. Below is a couple of facts appertaining to that update.(taken from the Apple website)

"The installation process is up to 50% faster and more reliable than ever"

"Snow Leopard takes up less than half the disk space of the previous version, freeing about 7Gb for you"

I actually achieved a 8Gb increase on my iMac.

The day that a new Windows update makes that statement and it's found to be true, I'll be happy to eat my computer desk. [:D]

.

[Quillan]

Having worked with both Mac's and PC's in my previous life I can't, to be honest, see any advantage of one over the other except in the case of available software. That said I was working in the commercial side of IT and most of the programs I came across were your normal office type software stuff which ran on both machines.

I upgraded a PC to Windows 7 a few days back and am really getting in to it now. I don't know much about Vista as I never used it but I understand Windows 7 has many similarities plus improvements to/on Vista. For me the biggest issue is Libraries as opposed to directories or folders and virtual libraries which can be a problem when installing 32 bit applications in to a 64 bit operating system, its just a matter of getting used to them. For instance I had a lot of problems installing Easybook (my B&B booking software) and it took about a day to sort out. Other than that I would say that Windows 7 seems to be about the best version to-date. Oh I forgot my printer (HP J6410) software does not work, won't even install but fortunately Windows 7 can detect WiFi printers and there is a basic driver that comes with it that works. The only problem is I can't fax, scan or read memory cards till I get a working copy of the software which HP tell me will be released at the end of Jan 2010.