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Slow computer
22 Answers
My computer is really really slow, it drives me mad.Someone told me I need to buy more memory for it but I was wondering if there was another way I could perhaps get rid of stuff on it that I don't use but don't know how to do this.
it seems the one marked FACTORY_IMAGE (D:) is the one taking up lots of space but it means nothing to me.
If you can explain what I need to do, can you explain it as simple as possible please. Thanks
it seems the one marked FACTORY_IMAGE (D:) is the one taking up lots of space but it means nothing to me.
If you can explain what I need to do, can you explain it as simple as possible please. Thanks
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Unless the drive is almost full, removing stuff is not going to affect the speed at all.
Adding memory might, but as you don't say how much you have currently, or what you use the machine for, or which operating system you have, it's pretty difficult to give constructive advice.
The one marked "FACTORY_IMAGE (D:)" is your recovery partition. If you get rid of it, you will not be able to re-install the operating system, should you need to.
Adding memory might, but as you don't say how much you have currently, or what you use the machine for, or which operating system you have, it's pretty difficult to give constructive advice.
The one marked "FACTORY_IMAGE (D:)" is your recovery partition. If you get rid of it, you will not be able to re-install the operating system, should you need to.
The recovery partition shouldn't even be visible in 'My computer', it should only be visible in 'computer management'. It sounds to me as if your computer keeps backing itself up to a hidden partition which like rojash has mentioned, if you were to delete it you wouldn't be able to recover the operating system should you need to. Although having said that the hidden partition should only contain the 'data' to set your computer back to a standard 'factory' reset. It seems like we do need some more information regarding: The operating system ((windows: XP, Vista, 7) Linux), RAM, HDD space (That of C: and D:) and processor speed. More or less what rojash has asked for.
Thanks for your replies.As you have probably gathered, I know very little about computers but I will try to give the information you asked for.
Operating system Vista.
On my computer it has this information.
COMPAQ (C:) 90.0GB free of 136GB
FACTORY_IMAGE 1.69GB free of 12.2GB
Processor Intel (R)
Celeron (R) CPU [email protected]
Memory 1.00GB
All this info means nothing to me but if by giving you this info means you might be able to help me speed up my PC, I would be most grateful.
Operating system Vista.
On my computer it has this information.
COMPAQ (C:) 90.0GB free of 136GB
FACTORY_IMAGE 1.69GB free of 12.2GB
Processor Intel (R)
Celeron (R) CPU [email protected]
Memory 1.00GB
All this info means nothing to me but if by giving you this info means you might be able to help me speed up my PC, I would be most grateful.
> COMPAQ (C:) 90.0GB free of 136GB
So you have plenty of free hard disk space...
> Processor Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU [email protected]
That's a really slow processor by today's standards...
> Operating system Vista.
> Memory 1.00GB
Aha - there's your problem right there. 1GB RAM is not nearly enough to run Vista, whatever Microsoft or anyone else tells you. For every version of Vista other than the most basic one, 1GB is Microsoft's recommended minimum, which means "just enough to boot the thing up". Depending on your motherboard, it should be easily possible to add extra memory...
> All this info means nothing to me
You wouldn't attempt to drive a car without taking some driving lessons. If you want to know how to use your computer properly, educate yourself. Buy a book, take a course...
So you have plenty of free hard disk space...
> Processor Intel (R) Celeron (R) CPU [email protected]
That's a really slow processor by today's standards...
> Operating system Vista.
> Memory 1.00GB
Aha - there's your problem right there. 1GB RAM is not nearly enough to run Vista, whatever Microsoft or anyone else tells you. For every version of Vista other than the most basic one, 1GB is Microsoft's recommended minimum, which means "just enough to boot the thing up". Depending on your motherboard, it should be easily possible to add extra memory...
> All this info means nothing to me
You wouldn't attempt to drive a car without taking some driving lessons. If you want to know how to use your computer properly, educate yourself. Buy a book, take a course...
For the things I use the computer for it's not worth me going on a course to learn the workings of it especially when we have the answer bank and good replies from other users like yourself.
I do understand what you are saying,I just don't know what you do about these things.
So you said
Aha - there's your problem right there. 1GB RAM is not nearly enough to run Vista, whatever Microsoft or anyone else tells you. For every version of Vista other than the most basic one, 1GB is Microsoft's recommended minimum, which means "just enough to boot the thing up". Depending on your motherboard, it should be easily possible to add extra memory...
but how?
Is it something I can do myself or would I have to take it somewhere to have extra memory added?
I do understand what you are saying,I just don't know what you do about these things.
So you said
Aha - there's your problem right there. 1GB RAM is not nearly enough to run Vista, whatever Microsoft or anyone else tells you. For every version of Vista other than the most basic one, 1GB is Microsoft's recommended minimum, which means "just enough to boot the thing up". Depending on your motherboard, it should be easily possible to add extra memory...
but how?
Is it something I can do myself or would I have to take it somewhere to have extra memory added?
It may be worth surfing over to the http://www.crucial.com/uk/ site as they have a scanner application you can run to get you suggestions on what memory you can buy. I'e used it in the past to confirm my intention was ok.
If you have confidence to open the PC box, earth yourself to prevent static, locate the memory sockets and push home the memory boards you bought, it is easy to do yourself. If you don't feel confident then I don't think it should cost too much to get the shop to install it, although I've never priced it myself.
Yes Mosaic, bought from new at PC World about a year ago.Don't think it was slow to start with but something just recently .I was wondering if it's because I changed my Broadband supplier recently from Tesco to Talktalk but I don't know if this would make any difference.
Will check that out old geezer.
Will check that out old geezer.
> Bit harsh there Marky.
Not in the slightest. I've seen it too many times - some "expert" tells someone to open their computer and do something, and the thing never works again.
> If they need fixing I get them fixed.
Ah yes, and that's the whole point! You "get them fixed". What you don't do is post a question on AB and then start fiddling about with the engine because some "expert" has told you to...
>> it should be easily possible to add extra memory...
> but how?
> Is it something I can do myself or would I have to take it somewhere to have extra
> memory added?
It is not something you should even attempt to do yourself, unless you teach yourself how to do it. Would you attempt to replace your car's gearbox yourself? It really is the same thing! So, either teach yourself how to maintain computers, or take it to someone who already knows how to.
Not in the slightest. I've seen it too many times - some "expert" tells someone to open their computer and do something, and the thing never works again.
> If they need fixing I get them fixed.
Ah yes, and that's the whole point! You "get them fixed". What you don't do is post a question on AB and then start fiddling about with the engine because some "expert" has told you to...
>> it should be easily possible to add extra memory...
> but how?
> Is it something I can do myself or would I have to take it somewhere to have extra
> memory added?
It is not something you should even attempt to do yourself, unless you teach yourself how to do it. Would you attempt to replace your car's gearbox yourself? It really is the same thing! So, either teach yourself how to maintain computers, or take it to someone who already knows how to.
Calm down Mark, calm down.
I only wanted to know if it was something I could do myself because I hate paying for something then later find out I could do it myself.
Have taken everything you have said on board but it was you who said it would be easy to add extra memory so I thought , if it's easy, perhaps I can do it myself.
Also, I didn't want to pay for something I might not need if it was something else that was causing my computer to be so slow.
There's no way I would open the PC box as old geezer suggested but if it was a case of cleaning up disk space or getting rid of programmes I never use, then if someone explained how to do that then I would try it.
I only wanted to know if it was something I could do myself because I hate paying for something then later find out I could do it myself.
Have taken everything you have said on board but it was you who said it would be easy to add extra memory so I thought , if it's easy, perhaps I can do it myself.
Also, I didn't want to pay for something I might not need if it was something else that was causing my computer to be so slow.
There's no way I would open the PC box as old geezer suggested but if it was a case of cleaning up disk space or getting rid of programmes I never use, then if someone explained how to do that then I would try it.
> Calm down Mark, calm down.
I really am only trying to prevent you from making things worse!
> I only wanted to know if it was something I could do myself
Not without opening the box...
> it was you who said it would be easy to add extra memory
It is, just as it's easy for a trained mechanic to replace a gearbox...
> There's no way I would open the PC box
That's the only way to add extra memory...
> if it was a case of cleaning up disk space
We've already established that you have bags of free disk space...
And we've already established that the main reason your computer is running slow is that you're trying to run Vista in only 1GB RAM. A secondary reason is that your machine also has a relatively slow processor by today's standards, but replacing that is not likely to give you anything like the benefits you will undoubtedly get by adding more memory...
I really am only trying to prevent you from making things worse!
> I only wanted to know if it was something I could do myself
Not without opening the box...
> it was you who said it would be easy to add extra memory
It is, just as it's easy for a trained mechanic to replace a gearbox...
> There's no way I would open the PC box
That's the only way to add extra memory...
> if it was a case of cleaning up disk space
We've already established that you have bags of free disk space...
And we've already established that the main reason your computer is running slow is that you're trying to run Vista in only 1GB RAM. A secondary reason is that your machine also has a relatively slow processor by today's standards, but replacing that is not likely to give you anything like the benefits you will undoubtedly get by adding more memory...
And we've already established that the main reason your computer is running slow is that you're trying to run Vista in only 1GB RAM. A secondary reason is that your machine also has a relatively slow processor by today's standards, but replacing that is not likely to give you anything like the benefits you will undoubtedly get by adding more memory...
Ok Mark, I understand now you have put it all together like that, and I understand I need more memory.Will take computer along to PC World and ask them to put some on it.Thanks.
Ok Mark, I understand now you have put it all together like that, and I understand I need more memory.Will take computer along to PC World and ask them to put some on it.Thanks.
> Will take computer along to PC World and ask them to put some on it.
Apart from the cost of the memory itself, be prepared to pay a small fee for them to do the upgrade. Should be no more than a tenner, though...
Also, AAMOI, what anti-virus / anti-spyware software do you use? When was the last time you did a complete scan of the entire hard drive...?
Apart from the cost of the memory itself, be prepared to pay a small fee for them to do the upgrade. Should be no more than a tenner, though...
Also, AAMOI, what anti-virus / anti-spyware software do you use? When was the last time you did a complete scan of the entire hard drive...?
If you are at all unconfident don't try opening your pc and rooting about. Although installing extra memory is easy if you know what you are doing, you can either give yourself a shock or damage the memory if you make a mistake. However, I still think that if your pc ran OK at first, that this is as likely to be an issue with temporary files and possibly spyware rather than amoutn of memory. And if PC world sold it you without enough memory for you to run the operating system they installed on it, then they should fix it for free.
Two invaluable free downloads are c-cleaner and spybot search and destroy. If you douwnload these and run their full scans, you may find an improvement.
Two invaluable free downloads are c-cleaner and spybot search and destroy. If you douwnload these and run their full scans, you may find an improvement.
I dismantled my car engine and refitted the clutch and I don't know a great deal about cars. You have to love haynes manuals :)
Mark is right though, he's just trying to stop you from doing something silly. I've always said that if you're willing to self teach yourself then you have to be willing to make costly mistakes!
If you are going to have more RAM (memory) installed then I'd suggest taking your pc to a local computer shop like denis did. PC world will charge you alot more and only do the same job.
Mark is right though, he's just trying to stop you from doing something silly. I've always said that if you're willing to self teach yourself then you have to be willing to make costly mistakes!
If you are going to have more RAM (memory) installed then I'd suggest taking your pc to a local computer shop like denis did. PC world will charge you alot more and only do the same job.
Download these two useful programs from Iobit.:-
Iobit 360 security and Iobit advanced system care.
They are free. Install them. Run the programs and they will optimise your computer to the best performance it's capable of, and will hunt down any malware, spyware and hijacks that may be clogging things up. Give it a try, probably what you'd like to at least try before drastic stuff mentioned above...Dagman
Iobit 360 security and Iobit advanced system care.
They are free. Install them. Run the programs and they will optimise your computer to the best performance it's capable of, and will hunt down any malware, spyware and hijacks that may be clogging things up. Give it a try, probably what you'd like to at least try before drastic stuff mentioned above...Dagman
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