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  • How do I give my PC a thorough overhaul?

    My PC is not the fastest piece of equipment I have. It's about ten years old now. The first hard drive bit the dust some years ago, and I bought a new one. One of the tech guys at the company where I used to work tried (unsuccessfully) to get any data off it. I bought a new hard drive, formatted it, and brought it into work, where another tech guy installed various goodies on it.

    Since that time, the motherboard experienced a fatal video problem, which caused me to get a new video card. I have inserted as much extra RAM as this system will take. I defragmented all the drives recently. I bought an external 1 GB hard drive and have stored most of my files on it. And I'm still having issues.

    Right now, I can play YouTube videos - that is to say, YouTube audios, because the video isn't appearing. I'm having several issues with my browser, though much of that can be put down to the fact that I'm using Firefox, and it's full of problems. My video editing software is currently in the "Not Responding" stage.

    So, what all do I need to do to speed this thing up?

  • #2
    If you're 110% sure you have all of your data backed up, and that you have installation media and valid install codes for everything, including windows, the simplest thing to do would be a nuke n' pave -- format the drive and start fresh.

    Short of that, here are some things to check/do:

    - Make sure the C: drive has at least 30% free space, or it will slow down. Below 20% free space, it will slow to a crawl.
    - Clean out the temporary folders. hit WIN+R (or the Run... command on Start menu) and type temp then delete everything. If windows refuses to let you delete something, skip it and move on. Then do the same thing but type %temp% instead
    - Update and run your antivirus and antispyware programs in thorough/scan everything mode. Also, run ADWCleaner. Doing this will likely clear your browser cookies, but that may not be totally a bad thing.
    - Go to the command prompt (Start, search for cmd ) ans Run as Administrator. Then type this command: sfc /scannow Let that run; it searches for damaged mission-critical Windows files and replaces them if they're missing or messed up
    - Run a disk integrity check: command prompt as Admin and type chkdsk /r -- If this comes back and reports and Bad Sectors, your hard drive is permanently damaged and needs to be replaced.
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
    "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
    "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
    "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
    "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
    "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
    Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
    "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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    • #3
      Add my vote to nuking it. I tend to reinstall Windows about twice per year.

      ...or at least, I did, up until Windows 7. This machine I'm sitting at was setup 3+ years ago, and things have never gotten to the point where I felt any need to reinstall. (Of course, I'm not your typical home user; your mileage may vary. Results not guaranteed. Warranty void in the United States, England, and the planet Earth.)

      The major downside of reinstalling Windows is having to reinstall all of your software as well, unless your system came with one of those "OS + apps" disks.
      Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
      OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
      she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
      Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

      Comment


      • #4
        If the system is 10 years old, it is hideously out of date. Pony up for a new system.
        “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
        One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
        The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth Nunavut Pants View Post
          Pony up for a new system.
          Seconded. There are limits to how much you can upgrade things. If you have a new HD, a new video card, and enough RAM, there are limits to what can be done. A SSD will speed up some things but not others. Going from 4GB to 8GB will only increase performance marginally for some users and going past that only helps certain categories of usage.

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          • #6
            A clean reinstall of Windows will definitely help, but in the end, you're looking at a machine that's 10 years old. Estimate-wise, it's probably Intel Pentium/Core 2 or AMD Athlon/Phenom, at least 6 generations behind what's out now if we're talking Intel Pentium using DDR2 memory.

            I'd definitely start saving up for a new system. You could probably use the new HDD and video card in the new system, and you'll get much better specs performance-wise over what you're running now. I'm replacing about the same vintage machines at the school I work for with new 6th-gen Intel stuff, and it's amazing how these perform vs. the old refurbs we used to have.

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            • #7
              All of that, too. I tend to milk my systems for a few years more than I should, myself I just don't know anything about buying systems per se, as I just save up money and build them from scratch using the best stuff I can get in the under-$500 range (total) that I can find.

              Deserted -- Yeah, I don't think I went more than 6 months without reinstalling Windows "just because" prior to XP SP2. With that, it became yearly, and with 7 (I ignored vista and its rotten little brother, 8), I went longer than that. I've had 10 on here since I built this rig, last October.
              "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
              "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
              "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
              "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
              "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
              "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
              Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
              "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

              Comment


              • #8
                I had 8.1 on a tablet, but it only lasted maybe a year before it died. Probably less; I don't really keep track. I buys 'em cheap and when they're dead I throws 'em out!

                But this machine gave me grief when I put it together. I had been hoping to use XP64, but there was one driver that just refused to load during install. I jumped through all sorts of hoops trying to get it working, slipstreamed the correct driver into the CD, all kinds of things... nothing. Finally I gave it up and installed Linux, meaning to run Windows in a VM, but... muh games! Sigh. I finally settled on 7 because that was current-ish at the time, and it wasn't 8.

                As for 10, I just got my first Win10 tablet a few weeks back. Haven't had time to really mess with it much; it's strictly a work machine for me -- but it seems ok so far.
                Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you speak with the Fraud department. -- CrazedClerkthe2nd
                OW! Rolled my eyes too hard, saw my brain. -- Seanette
                she seems to top me in crazy, and I'm enough crazy for my family. -- Cooper
                Yes, I am evil. What's your point? -- Jester

                Comment


                • #9
                  First things first: let's have a complete list of what the machine is built out of. Especially the graphics card.

                  You might find CPU-Z and GPU-Z helpful for precise identification of the central components.

                  Since your current trouble revolves around video stuff, there might be a reasonably simple software fix. However, a ten-year-old PC probably should be replaced sooner rather than later. Knowing what you currently have will help with recommendations.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    If you don't need to be able to play any Windows only games, Linux can do wonders for making an old PC feel like new again.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you!

                      It's an HP Compaq dx 7300. The motherboard developed serious issues a few years ago, leading to me having to get a new graphics card. I installed more RAM some time later. At the moment, I'm purging downloads from the C drive.

                      The thought of buying a new tower and inserting my current HDD into it hadn't occurred to me. I like the system the way it is, which is one reason I haven't even entertained the notion of buying a new desktop.

                      I think the graphics card is an NVidia. I'm not sure.

                      What else?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I think the graphics card is an NVidia. I'm not sure.
                        This is why I asked for CPU-Z and GPU-Z results. They're free downloads and perfectly safe. Ideally, run them both side-by-side and take a screenshot.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          You might want to consider a physical cleaning as well. Take it outside and go after it with a can of compressed air. If you're up to it, consider replacing the thermal paste as well.

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                          • #14
                            Yes, I think a physical cleaning would be a good idea. I've done it a few times already, but it can't hurt. Chromatix, I downloaded CPU-Z last night, but I haven't run it yet, and I haven't downloaded GPU-Z yet.

                            One important thing I did do last night was to move a HUGE file containing both raw and edited video to the external drive. I think I even heard a distinct sigh of relief from the tower as I did so.

                            So, now the free space accounts for well over 30% of the total memory in the C drive. When I start up the machine next time, it may well run a hell of a lot better and faster.

                            Of course, there's also the issue with Firefox, which is entirely unrelated to my computer - hanging up, freezing, and the screen going black after an hour of use. I usually have to switch browsers after some time, just so I can continue with what I'm doing.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I think we can approach this in three phases:

                              1: Get rid of the glitches, so that stuff actually works. This will mostly involve updating software and reinstalling drivers, but I can't give detailed guidance until I know what hardware needs driving.

                              2: Try to speed up the existing machine (without spending money). The big item here is defragmenting the hard drive. But only do this when things are actually working reliably.

                              3: Upgrade the hardware with newer, faster, more efficient and more reliable parts. Since these upgrades seem to be few and far between for you, it's worth making sure this one is as future-proof as possible - and there's an important new hardware platform probably due for release in a couple of months, which I think is worth saving up for.

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