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m31andyI'm a bad fiancée. After spending a few months talking about doing something to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cuvalwen's incredibly old computer (and not doing anything about it), I finally got round to transferring a lot of files off it (no room on the 20Gb hard drive) and defragging it. This should've made the thing a little faster at least, except there was no virus software on the computer beforehand and so I loaded up Avast.
Suffice to say the computer is now running *slower* and I'm definitely not flavour of the month.
[Yes, I did know this was an issue with Avast beforehand - and AVG, for that matter, but it was that or let the two trojans we found carry on, unabated...]
So, my wonderful *techie* friendslist, please to be helping. I'm in dire need of decent (preferably free, but not necessarily) virus software which doesn't make the machine run like molasses on a cold day. Is there such a thing?
Also - any tips or encouragement to get the damn thing running a little faster / better would be incredibly wonderful as well.
(To let you know what I'm dealing with, the vital statistics are: AMD processor, 600MHz, 386Mb RAM, 20Gb hard drive, Windows XP Home, Service Pack 3. Slower than a turtle on dope.)
You are all utterly wonderful!
cuvalwen's incredibly old computer (and not doing anything about it), I finally got round to transferring a lot of files off it (no room on the 20Gb hard drive) and defragging it. This should've made the thing a little faster at least, except there was no virus software on the computer beforehand and so I loaded up Avast.Suffice to say the computer is now running *slower* and I'm definitely not flavour of the month.
[Yes, I did know this was an issue with Avast beforehand - and AVG, for that matter, but it was that or let the two trojans we found carry on, unabated...]
So, my wonderful *techie* friendslist, please to be helping. I'm in dire need of decent (preferably free, but not necessarily) virus software which doesn't make the machine run like molasses on a cold day. Is there such a thing?
Also - any tips or encouragement to get the damn thing running a little faster / better would be incredibly wonderful as well.
(To let you know what I'm dealing with, the vital statistics are: AMD processor, 600MHz, 386Mb RAM, 20Gb hard drive, Windows XP Home, Service Pack 3. Slower than a turtle on dope.)
You are all utterly wonderful!
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 03:58 pm (UTC)Mind you, a 600MHz AMD has to be ~10 years old? - one of the first-generation Athlons or so.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 04:17 pm (UTC)What's the odds on being about to support that much RAM? And how would I be able to tell???
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 04:34 pm (UTC)I suspect Bob has the right idea, it's a rather aged system which will take a fair chunk of effort to get a small improvement out of it.
I'm duty bound to suggest putting linux on it for optimum bang for the buck :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:33 pm (UTC)I'm tempted to go down the linux route for a similar spec laptop which is poorly performing as well. But, you know, I got confused when faced with Xandros, let alone thinking along the lines of "maybe Ubuntu isn't good enough"....
eep!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 04:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-08 08:14 am (UTC)Most motherboards of that age will take up to 768MB of RAM no problems - 3 x 256MB SDRAM PC133. You can pick up 256MB of RAM dirt cheap in the computer fairs in London; again, we're not talking a truly long-term solution; but you can get a few more months or a year or so out of an ancient system, which can make a difference if you're not flush enough to afford a new PC.
If you're going the new PC route, I would keep an eye on Dell - every now and then they have a habit of putting up short-term offers of a basic PC box for £99; it's usually not a great machine performancewise, but it should scream in comparison to a Duron 600.
Of course, I might happen to have a motherboard and processor and RAM and a graphics card going spare very shortly, as it's upgrade time here - it's not exactly new (Athlon 64 3700+, 2GB RAM, Asus nForce m/b, Nvidia 7800 GTX - about 4 years old) - but it's free and does work!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-08 08:17 am (UTC)As I said below, though - it's upgrade time here, so I'll have various innards going free to a good home if you'd like them - it's not exactly new (Athlon 64 3700+, 2GB RAM, Asus nForce m/b, Nvidia 7800 GTX - about 4 years old) - but it's free and does work!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 04:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 04:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 04:53 pm (UTC)I'd either replace it with a new computer that will be way faster, or ditch Windows and put Linux on it.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:34 pm (UTC)Well, until I can buy a new computer, I'm going to have to do something. (The Linux method is out as well - C isn't a fan!)
But we'll see.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 05:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-08 08:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 06:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 07:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-07 09:38 pm (UTC)U haz a flavor!
(Sorry.)
I think comments to the effect of a new computer are valid, but I'm used to it running at the rate of continental drift anyway. And it's just the start-up that being noticably slow.
X
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-08 10:11 am (UTC)I have a slightly newer machine going begging, but I suspect that's more or less rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic!