Freezing Windows 7

[Tony Felpo]

I have a Desktop Compaq Presario- CQ5300 model
Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit SPI
AMD sempron processor LE-1300 2.0 GB RAM
Hard Drive 320 GB (Hard Drive replaced 2 years ago)
The machine is about 5 years old.
Once or twice a week, the machine will slow down, and
almost freeze.
I use the CCleaner (free) and Malwarebytes (free)
I backup the computer once a month. After these two
processes, the machine will be OK for a day, then the
same thing happens.
I was thinking about increasing the RAM, but the mfg.
states the 2.0 is the largest memory it can handle.
Does anyone have any other suggestions.
Thank you
TeacherMan

 

[Tmagic650]

So you are running 2GB of system memory for Windows 7?

 

[bazz2004]

The computer wouldn't have come with 64 bit windows 7 and only 2Gb of ram because that's not enough ram. If you can't double the ram see if you can install a 32 bit version of Windows 7. That should speed things up considerably and I think that you can use the same validation key. For most users 64 bit Windows is unnecessary.

 

[Tmagic650]

Could it have been loaded with XP originally?

 

[bazz2004]

It's not that old and most likely came with Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit and 2Gb ram. Perhaps look inside the case and see how many slots there are for ram. I think there will be two slots so you can have 2x2Gb sticks.

 

[DelJo63]

Run CLEANMGR from your account and again from the Admin account.
Report the HD freespace when done

 

[Tmagic650]

There are 77 models in the Compaq Presario- CQ5300 series. Most come with 2 memory slots. As Bazz2004 said 4 GB may be the max

 

[Tony Felpo]

The computer wouldn't have come with 64 bit windows 7 and only 2Gb of ram because that's not enough ram. If you can't double the ram see if you can install a 32 bit version of Windows 7. That should speed things up considerably and I think that you can use the same validation key. For most users 64 bit Windows is unnecessary.

Thank you, I will try that.

 

[Tony Felpo]

It's not that old and most likely came with Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit and 2Gb ram. Perhaps look inside the case and see how many slots there are for ram. I think there will be two slots so you can have 2x2Gb sticks.

Thank you. I will try that.
Also, I have the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit. I did some research, and some say that this can
have 192 GB? Is this possible?

 

[DelJo63]

The computer wouldn't have come with 64 bit windows 7 and only 2Gb of ram because that's not enough ram.

Not true. Win/7 WILL run with 2GB, just not nicely.
Similarly, Win/7 will run with a 1.7ghz cpu - - just not nicely.

64bit is the preferred architecture today, for both system and application reasons.

 

[Tmagic650]

Thank you. I will try that.
Also, I have the Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit. I did some research, and some say that this can
have 192 GB? Is this possible?

Why worry about if Windows 64 bit will run 192GB. You can run 4GB to 32GB, more than enough to max out any modern motherboard. Windows 32 bit will run something less than 4GB max

 

[bazz2004]

Jobeard is correct. I did come across an advert for the machine with 64 bit Windows 7 and 2Gb of ram but that's a pretty poor spec. 4Gb would be much more suitable.