Speeding up my pc

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Dixieboy0013

Dixieboy0013

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Hey ppl, Im sure theres alot of pc pros out there so im gonna tell you my situation. im using a compaq presario 1688 running windows ME and my junk is being slow lately. i had it fast once but now its starting to act up on me. please flood me with ways to speed it up, little tips, other than the system tools lol that everyone should know about. keep in mind that my cdrom drive is burned out for some reason so discs will not read, so i need alternatives if available. Thanks a million!!
 
The most common reason for pc's slowing down is malware. You should go to the Security and the Web, read all the sticky threads then make a post there. It cant do any harm to check your system out.:)
 
Defrag your hard drive. Also, run both "error checks". One of them can take awhile, but wait it out. Do you have any programs that you aren't using anymore? Get rid of them. If you have a registry defrag program, use it. "Auslogics" has a free registry defrag program, as well as a good hardisk defrag program. If you don't have "CCleaner", download that and use it each day.You should have an antivirus program and run it each day. "Avast" puts out a good one for free. "AVG" has a free antispyware program. "Eusing" has a free registry cleaner program. Good Luck.
 
My PC had been behaving like the brain was under sedation. Opening programs, getting thumbnails to open was hanging for a while. Removed a lot of useless programs and ran CCLeaner.I deleted a lot of stuff on the drive and also killed the fragmentation. The snail is now speeding away.
 
You will likely have little good luck with your venture.
This is a worn out tired out laptop.
You Bus speed is 100 MHz which is a motherboard limit on how fast it can run.
It allows a maximum of 192 mb of PC133 SDRAM. This is not enough for anything but Windows 98. If you are running other than Windows 98, that is your problem. If you do not have the full 192 mb, it would help to boost to that level.
The hard drive is a 4200 rpm unit. You could upgrade to a 5400 rpm or a 7200 rpm hard drive. If your current hard drive has less that 17% free space, that will slow down the computer even more.
Ideally that Compaq Presario 1688 laptop would have a 40 GB 5400 rpm hard drive. 192 mb of SDRAM, and Windows 98. If you are running Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, the machine needs more resources and will slow down accordingly.
 
Tired old laptops is all some of us have and we have to make the best of them. One redeeming feature is that nobody can be bothered to write new malware for W2K or ME so provided Dixieboy keeps to the advise about protection he should be OK.
 
Win 98 and WinME suffered fromt eh same problem, it did not adequately protect system files. so installs and uninstalls lead to damaged system files and cluttered registry. the surest way to get it back to running fast is a reinstall. it's the reason most 98 users reinstalled the OS about ever 6 months.
 
I agree that an bi-annual reinstall of Windows 98 can be a good, but I do not agree that W98Se and WMe should be in the same category. W98SE is substantially better, and more problem free than any install of Windows ME.

Interestingly, Windows Me was meant to work better with more memory, whereas Windows 98SE doesn't benefit much from memory greater than 256 MB. However, the more memory you place in a Windows Me computer, the greater the problems, and the greater the number of times you have to reinstall Windows ME.
 
So basically buy a 98 OS disk and install just start over with that should make stuff better? I wouldnt mind a bit.
 
Yes, that is likely to help a great deal... IF it is Windows 98SE...
Then download the latest update of Internet Explorer 6.1, Adobe Reader 6.6, Direct X 8.0 and a few other tools. You won't be at full power with 192 mb of memory, but close as you can get.
Don't forget, you will also need to download drivers such as Chipset, modem, sound, ethernet, your printer, and should also check to assure you have the latest BIOS that works with w98se.
You might find it useful to watch out for some installs of other downloads to assure they work with W98, as many no longer do... such as AVG.
 
Is it at all possible to find and download the necessary items for downgrading(upgrading if you wanna say that) to 98 SE? I really want to do that, its a great idea.

Sorry but also I need to know if Its possible without using the CDROM drive, since mine is burned out like most old laptops do. I dont have the money to replace it yet, is there any other possible way
 
It is do-able. When not available from the traditional sites, there remain a number of sites that still have all the best W98 downloads... www.driverguide.com, www.majorgeeks.com, www.tucows.com and many others. You can find where to get what you need with a gurgle search.

The trickiest part is using a USB flash drive which has Windows 98 drivers (the drivers are not needed with Windows XP). Some come with a USB install disc, others via download. Some USB 2.0 flash drives do not work with USB 1.1. Many USB flash drives now sold do not work with Windows 98, since Microsoft started its campaign to get all vendors to stop supporting Windows 98.
Then you will need to either download what you need via the ethernet to your hard drive, or to another computer where you can load them on a USB flash drive. Any thing good will have a version you can install from a flash drive, or port over to the laptop on a flash drive.
If you have the original hard drive for that Presario 1688, it has a small hard drive. Either upgrade to a larger drive or be very careful that when you are done with all installs, you still have 15% free space on the hard drive. Any further reduction in free space will definitely slow down your computer.
 
Thanks man, if you can will you help me find a good link? Im not the best at searching for things like this =) I cant believe I have never thought of this before
 
I don't have a spec sheet for this PC so don't know if an external CD drive would work with it. There were some that ran through the parallel port it I remember right? This would get over the CD problem and make the whole business so much easier.
 
The Presario has one USB 1.1 port. An external CD Drive will work, if its specs say it will work with USB 1.1... a decent external CD Drive is $64 + shipping... about the cost of a replacement optical drive. Parallel external drives are very difficult to come by... But a PCMCIA drive will work.
Otherwise, you can buy the CD/DVD drive on eBay for $58.70 including shipping... which seems like the best choice... long term... and drives made for it by Toshiba that include a burner are also available for not much more.
 
hey, went to the web, site, to check it out, my mcafee advises against it.. had any problems with the software?? mtaylor5/ bamatina
 
no ive got it installed and it works perfectly ... mcafee always advises against most software ..... it is all fine

Your pc will be running 2 times faster .. it also frees up ram which is very useful as you need as much ram as you can get
 
That program says its for use with Vista and XP by the way.

I have a few things you could try, but I'm wondering if you have tried the things suggested so far? Like:

1) Run a virus scan. (You can even do this for free online)
2) Run an anti-spyware/malware scan. You can do this for free too, with programs like Lavasoft Adaware Personal Edition.
3) Run a defrag. Either using one that comes with windows, or by downloading a free (better) one, like "O&O Defrag".

Let me know if you've tried all that.
 
Impure baloney.
Before you post something like this, please give a full report on how it works and why it makes a difference. We find no differences whatsoever in properly configured, clean desktop or laptop computers.
 
Raybay can you help me find any links please where i can get 98 SE ? I would hate to have to go get a new CDROM drive installed. I will if i have to i mean but i just dont want to have to do that lol. I think thats the best approach i have seen. And that speeditup thing doesnt work that well for me, I have had it for a long time, since it first came out and it doesnt change a thing for me. It frees up usually maybe 32mb of RAM each time i run it. that makes no real difference for my slow pc.
 
acrobat said:
That program says its for use with Vista and XP by the way.

I have a few things you could try, but I'm wondering if you have tried the things suggested so far? Like:

1) Run a virus scan. (You can even do this for free online)
2) Run an anti-spyware/malware scan. You can do this for free too, with programs like Lavasoft Adaware Personal Edition.
3) Run a defrag. Either using one that comes with windows, or by downloading a free (better) one, like "O&O Defrag".

Let me know if you've tried all that.
Click to expand...
HI, HAVENT, BUT I WILL, MAKES ALOT OF SENSE... THANKS
 
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