More speed on an old man computer?

[MS WinXP Home 2002 - SP3; OE 6; IE 8; MS Office Pro; Avast Antivir Free; Dell Dimension XPS T448MHz Pentium III; 640 MB RAM; high speed cable; WordPerfect8; Lexmark Laser printer "Optra E310"; Windows Media Player; Adobe Reader 8; Adobe Flash Player 10 Activex..]

Hello, my computer is quite old so I understand why it's now extremely slow, but I think I got lucky when I bought it since it gave me very little problem...however:

(1) Is there something that can be done to speed it up besides adding more RAM? I added recently 250 MB RAM and was going to remove a low RAM I have and add a 2nd 250 MB but it didn't make much difference in memory at 640 MB, so I didn't. Also, I don't seem to have viruses, etc. as I frequently follow all the advised steps to keep the machine clean, plus good security including Malwarebytes and avast.

(2) Is it safe to try some online ads claiming their scan will speed up ANY computer? Perhaps I could find a responsible site to do this like PC Magazine (or mechanic?), MajorGeeks, etc.?

(3) If I try the above I intend to first backup as much as I can, but, if or when it messes up something as serious as the registry or something, then could I get it back by using the function "Restore"?

Thanks ever so much for your opinions! Adela

 

You could try trimming down the programs that start up when you boot your machine.
Even if not being used, they still hold onto a small portion of RAM to be ready.
I use WinPatrol from here to keep an eye on mine.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/WinPatrol_d3380.html

 

I have to strongly endorse what hrlow said.

I have W7 with 3 G of RAM, and in my WP startup programs I have AVG, Sidebar, and Win Patrol, that's it, and all programs run fine when called on.

This can make a HUGE difference with systems like yours!

And have you ever had Norton or Macffee installed? If so, was the complete removal tool run, not just merely uninstalling.

And under My Computer properties, I would set to run for "best performance".

 

Thanks, but I do all of that. Adela

 

If you're comfortable changing hardware and know what your motherboard is so that we can find the specs for it, you may be able to upgrade your cpu and/or ram- not just to 'add more', but to be certain you are using the best of what your board can handle for both cpu and memory.

If you don't really want to mess with hardware, and have already had a go at everything hrlow2 and brandypeppy mentioned, you should try a cleaner program like CCleaner and a defragmentation program like Iobit. Defragging especially can make a big difference if you haven't done so in a good while.

The only other option I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is to format your drive completely-making sure you have everything you don't want to lose backed up onto discs or another harddrive- and reinstall windows. It's really a good idea to do that once or twice a year anyway, so if you haven't in a long while you would see a huge difference in responsiveness.

 

Thanks so much hrlow2, scooby and Brandy for your god advice, problem is I'm not savvy with the technical aspects of computers and am afraid to do things like formatting the HD, reinstalling the OS, etc. and can't afford paying someone to do it. Also, I don't have a powerful backing up device to store them. scooby, you are right and in the past someone else had suggested I do those things and didn't for the same reason.

Other than this, I do all of those things frequently, deleting all temp files, defragmenting, I constantly delete as much as I can my files, and everything else that I read it must be done...

I was hoping as a last resort that it would be safe to have one of those sites that promise to speed up computers, scan my mine, but they may do more harm?

I'll think about what I can do; chances are I may have to buy a new one, this time perhaps one of those small portable ones, notebook or something else they call them, but it has to wait.

Again thank you very much for all your kind, wonderful suggestions! Adela

P.S. I took the moderboard info from Belarc Advisor.
It's Board: Intel Corporation SE440BX-3 AA722394-112. It doesn't say "mother" but it's under "Main Circuit Board", this is it isn't it?
Please Forgive the lengthy message...

 

http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm
Link to a guide I used frequently with XP. Still a favorite site.

 

Most of the time "Restore" works but, every once in a while it doesn't. Just for the sake of safety you should probably use Erunt. I'm not advocating the "on-line scan speed up" idea, it's just that I've found it to be a good idea to back up the registry with Erunt before making changes to it. Or before making changes to the machine like adding a new program, things along those lines.

Might also think about a Linux OS instead of Windows.

 

Hadn't thought about Linux. Some are really small, fast, and extremely light on resources.

 

The above is what I would do as 8 years is a long time for an OS to accumulate garbage. If you have the original restore disks, then that would be great! Do have the disks and keys for your other software too?

 

Oh thank you Bugballou, plastidust, and agiedoggie for still more great ideas!!!

Bugballou, I looked at the link you gave me, thank you! (http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm) and I'm going to actually study it to see if I can apply some of the good suggestions there.

plastidust, I used to use Erunt to periodically backup the registry and don't know what happened, but I'll get it again. And you are right to better stay away from site speedups as it may even do harm. I often think of changing the OS, like Linus, and also the browser, but it's so complicated to make the changes that it shrinks me from it. I hope if and when I can buy a new computer and I find a laptop to be as comfortable to use as a desktop, then I'll be able to keep both to experiment on the old one and thus also learn some tech since it won't matter much whether I make a mess...lol!

agiedoggie, my computer is 10 years old...LOL! I'm grateful Dell keeps so well as other than the speed it's working well and I'm not yet able to disburse money for another. I too agree with this particular recommendation if I weren't so untechnical and could do it myself. Apart of not affording a techi, it's risky to put more money into this one as it may give the last sigh any moment...

Thanks again so very much for all the really helpful ideas which I intend to follow as much as I can. Adela