My computer is really pissing me off, could anyone give me some suggestions?

Dear all,
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to post this, if not please direct it to the appropriate forum. It's just simply that my computer is beyond slow for my needs, and I constantly have to restart because the lag, oh dear the lag, just kills everything I'm working on, and it's extremely frustrating because I always lose my work. These are the specs -

HP Compaq Presario V5305WM Mobile AMD Sempron Processor 3300+ 2.00 GHz - 512MB - 60GB - 24X DVD/CD-RW Comb, 15.4 inch WXGA Display, Windows XP Media Center Edition

1 firefox browser and AIM session and it's done for, forget opening any type of media in the background or a powerpoint/word without having the thing lag like molasses. I've been patient with it forever but I don't think I can continue the rest of the school year with such a terrible piece of machine. I honestly don't try to overwork it, yeah the tabs in Firefox may get to 15+, but I did that and much more on my Vaio Desktop and I NEVER had such slowness/lag/complete hanging up issues, and it was an 03 desktop that lasted for 3/4 years. There aren't any viruses, spyware, nothing on this laptop, which even the desktop endured and still performed quite nicely. I constantly clean up temporary files/registry/defrag and it still screws around.

So I want to know at this point, should I just invest in a Vaio Laptop or other type of laptop (I wanted to get this from the beginning because Sony Vaio is a respectable name and has worked for me, at least in the desktop arena, but I was short on time and had to settle for this)

or is there a way to save this somewhat recent computer (1 yr warranty ends this October) by adding RAM sticks, whatever (my brother mentioned this?). The current RAM is 382 MB and maybe this is why it's performing so poorly? I tried reading the Overclocking FAQ but its a bit technical for your average computer user like me. I just want a freaking computer that works when I need it to!! Please please assist me and grace me with your knowledge.

Thank you very much,
Sarah

 

I think hardware or software would be the right place for this post. I would add more ram because now of days 512MB of ram is very low. Also i would recommend a reformat because my old pc was running really slow and i did a reformat and it ran like new. I do reformats like one a year to clean junk and stuff up on my pcs. Like i said before i would try a reformat before you invest into a new laptop.

 

Looks like you need some RAM as (pclover posted) in what I am assuming is a laptop. I hate to use a computer on XP with less than 1GB of RAM, even though the minimum to run XP is much lower. I would also consider a faster RPM hard drive to speed it up a little.

Just out of curiosity, reboot the computer, and once it is all up and running, hit CTL ALT DEL, click on the processes tab, and post how many are running.

SpeedswitchXP might help you out while on AC power.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4300.html

And just for general info on you computer:

http://majorgeeks.com/download4181.html
http://majorgeeks.com/SiSoftware_Sandra_Lite_d4664.html

Most of the good stuff is free...


And welcome to MajorGeeks!

E

 

Ditto the RAM - I noticed a big boost in performance when I went from 512 to 1Gig.

Does your PC have on-board video? If so, a decent performance boost can be had by going with a seperate video card, especially if your motherboard has an AGP slot. On board video usually "shares" your system RAM, which reduces the available RAM for other tasks.

A quick boost can be had by checking to see what programs start up when you boot your PC like Fred_G said. The fewer running tasks, the better. You can prevent unwanted programs from starting up by going to START - RUN - and typing in MSCONFIG. Also it pays to look into what services are running - check out http://www.tweakguides.com/ for info on how to optimise your system - not to mention tweaks for video drivers, etc. Good site.
Also http://www.blackviper.com/ has reams of good data.

Hope some of this helps!

Natakel

 

Sorry - just noticed you have a laptop, so the video card may not be an easy or inexpensive option.