some tweak advice please...

can anyone give me suggestions on tweaking my system these are my specs:

hp m1160n
amd 64 3400+ 2.2ghz
Asus
K8S-LA motherboard
200gb hard drive--seagate 300 gb external
1.5gb ddr memory
nvidia FX 5200xt 128 mb
CL audigy 2

i added an extra gig of memory last night but im not really impressed with the performance increase.
i have minimal programs running under msconfig and i've shut down some services like print spooler, auto update, error

reporting, etc. could anyone give me any more suggestions to shut down under services.
i also use system mechanic 6 pro and tune-up utilities 2006 (not at the same time). i ran my system on pc pitstop and they

said my system was among the fastest they had listed. my hard drives are all optimized defragged (system mechanic). i tried

some tweaked nvidia drivers (omega & z-tweaked, and i used driver cleaner pro) but they sucked. can anyone give me

suggestions for software tweaks for system settings or drivers or programs, i cant really do hardware tweaks or upgrades

right now because im a quadraplegic and i cant physically or financially do anything (my nephew bought and installed my 1gig

stick). but for the future i will upgrade my v-card. and does anyone know the flash settings for my motherboasrds BIOS i

cant find it any where, not even on asus's or hp's websites.im not a noob, ive had computers for the past eight years and

being paralyzed gave me plenty of time to learn stuff. anything you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

Post this in overclocking or hardware forum, will get more views there

 

Dear Jammer,

It sounds like you have a lot of software designed to improve performance. I have to wonder whether that software itself may be part of the problem. If a "tweaking" application simply alters your Windows settings, then disappears and gets out of the way, it would be a benefit. If it runs constantly, in the background, along with Windows, then it will itself degrade your performance because while it's trying to help, it will consume system resources and defeat its own purpose.

Please examine each of these "helpers" to ensure that they aren't running constantly and using up system resources!

The system you've described ought to be pretty hot. If it isn't, then there's something wrong.

One word of observation: The external hard drive cannot be expected to respond so rapidly as an internal one. If you are using the external, cable-connected hard drive for anything important, you can expect a degradation in performance. Serially-connected external drives, of any sort, are slow.

Frankly, it sounds like you are running lots of software to make things go faster, and the reality is that the only way to make things go fast is to tweak Windows yourself, learning how to do so by visiting forums like this. Do it by the seat of your pants. Software promising to improve performance usually gets in the way of its own mission.

So job one is to get rid of all that junk. If you have speed-up software installed, please uninstall it! Job two is to use the MG forum to ask for help on tweaking your system. You will receive lots of valuable insights. Job three is to tell whomever it was who promised results and failed to deliver, to get lost, you will accomplish this on your own, using the expert help that only MajorGeeks can provide!

So there!

Please understand that I wouldn't say all this unless I believed it. I am not the lying sort.

Hope this helps!

 

hp drivers and bios page,


http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?lc=en&cc=us&lang=en&dlc=en&product=434549&os=228

 

I agree that a lot of software tweaks around are mostly going to defeat their purpose when it comes to achieving their ends.
There is no substitute for operating a clean and ordered system registry, and running programs that dont tend to drain all your resources.
A well run system with your specifications, should cycle like an athelete!

Would i be correct in assuming that you may be running a symantec(norton) or mcafee antivirus or other?
Whilst effective, these programs are very obese and consequently slow down the whole show....

Regards!