Speed up Windows XP

Hi,
is there any way how to speed up Windows XP?

Thank you for help.

Jassmin

 

What is your specs of your computer. You could try disabling some start up programs. you need to go in to your task manager for that.

 

Hi my friend , welcome to MG's :major

You can told us about these things

• What is the type of your machine ( a laptop or a desktop ) ?
• What is your memory's capacity ?
• What is your hdd's free space ?

You can look at this topic

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=283942&page=2

You could also try these tips

• Go to Start - Run temp - ok , you have to delete all files
• Go to Start - Run %temp% - ok , you have to delete all files
• Go to Start - Run prefetch - ok , you have to delete all files

you can even run this tool

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/oo_defrag_free_edition.html :wave

 

As falconattack states, we really do need more information about the PC.

One of the utilities most of us run is CCleaner. We also use a defragmenting utility such as the O&O defrag that falconattack links you to.

Free space on the hard drive is a consideration. If it's less than 30% of the total drive size, slowdowns and other problems may arise including BSODs AND drive failure.

Microsoft support for Windows XP will end in April (except for definition updates for Microsoft Security Essentials) so, you may want to look into updating your OS to Vista or 7.

 

Hi,
thank you for answer.

I am using :
- laptop
- 512.0 MB RAM
- free space on HDD - 15.0 GB

 

I know that it will end in April, but my another laptop with Vista is broken and I have to use old one with XP. It is Acer 3690.

Maybe it needs to be cleaned but have no ide how to do that. I used CC cleaner already. But it is still slw. Also Mozilla is crashing all the time.

 

What is the model of your laptop ? At the bottom of the laptop a sticker located with the model , look at this for instance

http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/image/...4FC68898EF/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1

upgrading the ram is necessary i think , you can also go to
Start - Run msinfo32 - ok
expanding Components menu
expanding Storage menu
going to Disks to give us the model of your hdd :wave

 

Hi,
I know that XP will end in April but my another laptop with Vista is broken and have to use old one with XP for now - Acer Aspire 3690.

OK, I will post what you have asked, sorry need to go now, hope we can talk later or tomorrow.

Thank you.

 

If you can backup your data and install a new OS it may be faster and wind up better than repairing. Windows is not fully repairable.

 

Hi,
I've checked HD one more time and it says:
free space: 14.8 GB
total space: 43.8 GB

So what should I do as first step? Defrag?

 

Why didn't you follow my suggestion in my preview message Yesterday 15:34 ? We have to know about either the manufacturer or the model of your hdd ? :wave

 

OK, I will, sorry I am in Europe and need to finish some work.

Be here later.

TY.

 

Also, do you have SP3 installed on your Windows XP?

 

What is SP3 ??

Have a heart !!! I am not computer geek.

 

Jassmin...

Do you know what's wrong with your Vista laptop? Maybe you could start a thread about it and get it running.

To see if you have SP3 installed, open Windows Explorer->right click on "My Computer"->select "Properties". On the menu that opens it should tell you whether you which service pack you have installed. The service packs are Windows XP updates (there are service packs for Vista and Windows 7 too). They add various improvements to Windows when installed.

This is solid if you can afford to add the RAM. It's the best way to improve performance in your situation I would say. As for drive space, if you need to install SP3, it will use a fairly good size portion of your remaining free space once all the automatic updates associated with the service pack are added. Just guessing, but I would say SP3 and the updates use about 3-5 GB if you add all the optional .NET framework updates too. .NET gives you extended capabilities for running .NET compatible programs which require it to be there. Most of these will give you the option to install the correct .NET add on during the installation of the program. I add them all (through .NET 4.0, the highest available for XP), because the PC seems to run better for me. For some perspective, .NET through version 4.5 is standard on Windows 7 I believe.

As for improved performance otherwise, running CCleaner is good (I uncheck all the registry cleaning options personally (recommend this too)). Also, defragmenting on a regular schedule is good. Last, if you can lower your disk usage some, it would help, especially if you will need to add service pack 3.

If you don't have service pack 3, you can download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=24

Just thought I would mention...I think you could pick up a really good used laptop on ebay for less than $100. Most of the sellers will refund if the PC is dead on arrival, but I haven't ever had one arrive that way when I have bought there (7 so far (all used)). This would be a good way to have an extra backup option around, and you could probably get a better machine for this money than your XP one (even with the extra RAM). You could probably find a good deal on RAM memory on ebay too, but you will need to know the specs of the RAM to find the sticks that will fit and run in your specific computer...

 

What you could do if you are only going to use the laptop for a short while is install a 32 bit version of Windows 7 for the 30 day trial period. Also, I have a 2GB stick of PC2-5300 RAM in my parts stash which would work for you if you're hard up for loot. You'd get a performance edge from 2x1GB sticks, but it just has to work in this case.

You can get a copy of the W7 .iso file online, and burn it to a CD-ROM, then install and update it. The updates will be a few hours in the making, but if you only need it for a short while W7 would perform better than XP on this machine. I put W7 on an old HP laptop and installed the drivers using XP compatibility mode and it runs like a top, plus smoother and better than XP did.

And I agree with AltBo. What's wrong with your Vista laptop?

 

Sorry, very busy these days, will be here soon.

Thank you for advices.

 

It would work if she wanted the 2GB stick, and the free space would only matter if she chose to dual boot. As this is an old laptop, I'm thinking that dual booting would be a "no".

And, that RAM module would have a purpose again... :cool

 

Hi,
sorry for not being here. I don't want to invest in this old pc - talkng about upgrating RAM.
Is there nay way hw can I maybe free some space on existing memory?

Do you need system scan?

J.

 

The mekanic said he would send the 2GB stick to you. He didn't say he would charge you for it. He wanted the module to find a new home and use as it's apparently a spare that's just collecting dust.

 

We all know the rules, but there is a possibility that Microsoft will allow activation of the Vista OS from the broken laptop on the older one, should it not be in a repairable state. We still don't know that yet either.

If the license key gets denied, so be it, but you never know until you ask...

 

Hi,
the mekanic is really kind, would he? Can I get in touch with him?

 

Unfortunately, you don't yet have enough posts to enable your Private Messaging (I believe you need 50 posts). The mekanic may be able to tell you how to contact him via some other means.

You made the mekanic and I very curious, though, when you said your Vista computer is "broken". If you could tell us about it (perhaps in another thread) we could probably help you "fix" it — it may be something simple. And since you already know that support for XP will be ending, it might be worth it to get the Vista machine up and running again.

 

That's hardware thing, not software.

 

I had to sen my other laptop to service ( in another city ). It will take a while. Therefore I have to use XP.

And needs to speed up ...

Thank you for willingness.

 

Jassmin,
some easy questions, please answer as clearly as possible.
As I understand it you are looking for a temporary solution.
1) do you have your XP install disc and serial number?
2) what programs do you want to run?
3) how long will you be using this laptop?

 

Not anymore.
I don't use any special programs.
For a couple of months. Until I get a new one.

 

Hi,
sory for disturbing, could you tell me which program can check and fix my HDD?

TY.

 

Please be more specific about the problems you're having with the HDD and on which computer (XP or Vista).

 

There is a utility built into all versions of Windows for this purpose. Click Start > Run/Search and type cmd > Enter. In the new window that opens type chkdsk /r > Enter. Then reboot and the utility will run and attempt to correct any errors on your C drive. It cannot correct every error though, say those related to the hard disk starting to fail.

 

Yes I would send you the RAM stick. Can't put up personal info for the world to see either.

Could some kind admin be able to forward a PM?

 

Hi The Mekanic,
how can I get in touch with you?

Is it possible to send you msg?

 

At 15 posts we can't exchange PMs. I will see if an admin can step in and get a shipping address from you.

 

Hi,
thank you, I've checked box Enable Private Messages. Can we exhcnge PM with The Mekanic now?

 

Thank you, very kind.

 

Hi mdonah,
I don't have speciifc problems, just want to check and fix errors. Still on XP but would like to install another OS.

What do I need to do? I have more space on HDD right now.

 

As earthling said:

In XP, you would go to Start -> Run and type in chkdsk /r (note the space between the k and forward slash) and hit Enter. Chkdsk will locate and try to repair any errors it finds on the hard drive during the next reboot. If it finds a lot of errors or bad sectors though, it means the hard drive is heading toward failure and needs to be replaced.

As far as installing another operating system, Vista and 7 have minimum machine requirements (processor speed, RAM, hard drive space, graphics capabilities) that this XP laptop may or may not meet. I don't think you'd be comfortable with dual-booting so, it would mean wiping the hard drive and doing a clean install of the new OS.

 

I used this tool already and laptop is faster now, having even more space on HDD now.

What are minimum requirements for Vista?

 

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor

1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

these right?

 

It depends on the version of Vista you're going to run but, essentially, this is correct. As I stated though, unless you're already familiar with dual-booting, you'd need to wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of Vista.

To dual-boot Vista and XP, you'd need to create a partitioned disk with two partitions and install Vista on the second partition. It's not that complicated to do but if done incorrectly it could create major problems — especially if you have important data on the hard drive.

 

Have no idea what are you talking about.

 

But for this version I don't need 1GB of RAM.

• 800-megahertz (MHz) 32-bit (x86) processor or 800-MHz 64-bit (x64) processor
• 512 megabytes (MB) of system memory
• DirectX 9-class graphics card
• 32 MB of graphics memory
• 20-gigabyte (GB) hard disk that has 15 GB of free hard disk space
• Internal or external DVD drive
• Internet access capability
• Audio output capability

 

Yes, these requirements are for Vista Home Basic. But you would still need to wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of Vista Home Basic. There is an upgrade from XP to Vista but many people have had problems going the upgrade route. It's better to do a clean install.