Is it time to replace my computer? Running slow and being unreliable?

Question

I have an HP Pavilion Desktop which is about 3 or 4 years old. It has an Dual Intel Pentium 2.0 ghz processor and 4gb or ram (had 2gb, upgraded it a year ago). I also upgraded it to Windows 7. This has been the most reliable computer I have had until recently. I have Magic Jack running it (VOIP Phone service) along with a USB Video Capture device. When I am doing basic things like Internet Browsing or word processing its fine. But as soon as I open graphics editing, Itunes, or if there is more than 1 program open it starts running slowly and very choppy. At first I thought I had a virus or some spyware but I have went ahead and purchased antivirus and anti spyware software and the computer has none of that. I have defragmented the hard drive, checked for any unwanted programs running on startup, cleaned the registry, and it still continues to be a problem.
Are these pc's specs just not enough for what I am using it? Is it time to upgrade to something faster and with 8GB of ram? I am contemplating on mac, what is the minimum amount of ram I should get a Mac with?

Any input would be appreciated it, thanks !!

Answer 1

Greets,

I can suggest one product..dat can solve it.. named Advanced System Optimizer is the Best single-in-one product dat may help u increasing ur system performance..!



-It has System Protector that scans and clean the infections if found.

-It has Registry Cleaner and Registry optimizer to tune registries.

- Also it has Disk Optimizer to optimize the disk .



there are various other utilities also that may also help you.

Hope this wud solve your prob.



Regards.

Answer 2

1) Upgrade RAM. This is the one killer trick that will make almost any computer run faster. With an older PC, you will rarely have enough RAM to run today's memory-hogging operating systems and applications, and adding a high-capacity stick or two of quality RAM will give you a quick speed boost. Adding RAM is fairly simple, even for a novice, and you should be able to do the job in 5 or 10 minutes.



2)Reinstall Windows. If the above tricks haven't helped, it may be time to wipe the slate clean and start again, reformatting your hard drive, reinstalling your applications, and restoring your data files from a backup. You'd be surprised how much more responsive a freshly reinstalled Windows system can be, as you've wiped out years of temp files, garbled registry entries, old versions of software programs that have been upgraded repeatedly, and all sorts of other electronic junk. Reinstalling is easy if you have the "recovery disk" that came with your PC, and only a bit more involved if you're using a retail copy of Windows XP. Just be sure you back up everything you want to take with you before you pull the trigger!



3)Upgrade your hard drive. This is a more complicated solution, but if you're reinstalling Windows (per the prior tip) you might consider upgrading to a bigger and possibly faster hard drive, too. Hard disk storage is a performance bottleneck on every machine, and magnetic disks degrade over time. Some performance issues could be caused by a failing hard drive, even, and upgrading to a new model could really put some zip back in your system. As a bonus, you can use the original hard drive for backups or occasional storage, if you put it in an enclosure.

Answer 3

Nope, I think you should try some other tricks which I have given here. Hope they works for you. If not, then do a format and reinstall.



Your computer runs slow due to different technical reasons. For instance, you may experience this problem when there are lots of services running in the background. The slow downs are also experienced when your hard disk and registry are fragmented. I'll suggest performing system maintenance tasks on a regular basis.



1. If you are running Windows XP or earlier version, then click Start. Select Run. If you are running Windows Vista/ 7, then press Windows Key + R.

2. Type "SERVICES.MSC" in the Open box, and press ENTER key.

3. Right click a service that you don't use, and select Stop option. Do the same for all other services which are not necessary for you.

4. Install Reginout registry defrag program. Click Analyze button.

5. When the registry analyze process is completed, click Defragment Registry button. Reboot your computer when you are done.

6. Click Start, select All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk Defragmenter.

7. Select all the disk drives, and click "Defragment Disks" button.

Answer 4

Specs are good enough to run windows. Graphic software you are running may be chewing up your cpu time. Have checked what's causing bottle necks. There are quite a few ways to tell. Task manager is your best friend. And if you have lots of cpu and ram available for other things to load in memory and you have done all the troubleshooting as above, its still not time to replace this pc yet. Take your computer in the garage or outside. Open it put it on ground and use air vaccume to suck all the dirt. Then blow it with a blower. That will make your computer run smoother. It accumulates lots of dirt and this is the best and fastest way I found. If you dont have a vaccume, just use the leave blower to blow all dirt but it will blow on you.

CPU, Ram, and hard drive sometimes slows down. Check the seek time on your hard drive. and run some test on your RAM and CPU beofore giving up.

Answer 5

Before you replace your computer, you should try some of the tricks I have given below. I hope they will help you fix out the problem.



Click Start | Run, type "RegEdit", and press ENTER. Open this registry path: HKLM\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ CDROM. Add a REG_DWORD value named Autorun and set its value to 0.



Close all the programs running in the background. Install Reginout registry defragmenter, analyze the registry state. If it is too fragmented, then defragment it immediately.



The folder view on the left in Windows Explorer automatically expands if you click on a folder containing sub-folders. You can disable this function with a registry tweak: change the DWORD-value FriendlyTree to 0 (instead of 1) in the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Automatically expanding folders will be disabled, expanding a folder is now done by double clicking the folder.

Answer 6

You might have a virus, spyware, or may be just loaded down with too many programs. Get some virus software and scan your drive. Then go in to the control panel and delete any non-system programs you aren't using. If that doesn't do the trick, open up the the task manager, find the names of the executables running (especially the ones sucking up computer resources), and do a google search on each of them. If any of them are viruses/worms/spyware, there will be info out there on the net about them with step-by-step removal instructions. 90% of slow PC problems have nothing to do with hardware and instead are caused by too many junk programs on a PC. I found an Adobe Acrobat updater program on my PC that all it did was check for upgrades once a month, yet it was always running in the background all the time and sucking up a disturbing amount of resources for such a simple task. Delete stuff like that.

Answer 7

Sounds like something is hogging your resources. Did you try running "Malwarebytes' Antimalware" program? It's free. Install it and get the updates and then run it in "Safe Mode". If you don't run these types of programs in safe mode, you're going to miss some. Also, run a free program like "Process Explorer" to really see what's loading up. One more thing I'd do is run "PC Decrapifier" to make sure you're not running any bloatware.



Lastly, shut off "System Restore". It's pretty much useless and takes up a lot of space.



I think what you have will be more than enough to run any of the programs you mentioned without a problem.



Good Luck.

Answer 8

have you cleaned the inside of your computer ? there may be a large build up of dust in it that would cause excessive heat an slow you down and have you checked all your internal fans or your cpu heat sink there a lot of slow downs due to a computer over heating and some times memory can go bad but in general it sounds like you computer may be at the end of the line im a pc but mac's are pretty good and if you can afford it go for it but go to a mac store and talk to a sales associate let them give you the pros and cons then you will be able to make an informed decision

Answer 9

There can be two issues:

1. Virus (Use AVG free)

2.. Corrupt registry ( Use reginout)

I am sure it will help you.

Answer 10

I see your doubt



I really dont know, but what I do know is that you have better options for VoIP phone systems at

http://www.telcodepot.com