[swagner1130]

Hello,

I have a computer that is a few years old. It is very very slow in opening just about anything and it will freeze up for no apparent reason. I have run all the scans and cleaned up everything I know how to. But I noticed that it is only using 4%-25% of CPU usage. Is there something I can do to increase that? Would increasing the usage amount speed it up?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Steph

[mechanickid]

No that's a good thing, The usage Gauge in the task manager is just showing you current processing power distribution, your current percentage levels are good. This tells me that your system isn't being draged down by any virus or other program.

Desktop or Laptop? What brand?
What's your RAM size?
What operating system are you using?
What's your processor speed?
Is your Hard drive allmost full?

Just right click on my computer and go to properties, this will bring up the window to give this information. To get hard drive information go to my computer and right click on your Hard drive( most comonly drive C) and go to properties..

[swagner1130]

It's a...
HP Pavilion Desktop
2.10 GHz, 448 MB of Ram
Microsoft Windows XP, Version 2002
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+

It says I have a lot of unused space on my Hard Drive. I recently deleted just about everything I had, and I didn't have much to begin with, because I thought that might be the problem. However that didn't help any.

Thanks,

Steph

[mechanickid]

No that is a common misconception, baring a mass virus infection unless your hard drive less than 10% free its not the hard drive causing the problem,

Tell me, look by your clock, how many icons are there? This isn't all of the programs running but most will appear here.

First do these; I would go through and remove any start up programs that are running that you don't use, also I would turn programs that you do use to not start automatically with windows. Also when was your last cleaning, if any, you could buy some caned air and do this yourself, just do it outside because this can get very messy, and don't hold the can upside down.


Now you have a couple of options here, (and maybe some more), but I would do one of these two things in a situation like this;

1; you could do a clean sweep of your drive and a fresh installation of windows, this will help and be the most cost effective method. Doing this will eliminate start up programs and leftovers of programs you are no longer using that are most likely the culprit, upon some other additions to your system. I find that factory software is a waste also, doing nothing but robbing resources from your system. But doing this will require you to reinstall everything, you can do it and keep your files but if you don't exactly know what you are doing you could wipe them.

2; Second option would be to get some RAM, you could take it to a box store or a computer place and they will install it for you if you are not comfortable, most ram is low cost, and you won't have to worry about losing any information or installing programs. I am not sure what they are charging to install but its easy to do yourself. I would recommend getting at least another 512mb but your system may not have any open slots, so If you could open your case and take a picture I could tell you. Your looking for at least 1024mb here, which will improve your system.
I find that its sort of a AMD thing for older systems to just run slower and slower as they go, but this will spark debate, as any system takes on these traits.

Let me know what you decide, and if that all makes sense, I will go into detail about anything you chose.

[swagner1130]

I've done the refresh thing with the system restore thing. (very technical, I know) :)

It didn't really seem to help very much. I have never cleaned the computer. I'll get a can of air and try to clean it out. I'll let you know if that helps.

But otherwise, your saying it is basically old age?

Would it be cost effective to get the updates you recommened or would it be better to get a new computer all together?

[mechanickid]

Its ALWAYS better to get a new computer haha, but adding ram could solve the problem, its not the age of electronics that hurts its just basically electronic clutter,

I wasn't talking about system restore, that doesn't remove anything just reverts drivers and such, what I was talking about is a completely new fresh install of Windows, which will put the running to how it was when it was new, because you won't have any old program leftovers in the directorys.

It all depends on what you want to do, to add memory yourself you could do it for 20 to 40$ so really its not expensive at all, and depending on what your system uses you could always take it to your new machine,

[JBeaucaire]

Its ALWAYS better to get a new computer haha, but adding ram could solve the problem...

I'd go one step further and say adding ram WILL solve the problem stated. The computer I'm using today is 5 years old and going strong.

In my experience, 500mb of ram is the MINIMUM for Windows XP, and your problem shows why. So much of your computing experience is probably waiting for Windows to move things in and out of the SWAP SPACE on the hard drive. And with only 500mb, your swap space is probably out of control, too.

If you post your EXACT model # of the Pavilion, we can look up the upgrade specs for you and recommend a memory configuration and a new swap space brick.

[cogs]

Lol, mine's an hp, winxp, with half the processor speed, and almost half the ram as swagner's. My computer is quite fast, even with 2 user accounts running and many programs open.
That said, I would open the event viewer, by going to start/run/type 'eventvwr.msc' without quotes/look under the system tab/see if there's any warning or errors around the time you boot up/if not, check out the 'applications' tab and do the same thing. These will help point you to the slowdown. Post back here for more troubleshooting.

[tf7426]

Agree with cogs, I use an xp2700 (which has same clockspeed as your 3000+) but I have a gig of ram and it runs just as good as my P4 3.0Ghz with 2 gigs! So ram is the key, your xp3000 is has an FSB of 400Mhz so I recommend buying a gig of DDR400 as its very cheap nowadays and you will notice a massive change.

I reckon the best clear out you could do is save all your docs and dig out those xp disks and reformat (if you feel up to it and you've done it before), as over time stuff just builds up and brings your PC to a crawl.

To find out how much ram your computer will support go to Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com and click "scan my system", but I don't see why you shouldn't be able to support up to 2GB as an xp3000 isn't that old

Good luck

[swagner1130]

I used the reformat disks that came with the computer a couple months back. It seemed to help a little bit at first then not at all. -- I cleaned the computer this past weekend and that didn't really do anything. I am confused though, do I need more memory or more ram? Or are they the same? There is next to nothing on my computer so why would I need more memory?

I really appreciate all of your help.

Thanks,

Steph

[tf7426]

yes they're the same thing Random Access Memory

Hard drive space isn't usually referred to as memory

edit: your 448MB is pretty low for today's standards

[cogs]

Swagner, I think you're fine. Did you ever experience a noticeable slowdown in speed? Was the computer any faster before? I would try troubleshooting before you reinstall. I know reinstall will make things faster, but if you don't have to, then don't. If the computer is freezing up and slow, it may be malware. On the other forum I'm on, they recommend malwarebytes.

[mechanickid]

The memory we are referring to is RAM (Random Access Memory) memory, its your computers memory for running programs, it has no connection to your hard drive. It works like this; the computer has 3 spots to access for memory for running your programs; first there is your processors Cache memory, which is the fastest most expensive, this is not expandable it is a locked in number integrated into your processor; Second you have RAM which is second fastest you can increase this to a maximum supported by your hardware; Third you have blocks of your hard drive that are sectioned off for access only. You have RAM because its much faster than your hard drive, RAM is a dedicated access source for programs only, what's happening is your computer is filling up your RAM, once this happens it defaults to the last spot for memory and that's the Hard Drive, which is SLOOOOOOWWW as you are experiencing causing your system to run slow because its swapping out between your hard drive and the RAM, increase the RAM and WA LA it’s a magic trick sometimes is so dramatic :)

Good Luck

[cogs]

Thank you, that was interesting(not kidding). But as with my system, there's a reason it's slowing down. When I notice slower times, I always find something doing something, like updating, or scanning. You can open up task manager and see what process is slowing the cpu when it happens.

[mechanickid]

Yes there is always a reason, but as our programs become more elaborate and as we add more, resources are used up, and requirements rise,

512 is a minimum for XP, Bottom line it's a low amount, and its cheap and easy to upgrade