How to extend Lap Top memory / disc space?

[Deleted User]

Hiya, can anyone help / advise?

I apologise if answer to my query has been posted before I did try to read some posts but got very confused...

My laptop is about 3-4 yrs old runs on XP (it has: 1400MHz 584Mhz and 480MB RAM listed when I check the system profile, not sure what this means tho') Also using AVG anti-virus and anti spyware software

I keep getting prompts that I am running low on disc space so I have used the disc clean up wizard and add / remove facility, deleted old files documents etc

It has really slow down recently and I know it's going to give up completely soon :mad:

Is there anything else I can do? can't afford a new pc for a long time to come.

I mainly use the laptop to browse the net, music downloads, wordprocessing, watching TV & Movies online etc

Thanks in advance for your help

P.S please use REALLY BASIC language or I'll get confused again...will probably burst into tears too!
I

bat999

Hi bushbaby

There are two things that I can suggest for now.

1) I know that you've cleaned out your files, but there is a little program you can download and run that will really flush out the bits that you may have missed. It's called ccleaner and you can download it from here:-http://www.ccleaner.com/

2)Defragment your drive. If you're not sure how to do that, the instructions are here from Microsoft:- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848

If you're still not quite happy, ask again tomorrow, people will have other ideas too.

IvanOpinion

before trying this please get further advice because it is not something I have tried but it has been recommended to me in the past.

Windows has a prefetch area in which it stores loads of programs that it preloads into memory to improve performance. Sometimes this gets clogged up with dross that eats up memory. This is usually stored in c:\windows\prefetch. I have been told that deleting everything in this directory and allowing windows to reanalyse its needs can improve performance. Again, please heed my warning, I have not tried this.

Ivan

£$&*"($£&(

If your running out space on the hard drive you could get an external hard drive that plugs into a usb port. You can get these cheap these days. Then you can move many files to this leaving plenty of room on the drive in the laptop.

Your laptop has 512mb of RAM which is probably enough for your purposes but adding another 512mb will help in the long run. You'll need to open the small compartment on the underside of the laptop to check what you need. The RAM goes into slots in the compartment. There are two slots. Is one empty?

[Deleted User]

Hiya

thanks for the advice everyone. I did the defragmenting and used ccleaner, which helped abit.

I think I'll check out the prices of external hard drives / extra RAM, seems the easiest option, is there anything important I should consider when buying?

Thanks

bat999

Hiya bushbaby

So do you think you're running out of disk space because you've got too much stored on your computer?

Have you got hundreds of music tracks and photos?

BillScarab

If you're running low on disk space adding extra RAM isn't going to help, although it will improve your system's performance once you've sorted out the space problem. You need to delete some files or move them to an external drive or archive them to CD/DVD.

Try downloading spacemonger, it's a handy utility that gives a graphical representation of your hard disk and shows what is using up the space. The last free version was version 1.4.0 which you can download here.

http://www.sixty-five.cc/sm/v1x.php

That will show you if you have any large files eating up lots of space that you can delete.

One other thing you could do as a short term measure is to zip some of your file sup to reduce the amount of space they take up.

If you do decide to buy more RAM go to https://www.crucial.com and use their memory advisor tool to find out exactly what you need to buy, then buy the exact model number they recommend from a cheaper supplier.

[Deleted User]

bat999 wrote:

Hiya bushbaby

So do you think you're running out of disk space because you've got too much stored on your computer?

Have you got hundreds of music tracks and photos?

Not really. I have about 100 mp3 tracks (which I could burn to CD or put on mp3 player) and approx' 50 pictures / photos
I dont download movies or TV stuff just watch via streaming sites etc
also bookmarked a few web pages or put short cuts on desktop

I used to save everthing to the HD when I first got laptop (ie large word docs) but not now, so it feels like I have more stuff on there but have actually saved less. I don't understand this bit at all

I've deleted old word docs or put onto CD, empty recycle bin

Just checked in 'my comp' mainly have the stuff to run programmes and hardware (printer, scanner etc). I used add/delete programs to remove some stuff (left others I wasn't sure about ie; prgorammes that had 'shared files') and used 'disc clean up and tried to compress some files but it wouln't complete

Can I just check with you: would it make sense to buy an ext DVD writer as well as ext HD and use that to save stuff as i heard that DVDs store more data than CDs

checked space on HD 7.66GB used 2.10GB free

THANX

albertross_2

2GB free is plenty to be going on with..

did you try ccleaner?

But if you really want a new HD, they are cheap nowadays

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/95621/rb/24142517693

navig8r

you can get some space back by limiting the amount of space System Restore can use .Have look in the SR settings

Dave

bat999

Hi

If you already have a CD writer I don't think it's worth buying a DVD writer too, but that's up to you.

I suppose you should look through that 7.66GB of files and see which could be transferred to CD - stuff that you don't use much. :cool:

If you go for an external USB hard drive it starts getting expensive, fifty odd pounds upwards. :eek: