Please help with my computer

angelcake

My computer is really slow!

I have been on tom coyotes trying to sort it and it was no help!

Please can you help me sort it out, I don't know what to do! I am using a work laptop at the moment.

How can I see whats taking up the most on my computer! I really can't afford another one and need to sort this! Do I need to wipe everything and start again?

How do I check the memory? .... say if its the photos taking up all the memory etc...

It keeps saying low on virtual memory etc.....

[Deleted User]

Hi,

what system are you using?

You could go into add/remove programmes and get rid of any old progs that you don't use now,

check and see how much RAM you've got, you could maybe add more,

have a look here might help.

angelcake

thanks That website looks useful!! I will follow and will be back if I need to be!

f1charlie

Try running Process Explorer to see if that shows any processes hogging your CPU time.

Irishbollox

store your pics on line at photobox etc (look at quidco for the best cash back offers first), then, once online order a cd copy of the pictures (just in case). that should free up tons of space.
also try defrag the computer (double click my computer, right click the hard drive and then properties and then tools.) hope that helps

Wombat

There is a difference between memory and disk space on your hard drive. Your photos will be taking up disk space, not memory. So they are not the culprit unless your hard drive is fullish, in which case they might be contributing to the slowing down of your system by using space that the system would like to use as swap space.

Your system will use your Ram memory to store program data etc., but when this fills up it allocates an area of disk space as a swap file to store the overflow. If there is insufficient room on the hard drive, or the hard drive is badly fragmented, to store this overflow efficiently, the system slows down while it goes looking for extra space or reconstitutes the fragmented swap file.

You need to defragment your hard drive to ensure efficient use of the space. Then ascertain that it isn't too full. If it is, then delete any obsolete programs and files, or, as has been suggested, store what you can elsewhere.

If the hard drive isn't full and isn't fragmented, then maybe you need to increase the size allocated to your swap file:

In Windows XP click START....Control Panel and double click the System icon.
Click the Advanced tab
Click Settings under Performance
Click the Advanced tab
Under Virtual Memory click Change and increase the size.
Click OK until you return to the Control Panel.

If this doesn't sort it out then consider installing more Ram.

HTH.

susieb

Mine the same - very slow, got loads of space on hard disk, so used the above link and found I've only got 128mb ram, so I presume I need some more.
How difficult is this to do, I have a dell 2400 pc on windows xp.

alanrowell

susieb wrote:

Mine the same - very slow, got loads of space on hard disk, so used the above link and found I've only got 128mb ram, so I presume I need some more.
How difficult is this to do, I have a dell 2400 pc on windows xp.

I just go to a website like https://www.crucial.com or https://www.kingston.com then feed the details in.

Then use Google to find a supplier of the particular type of memory

Wombat

susieb wrote:

Mine the same - very slow, got loads of space on hard disk, so used the above link and found I've only got 128mb ram, so I presume I need some more.
How difficult is this to do, I have a dell 2400 pc on windows xp.

Fitting Ram is quite easy:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,62183-page,1/article.html

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2002/09/18/building_your_own_pc/page8.html

128MB isn't a lot, especially if you're running Windows XP. 512MB upwards is ideal.

As already mentioned, use www.crucial.com to find out what memory your PC uses.