I need a new computer.

Ader1

Oh well, I sent off for one immediately. 3.99 pounds on ebay. I did use the vacuum cleaner a few weeks ago which did clean up most but maybe not all the dust.

james_smitha

It dose not cost £5 for an air duster, buy a multi pack, and they drop to £2 or 3.

If the CPU cooler is noisy consider a new one

closed

The op has already bought one for 3.99, £5 is obviously a ball park figure, I could have said £12.99

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/office-supplies/office-supplies/pc-care-cleaning/fellowes-hfc-free-air-duster-10810373-pdt.html

whatever the price, it's still a waste of money.

james_smitha

Closed-Fair play to you, you are right. I suspect they only bought a basic one that you get in the box with a retail processor-What we don't know is how much thermal paste was used

Ader1

Can anybody point be towards a decent decent CPU cooler which won't cost an arm and a leg?

james_smitha

ader1- We'd need to know the processor type that you had. I have an Asus silent knight, copper

anotheruser

Some people in this thread have got it wrong wrong wrong.
You don't have to take what I say as the truth but it's closer than what some people think. Source: I build my own computers, from scratch.


1) Have you taken a trip to a PC store, told them your budget and see what they have? Anything new will be miles better than what you have.

2) Windows XP support WILL END VERY SOON - this means you won't be getting any more Windows Updates, leaving the system open to vulnerabilities.

3) What are the videos? If they are "Family opening presents" or "Family holiday", then stick them on a DVD, as others have said. People sort of think DVD is old hat and it's all about "cloud" computing these days. Personally, I don't want to waste my connection uploading them somewhere as then to watch them, you have to stream it back. An external hard drive (which could fail if bashed) or a DVD is much better.
On a side note, SSD (Solid State Drives) are expensive but have no moving parts, therefore archivable videos could be better on one of these. They are smaller and lightning fast.

macman wrote: »

So there's your answer. The drive is over 92% full. Get some data off that and back it up elsewhere. Once your hard drive is over about 85% full it'll start to struggle and you'll be depending on the (limited) RAM more and more to swap data around.

Not exactly.

Yes, filling a hard drive will slow a PC down, but not to the extent you will really notice it as much as you say.

diamonds wrote: »

Vista would make it slower its so power hungry, but Win7 was built from basics without the Vista bloating.

Sorry that's just wrong.
Windows 7 is build on the same code as Vista.

I personally didn't find very much wrong with Vista, but I am an anomaly as it was known to be "not as great as one thought". However it was up against the stable and widely used XP, which as the OP proves is still used as widely today.

You will also note when XP came out, there were many problems with this OS too.

However as with many companies, Microsoft swap good and bad releases. 95 (bad), 98 (good), 2000/me (bad), XP (good), Vista (bad), Win 7 (good), Win 8 (bad) - expect the next one to be good.

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Back up your Drivers to a USB drive and external hard drive or a CD.
Once [Win XP is re-] installed, you can use the Driver Backup program to restore Drivers.

Yep, or a much better idea is to allow XP to download the latest drivers rather than trying to fit the old ones, which are probably out of date. XP is pretty good with drivers these days... :P
However there is an alternate program called File Hippo which will show you where to download the drivers yourself.

Ader1 wrote: »

I installed the most recent version of Avast Free Antivirus and it's causing things to slow down in a big way. I've seen that others have had this problem too by doing a google search.

Does anybody here know how to remedy this?

Download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. No bloaty, no tentacles like Norton and simply works.




zhavard has given some excellent advice in their post.
All is not lost, you can still transfer the stuff you have bought into the new system, as well as your old hard disks.
However, although PC World are over priced, it might be easer for you knowing not much about computers. Also check out local PC stores?

Ader1 wrote: »

The noise is obviously coming from the fans and mostly from the CPU fan at the best of times but goes into over-drive when the weather gets a little hotter. Is it possible for me to improve by getting a better fan or fans etc?

With an older PC like yours, the fans are more than likely 92mm. The standard today are 120mm, which allow them to spin slower, thus making less noise.

A newer, more modern CPU/motherboard/computer would help with this more than you expect.

To put this into perspective, my mobile phone is more powerful than your current PC.

If you still insist on upgrading, you have to make sure you take the old fan off, being careful not to damage any processor pins. Wipe all the thermal paste off, then put new stuff on and sit the fan nicely (youtube videos are available on how to do this).

However it really would be worth just buying a new motherboard and CPU combo with your remaining budget.

closed

windows has already been reinstalled, machine is fast again, problem solved.

james_smitha

**anotheruser** I made my own PC too, it is easy-What of it!

anotheruser

closed wrote: »

windows has already been reinstalled, machine is fast again, problem solved.

Yep, until XP support is dropped....
But hey, the OP will have to spend yet more money then. They could still take on board what I suggested as could others who look at the thread.