My Compaq is 4yrs. old now and very slow
M#6016us. I Need to know what to look for when i upgrade. MHZ?--MB--GB--GZ. I just need the tower.Also there so many brands out there i don't know which yo chose from.
Need Help
BTW: i only use a computer to do Banking,check investments,buy on line etc.

In terms of computers, more is always better unless it's cost. Do you have a space restriction, and or approximate budget?

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

My five year old Dell had also slowed to negligible speed. Purchased a new Dell when they were closing out XP. The new one is only a bit faster.........still wait for Outlook and Acrobat to open.

I'm thinking an OS reinstall on the old machine will get it's performance very close to the new one...........considering the minimal needs that I have.

I got a new hard drive for it (the old one was 30GB) and I'm going to see how this approach fares.

if you are doing something like just webbrowsing and stock checking more ram would more than likely be your best bet.

Your 4 year old compaq is far from slow, its probably well beyond what you need. Reinstall windows, consider hard drive replacement (though not really necessary), and perhaps additional memory (RAM). Both cheap upgrades, and would get years more out of it....a new computer won't seem much faster, and this is a bad time to buy, because you'd end up with Vista instead of XP. At least wait another year or two and get a system pre-loaded with Windows 7...which will be way better.

Heck, I am using systems that are over NINE years old as some of my servers, and they handle that task with ease. My present computer is over 3 years old, and still keeps up with everything that I do....which is a lot!

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

RAM RAM RAM. Hard drive size generally doesn't do much for speed (aside from paging files, etc.) Keep your drives defragged and such does have some effect on speed, namely when it comes to actually opening files and such. Make sure you don't have too much crap bogging your system down and stuff. Look for seldom used programs that automatically open upon startup, and disable them. Too much crap = slow system.

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1989 300E 144K

If i do a Reinstall of XP will it remove all of my files,pictures,favorites etc. and how do i add more RAM?

This is what i have now. Scan.jpg (42.1 KB)

Attached Thumbnails

 

Most computer stores or online such as kingston ram will be able to tell you what kind of ram to buy.

Thats a pretty fast system for general usage. Yes you will lose all your files if you reinstall. Just back them up somewhere and load them back on afterward.

WindowsXP does fine with 512 ram, especially if you're not doing anything intensive.....I think the most benefit will come from a fresh Operating System install.

I didn't mean a "bigger" hard drive to gain speed...I meant a faster one. A typical hard drive of today is about 6x the size and 2x the speed of an older one. The bigger hard drives are indeed faster due to the much higher density and recording technology they have. Then there's the super fast drives, like the Western Digital Raptor and Velociraptor....they are super fast. (I have one. )

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

What do you mean by a fresh Operating System Install?

Installing WindowsXP fresh means to choose the "reformat and reinstall" option when going through the process. It cleans off the hard drive then "fresh" installs the operating system, so no remnants of the previous install are still there. This is the best way to go.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

O.K Thanks

If you have structured the file system properly, all the documents that you wish to save.........those that have nothing to do with the programs.........are under the folder "My documents".

This entire folder needs to be duplicated on a CD-ROM or an external drive because it all will be lost when you reinstall the operating system.

You'll need to check the machine carefully to see if you have any files that are not under "my documents". Anything that you don't backup prior to the reinstall will be gone.

O.k