Slow PC. XP Home.

[bill watt]

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 19:17:51 -0400, 98 Guy <98@Guy.com> wrote:

>Bill Watt wrote:
>
>> My friend has a 5 year old Dell PC that came with XP Home.
>>
>> It has become painfully slow.
>>
>> Would appreciate any ideas.
>
>Install windows 98 on it.
>
>That's why you're posting here, isin't it?

No, I posted here by mistake and immediately apologized in my
followup post. See my post.

Bill

["j. p. gilliver]

In message <ht46s4trncbjcb9unmp9i26av5q0g08rl8@4ax.com>,
letterman@invalid.com writes:
[]
>>Do you want to find stuff to burn on your CD burner, or you want to find
>>freeware cd-burning software?
>
>I mean freeware cd-burning software?
>I got the drive, never used it to burn. Never even burned any CD. I
>have no idea how. I need software that is easy to use and gets the
>job done.
>
>
Didn't anything come with the drive? (The commonest is a version of
Nero, with more recent drives a version crippled so that it will only
work with that drive, though that shouldn't matter). If not:

Last time I downloaded it, burn4free was compatible with '9x; it doesn't
actually say now on http://www.burn4free.com/ (at least, I can't find
any indication - but then I can't find any mention of XP or Vista
either). It's only a 4.13 megs download. It's a fairly good simple prog.
IMO, does DVD drives too, and multisession.

(If you do go to that page, make sure you download the right thing -
there are lots of download links on the page, to other things. You want
the big VV Download Now! blue button in the middle _near_ - though _not_
_at_ - the top. I'd probably also download the FAQ - and possibly the
ASPI file linked from it - and a few of the bits linked from Tutorial.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
** http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/G6JPG-PC/JPGminPC.htm for ludicrously
outdated thoughts on PCs. **

><PEDANT>You didn't start that <RANT></RANT> block.</PEDANT>

No. I typed &ltrant&gt several years ago.
(Alisdair Wren and Stuart Brady, August/September 1998.)

[letterman]

On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:31:18 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
<G6JPG@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>Didn't anything come with the drive? (The commonest is a version of
>Nero, with more recent drives a version crippled so that it will only
>work with that drive, though that shouldn't matter). If not:

No, it was a used drive I got at a computer recycler company.
I downloaded the drivers and the drive works, just dont have any
burning software.
>
>Last time I downloaded it, burn4free was compatible with '9x; it doesn't
>actually say now on http://www.burn4free.com/ (at least, I can't find
>any indication - but then I can't find any mention of XP or Vista
>either). It's only a 4.13 megs download. It's a fairly good simple prog.
>IMO, does DVD drives too, and multisession.
>
If it don't say anymore, it's a coin toss !!!!
Seems a lot of sites are doing that now. Many say "for Windows".
Which means nothing...... But if it DID work for 98 it still might,
or I'll see if there is an older version available.

>(If you do go to that page, make sure you download the right thing -
>there are lots of download links on the page, to other things. You want
>the big VV Download Now! blue button in the middle _near_ - though _not_
>_at_ - the top. I'd probably also download the FAQ - and possibly the
>ASPI file linked from it - and a few of the bits linked from Tutorial.)
>--

What is an ASPI file?

Thanks for the help. I'll give it a try !

LM

[bill watt]

On Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:23:41 -0400, Bill Watt <nobwatt@ptd.net>
wrote:

>
>My friend has a 5 year old Dell PC that came with XP Home. It has
>become painfully slow.
>
>The Desktop comes up ok but then it takes a long time to bring up
>programs like IE Explorer. He's on DSL and I tried it without DSL
>connected and it made no difference. It's just generally slow no
>matter what you do, on the net or not.
>
>He has an 80 GB drive and 256 MB memory. I don't know the processor
>speed yet. The swap file is managed by the system. The drive has
>about 50 GB free.
>
>The Startup Group is loaded with *.dll's. Both in Msconfig and
>MSinfo32.
>
>I searched the drive for *.tmp files and deleted them except for the
>Windows\Temp folder which has 313 tmp files and 10 sub folders.
>
>I'm planning to delete everything in the Windows\Temp folder hoping
>that may speed it up. He has a Reg Cleaner he uses periodically,
>don't know the name of it yet. He bought it.
>
>Would appreciate any ideas.
>
>Regards,
>
>Bill Watt
>Win98 Computer Help & Other Information http://home.ptd.net/~bwatt/

More info.

It ran ok after a clean boot. Deleted the contents of Windows\Temp.

He has Outlook Express frequently checking and loading mail, then
AVG checks the Mail as it comes in. He's going to change the
frequency of that and see what happens. We will then go over the
start up group again and get rid of things like Google Tool Bar.
Then we'll check ADD\REMOVE and uninstall stuff he doesn't actually
need.

Thanks for all the replies and good information.

Regards,

Bill Watt
Win98 Computer Help & Other Information http://home.ptd.net/~bwatt/

[thanatoid]

letterman@invalid.com wrote in
news:bbtcs45tqgigjm1oqn2cgo7snb78su200v@4ax.com:

<SNIP>

> If it don't say anymore, it's a coin toss !!!!
> Seems a lot of sites are doing that now. Many say "for
> Windows". Which means nothing...... But if it DID work for
> 98 it still might, or I'll see if there is an older version
> available.

Didn't you get the post where I explained EVERYTHING you need to
do what to do and for free? Don't worry WHAT ASPI is, just
install it. Jeezus.


--
"Who knows what the OP is talking about?"
(about thanatoid)

["j. p. gilliver]

In message <bbtcs45tqgigjm1oqn2cgo7snb78su200v@4ax.com>,
letterman@invalid.com writes:
>On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:31:18 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
><G6JPG@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Didn't anything come with the drive? (The commonest is a version of
>>Nero, with more recent drives a version crippled so that it will only
>>work with that drive, though that shouldn't matter). If not:
>
>No, it was a used drive I got at a computer recycler company.
>I downloaded the drivers and the drive works, just dont have any
>burning software.

If you mean works _as a reader_, I'm surprised you needed any drivers;
support for CD-ROM drives is intrinsic to '9x (even '95). The drivers
you mention may be DOS ones (have they added a line each to
\autoexec.bat and \config.sys?), which will be slowing down your boot
time a tiny fraction (probably unnoticeable), but won't (I _think_ do
any harm (and will give you CD access in a true DOS boot).
>>
>>Last time I downloaded it, burn4free was compatible with '9x; it doesn't
[]
>If it don't say anymore, it's a coin toss !!!!
>Seems a lot of sites are doing that now. Many say "for Windows".
>Which means nothing...... But if it DID work for 98 it still might,
>or I'll see if there is an older version available.

Give it a try; only 4.13M. (I know if you're still on download that's
still significant.) If it turns out not to be, ask: I'm sure I've got an
installer somewhere (if not two or three) that _is_ '9x-compatible.

"Other burning softwares are available" - ISTR a name something like
tinyburn, for example, which is even smaller (I think I tried it and it
didn't work for me, but if I did, I didn't pursue it, already having
both Adaptec/Roxio and burn4free).

You should also be able to find Nero at least - possibly Adaptec/Roxio -
at a computer fair; if the seller has older versions, they'd probably be
glad to offload them. But burn4free does look like it will do everything
one could want, even audio CDs.
>
>>(If you do go to that page, make sure you download the right thing -
>>there are lots of download links on the page, to other things. You want
>>the big VV Download Now! blue button in the middle _near_ - though _not_
>>_at_ - the top. I'd probably also download the FAQ - and possibly the
>>ASPI file linked from it - and a few of the bits linked from Tutorial.)
>>--
>
>What is an ASPI file?

I can't remember (if I ever knew) what ASPI stands for, but it's
something to do with access to CD-ROM drives; I think it may be to do
with them really being SCSI drives underneath their (E)IDE interface,
but I may be quite wrong about that. Anyway, the ASPI driver that's
built into '9x _may_ not work with burn4free and your drive; if you try
it without, and it (b4f) seems to run fine but can't see the drive or
something, get and implement the ASPI file it mentions (it's only a few
hundred K - possibly less than that - IIRR). (If it's not where the
links say it is any more, again, ask.)
>
>Thanks for the help. I'll give it a try !
>
>LM

Do tell us how you get on.

(Are you going to get broadband? If you're on a "Market 3" exchange,
then PlusNet is competitive - 5.99 a month I think - and still has a UK
24h helpline, unlike some of the others; if you use them, mention
jpgilliver, as I get a reward for recommending. Other ISPs are
available, of course.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
** http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/G6JPG-PC/JPGminPC.htm for ludicrously
outdated thoughts on PCs. **

Boss: We must maintain a sense of urgency. Speed is the key. We must be faster
than the competition.
Dilbert: Does that mean you'll sign the stuff that's been on your desk for a
month? (Scott Adams, 1998-12-26)