If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
I have knocked myself out this past week trying to get a Dell Optiplex
running XP to "go faster." The boot time for everything is so bad that I'm ashamed to give it to a family who lost everything in a fire--two school age kids, single parent to boot (so I need to get this up and running). I deleted everything that could be deleted. Installed the free AVG anti-virus (family lives below poverty level). Did a defrag, a couple of registry-cleaner clean-ups, an error check--the whole nine yards, as far as a computer layperson is concerned. Is it that a single chip processor is incompatible with software programs that connect to the internet? I'm sure this PC could be used successfully as a word processor or to play CDs; I installed a new modem and a new USB 2.0 port. Sorry for the language, but it still sucks. If anyone can suggest any final band-aid, I'd really appreciate hearing from you. I absolutely can't give this family a new computer but now feel that the few bucks I invested in the peripherals would have been better spent as a gift card for a new system. If there's anyone who'd look at the start menu and tell me what I could and can't delete, maybe that would help? Thanks. |
Ads |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
Hilary said this on 12/7/2009 1:48 PM:
I have knocked myself out this past week trying to get a Dell Optiplex running XP to "go faster." The boot time for everything is so bad that I'm ashamed to give it to a family who lost everything in a fire--two school age kids, single parent to boot (so I need to get this up and running). I deleted everything that could be deleted. Installed the free AVG anti-virus (family lives below poverty level). Did a defrag, a couple of registry-cleaner clean-ups, an error check--the whole nine yards, as far as a computer layperson is concerned. Is it that a single chip processor is incompatible with software programs that connect to the internet? I'm sure this PC could be used successfully as a word processor or to play CDs; I installed a new modem and a new USB 2.0 port. Sorry for the language, but it still sucks. If anyone can suggest any final band-aid, I'd really appreciate hearing from you. I absolutely can't give this family a new computer but now feel that the few bucks I invested in the peripherals would have been better spent as a gift card for a new system. If there's anyone who'd look at the start menu and tell me what I could and can't delete, maybe that would help? Thanks. You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add AVG if you like it. (I do). |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
Hilary said this on 12/7/2009 1:48 PM:
I have knocked myself out this past week trying to get a Dell Optiplex running XP to "go faster." The boot time for everything is so bad that I'm ashamed to give it to a family who lost everything in a fire--two school age kids, single parent to boot (so I need to get this up and running). I deleted everything that could be deleted. Installed the free AVG anti-virus (family lives below poverty level). Did a defrag, a couple of registry-cleaner clean-ups, an error check--the whole nine yards, as far as a computer layperson is concerned. Is it that a single chip processor is incompatible with software programs that connect to the internet? I'm sure this PC could be used successfully as a word processor or to play CDs; I installed a new modem and a new USB 2.0 port. Sorry for the language, but it still sucks. If anyone can suggest any final band-aid, I'd really appreciate hearing from you. I absolutely can't give this family a new computer but now feel that the few bucks I invested in the peripherals would have been better spent as a gift card for a new system. If there's anyone who'd look at the start menu and tell me what I could and can't delete, maybe that would help? Thanks. You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add AVG if you like it. (I do). |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Dec 7, 2:36*pm, Big_Al wrote:
You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. * Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. * This way you're sure you have a clean system. * Yes, add AVG if you like it. * (I do). If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386. |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Dec 7, 2:36*pm, Big_Al wrote:
You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. * Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. * This way you're sure you have a clean system. * Yes, add AVG if you like it. * (I do). If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
Hilary wrote:
On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al wrote: You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add AVG if you like it. (I do). If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386. It might. (It really depends on how much RAM is installed.) Then again, are you willing to provide free support for the Linux installation? If this PC is going to fire victims, unless they are familiar with Linux, it would be logical to perform a Clean Install of the OS it came with (presumably Windows XP Home). Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is *far* less of a resource hog) instead. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
Hilary wrote:
On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al wrote: You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add AVG if you like it. (I do). If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386. It might. (It really depends on how much RAM is installed.) Then again, are you willing to provide free support for the Linux installation? If this PC is going to fire victims, unless they are familiar with Linux, it would be logical to perform a Clean Install of the OS it came with (presumably Windows XP Home). Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is *far* less of a resource hog) instead. |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:15:50 -0500, "Daave" wrote:
Hilary wrote: On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al wrote: You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add AVG if you like it. (I do). If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386. It might. (It really depends on how much RAM is installed.) Then again, are you willing to provide free support for the Linux installation? If this PC is going to fire victims, unless they are familiar with Linux, it would be logical to perform a Clean Install of the OS it came with (presumably Windows XP Home). Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is *far* less of a resource hog) instead. Better yet, why not use the free Microsoft Security Essentials. |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:15:50 -0500, "Daave" wrote:
Hilary wrote: On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al wrote: You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add AVG if you like it. (I do). If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386. It might. (It really depends on how much RAM is installed.) Then again, are you willing to provide free support for the Linux installation? If this PC is going to fire victims, unless they are familiar with Linux, it would be logical to perform a Clean Install of the OS it came with (presumably Windows XP Home). Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is *far* less of a resource hog) instead. Better yet, why not use the free Microsoft Security Essentials. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:29:17 -0800, Shel wrote:
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:15:50 -0500, "Daave" wrote: Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is *far* less of a resource hog) instead. Better yet, why not use the free Microsoft Security Essentials. Avira Antivir is also free. Which is better? As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft Security Essentials is too new to answer that question for sure. But Avira Antivir is an excellent product, and until Microsoft Security Essentials has been around long enough to prove itself, I would choose Avira. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:29:17 -0800, Shel wrote:
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:15:50 -0500, "Daave" wrote: Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is *far* less of a resource hog) instead. Better yet, why not use the free Microsoft Security Essentials. Avira Antivir is also free. Which is better? As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft Security Essentials is too new to answer that question for sure. But Avira Antivir is an excellent product, and until Microsoft Security Essentials has been around long enough to prove itself, I would choose Avira. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Dec 7, 7:50*pm, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote: Which is better? *As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft Security Essentials is too new to answer that question for sure. But Avira Antivir is an excellent product, and until Microsoft Security Essentials has been around long enough to prove itself, I would choose Avira. Thanks, very much, to all of you. The computer ran excruciatingly slower after installing AVG 9.0 with the "rumble/ticking" of an old processor downloading--and this was after I installed every conceivable XP update. If AVG is downloading 24/7, the family I want to give this to will consider it an insult. I'll uninstall AVG (which is perfect on my Vista running on dual core) and try Avira. (BTW, if anyone reading this is involved in public relations for tech companies at Christmas time, seriously consider copying the "One Laptop Per Child" to homeless children or children who have been devastated by fires in this country. Fires almost always occur in poorly maintained homes, and poorly maintained homes are almost always rental units. Sorry for the pitch, but is a minority single parent family with two phenom preteens, and I am so afraid of what so much loss is going to do to them. But God bless Usenet, and THANKS!) |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
On Dec 7, 7:50*pm, "Ken Blake, MVP"
wrote: Which is better? *As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft Security Essentials is too new to answer that question for sure. But Avira Antivir is an excellent product, and until Microsoft Security Essentials has been around long enough to prove itself, I would choose Avira. Thanks, very much, to all of you. The computer ran excruciatingly slower after installing AVG 9.0 with the "rumble/ticking" of an old processor downloading--and this was after I installed every conceivable XP update. If AVG is downloading 24/7, the family I want to give this to will consider it an insult. I'll uninstall AVG (which is perfect on my Vista running on dual core) and try Avira. (BTW, if anyone reading this is involved in public relations for tech companies at Christmas time, seriously consider copying the "One Laptop Per Child" to homeless children or children who have been devastated by fires in this country. Fires almost always occur in poorly maintained homes, and poorly maintained homes are almost always rental units. Sorry for the pitch, but is a minority single parent family with two phenom preteens, and I am so afraid of what so much loss is going to do to them. But God bless Usenet, and THANKS!) |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
Hilary wrote:
On Dec 7, 7:50 pm, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: Which is better? As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft Security Essentials is too new to answer that question for sure. But Avira Antivir is an excellent product, and until Microsoft Security Essentials has been around long enough to prove itself, I would choose Avira. Thanks, very much, to all of you. The computer ran excruciatingly slower after installing AVG 9.0 with the "rumble/ticking" of an old processor downloading--and this was after I installed every conceivable XP update. If AVG is downloading 24/7, the family I want to give this to will consider it an insult. I'll uninstall AVG (which is perfect on my Vista running on dual core) and try Avira. You should also run the special AVG remover from this page: http://www.avg.com/ca-en/download-tools I am very pleased with Avira. That's a good move. (BTW, if anyone reading this is involved in public relations for tech companies at Christmas time, seriously consider copying the "One Laptop Per Child" to homeless children or children who have been devastated by fires in this country. Fires almost always occur in poorly maintained homes, and poorly maintained homes are almost always rental units. Sorry for the pitch, but is a minority single parent family with two phenom preteens, and I am so afraid of what so much loss is going to do to them. But God bless Usenet, and THANKS!) That's great you are involved in this. I'll pass the word along as well. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
Hilary wrote:
On Dec 7, 7:50 pm, "Ken Blake, MVP" wrote: Which is better? As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft Security Essentials is too new to answer that question for sure. But Avira Antivir is an excellent product, and until Microsoft Security Essentials has been around long enough to prove itself, I would choose Avira. Thanks, very much, to all of you. The computer ran excruciatingly slower after installing AVG 9.0 with the "rumble/ticking" of an old processor downloading--and this was after I installed every conceivable XP update. If AVG is downloading 24/7, the family I want to give this to will consider it an insult. I'll uninstall AVG (which is perfect on my Vista running on dual core) and try Avira. You should also run the special AVG remover from this page: http://www.avg.com/ca-en/download-tools I am very pleased with Avira. That's a good move. (BTW, if anyone reading this is involved in public relations for tech companies at Christmas time, seriously consider copying the "One Laptop Per Child" to homeless children or children who have been devastated by fires in this country. Fires almost always occur in poorly maintained homes, and poorly maintained homes are almost always rental units. Sorry for the pitch, but is a minority single parent family with two phenom preteens, and I am so afraid of what so much loss is going to do to them. But God bless Usenet, and THANKS!) That's great you are involved in this. I'll pass the word along as well. |
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|