slow laptop

[fiesta]

my lapy as gone painfully slow when you press the arrows to go up or down it dosnt move at first then it jumps 2 or three screens it seems to be delaying in everything you want it to do i tried spybot to clean anythin i av macafee runnin all the time any1 av any solutions

[Analoguesat]

Sounds like its low on ram. Go to _www.crucial.com/uk and run the memory checker.

[fiesta]

just tried that dont realy know what i am lookin at. when i look at computer memory it says only 50% used I have deleted loads of sh**e ..defraged

[Analoguesat]

None of that matters. Go to the site I indicated earlier and run the checker. (You will need to download it and then run it)

You will get something like the picture which is for my system. The top left image tells me I have 3GB ram in this computer, and the top right tells me this particular motherboard will support 8GB (However as Im running a normal version of win xp theres no point cranking it up beyond 3GB anyway.)

The scanner is intelligent enough to also tell me that I have 2x 512MB ram sticks and 2 x 1GB ram sticks in the four memory slots.

Now it also depends which operating system you have on your computer as to how much memory you need to run it successfully. If you have Vista I pity you as its a pile of steaming doodoo with excessive system resource demands.

So run this scanner and tell us

1) what it says
2) which operating system you have
3) if your kids get to use your computer!

[fiesta]

Currently installed memory:

512MB

512MB

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 2GB per slot.*

*Not to exceed manufacturer supported memory.

• Maximum Memory Capacity: 4096MB
• Currently Installed Memory: 1GB
• Available Memory Slots: 0
• Total Memory Slots: 2
• Dual Channel Support: Yes
• CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
• CPU Family: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M CPU 430 @ 1.73GHz Model 14, Stepping 8
• CPU Speed: 1729 MHz
• Although the memory can be installed one module at a time, the best performance comes from using matched pairs of module

Daughter has face book ..we have 3 user acounts for ipods and I am on vista should I dump vista

[Analoguesat]

So you are running Vista on a laptop with 1GB ram in it. Yuk. Vista really needs 2GB to give it room to breathe.

Id strongly advise buying a 2GB ram stick and installing it. (Turn the laptop over - there should be an panel on the bottom about 2" x 1" normally held in place with one screw.

have a look (you wont do any damage) and see if theres a memory chip under there. If so its dead easy to replace one of the chips.

If there is & you do swap them then make sure the laptop is totally off then unsnap the chip and slide the new one in place. The chip is held in place by a spring each side and is easy to remove and replace.

However there are a couple of things you can also do beforehand. Remove any unwanted programmes (especially anything the kids have loaded, run once and forgotten about!)


Click on Start - Run then type msconfig and hit enter. Click on the startup tab and untick anything you dont need booting on startup. You will find all sorts of junk in here as virtually every programme you have ever installed will auto start on boot as the designers think you need their programme every time.

You can untick anything like Itunes etc - you can always start it up manually when you want it..

FFS be careful what you untick in here - dont untick your anti virus prog!!!

[fiesta]

Thanks for that I have untickd all unwanted start ups You are right there was a lot of junk I will have a look at unscrewing the back 2moro where do you recomend buyin required memory..Ebay??

[Analoguesat]

Crucial - they site link above will tell you what you need & they are as cheap as anyone.

I use them for work & their service is fast & reliable.

Next tiem the computer boots it will ask you to cionfirm your choices. Just ok it - you can always retick anything you decide you actually want to start.