# How much does it cost for someone to speed up my computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 16, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241 "2014-07-16T01:08:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/21 "2014-07-16T20:56:41Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Apparently I’ve been talking to myself here. > Twice I have suggested you download superantispyware and clean out your tracking cookies and other crap that is slowing your machine. > Here is the link [http://www.superantispyware.com](http://www.superantispyware.com) > > If you aren’t going to listen to the answers why did you ask the question? > > Or just go to the computer shop spend $50-100 bucks and they will do the same thing. I don’t care which. Although SAS is good stuff for many issues I would question the value of any tools that include additional ongoing background tasks under the circumstances. My biggest question would be do you still have problems with 3-5 tabs or is it only when you go 10-20+. This is not a “typical” browsing behavior in my experience and demanding that a mobile class i3 give good long haul performance under that style of load is not entirely realistic unless you are dealing in fairly light pages like the SDMB. if you want something to blow out temp files, cookies, java and flash caches, etc. TFC by oldtimer > **[Downloading TFC](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/tfc/dl/92/)** > > Downloading TFC. TFC. or Temp File Cleaner, is a small utility that will clean out all the folders on your computer that house temporary files.  The temp folders that TFC will clean are the Java, Windows Temp Folder, and the Internet Explorer, Opera,... ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/22 "2014-07-16T21:12:13Z")
> [@Pauly01](#): > > Have 4gb ram. When i bought laptop many years ago, i was told anything more than that is useless. For Windows XP, that was almost universally true. The only time it isn’t is if you are running XP 64-bit, which was very rare and suffered from a lack of drivers. If you are willing to install Windows 7 (amd64 - the 64-bit version) on your system, it will be able to use as much memory as you can install. Vista will also use all memory, but almost no-one should install Vista since 7 has been out for a few years. > [@](#): > > I got a ssd mainly b/c i read its faster than a 7200 rpm hard drive so im confused why you say this? I read that comment as “defragment the hard drive or install a SSD”. Since you already have the SSD, the disk is likely about as fast as it is going to get. Moden SSDs are 6Gbit/sec SATA 3, while your computer is likely SATA 2. So the SSD is being limited by the speed of your computer’s SATA ports. > [@](#): > > Got i3 processor and from what i read, you cant reallly upgrade a processor on a laptop, u can on desktop i know. Sometimes you can. It depends if the system has support for faster processors. As I recall the original Core i3/5/7 processors, the i3 and i5 had built-in graphics while the i7 did not. So to upgrade to an i7, you need a laptop mainboard that has a separate graphics chip. > [@](#): > > Yes its the software that is either preinstalled when i reinstall windows 7 and the programs i download which adds those programs and apps into my laptop which i dont like that makes it much slower. Again everytime i reinstall windows, its much faster but after some time, when i have lot of programs and stuff installed, it will slow down eventually. Ok, so you’re running Windows 7 already. 32-bit or 64-bit? (it will say in “Control Panel / All Control Panel Items / System” under “System type:”). May as well also post the rest of the info from that screen as well (processor type, memory). By the way, what is the **exact** model number of this system (not anything on the keyboard bezel, but from the bottom of the case (usually)? > [@](#): > > So basically every time i reinstall windows 7 with the cd, it would wipe everything but you could still find the old programs i downloaded such as itunes etc in some folder. Does anyone know what i mean here? This was a while back when i check through files after reinstall and i found a folder and wondered… how come i have old files still here? So thats another reason why the laptop is slow b/c i dont know how to wipe everything off. That sounds like an in-place update. When you boot the install CD, select “custom” or “advanced” installation from the menu and tell it to install a new copy of Windows rather than trying to do an update. Be sure everything you **do** want to keep is backed up first, of course. The above assumes a generic Windows install disc. If ASUS provided a disk that does something else (restoring from a hidden partition or somesuch), all bets are off. Try to borrow a real Windows 7 disc from someone (you’ll need to enter the Windows serial number assigned to your laptop from the sticker, usually on the bottom of the case, during the installation). By the way, to give you an idea of what sort of upgrades you can do to notebook hardware, look at my blog post [here](http://www.tmk.com/blog/?p=158). ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/23 "2014-07-16T23:21:01Z")
I have windows 7 64 bit. When i bought windows 7 laptop at that time, ppl said anymore than 4gb ram was not necessary. Asus u45jc-a1 is my laptop. Yes the reinstall of my windows 7 i just do it the default way. I didnt choose advanced b/c i wouldnt be sure what to do. ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/24 "2014-07-17T01:50:36Z")
> [@Pauly01](#): > > I have windows 7 64 bit. When i bought windows 7 laptop at that time, ppl said anymore than 4gb ram was not necessary. Sounds like either some spectacularly un-educated salespeople or they were trying to steer you into a machine that only handled 4GB. I could see people saying that anything over 4GB was pointless back in the XP days, and even while Vista was [not] catching on, but to say that in 2009 when Windows 7 was released seems very odd. > [@](#): > > Asus u45jc-a1 is my laptop. Ok. The ASUS spec sheet [here](http://www.asus.com/Notebooks_Ultrabooks/U45Jc/specifications/) says _“up to 4 G SDRAM”_. Yet the HM55 Express chipset in that system can take up to 8GB. A quick check of the Crucial web site [here](http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/compatible-memory-for/ASUS/u45jc) says that it can take [this kit](http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/u45jc/CT5311708) for 8GB. You can, of course, use brands other than Crucial. However, avoid generic memory unless you get a guarantee that it will work in your system - the chipset is rather picky about the types of modules it will accept. Before you go and do that, you should confirm that your system is being limited by memory. You can either use Task Manager / Performance to look at memory usage or whatever other performance monitoring tool you’d like. > [@](#): > > Yes the reinstall of my windows 7 i just do it the default way. I didnt choose advanced b/c i wouldnt be sure what to do. The default behavior with a generic Windows disk, as I mentioned earlier, is “upgrade in place”. You want to do an install if you want to remove all traces of the previous installation (including user files / data). ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/25 "2014-07-17T02:42:58Z")
By the way: don’t defrag an SSD. Windows 8 and 8.1 will do this automatically as part of Disk Optimizer, but they shouldn’t. I assume when you installed the SSD, you set it up with TRIM and No Paging and all the other things ? For Windows 7, see **[here](http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds)**. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/26 "2014-07-17T03:16:07Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Although SAS is good stuff for many issues I would question the value of any tools that include additional ongoing background tasks under the circumstances. > > My biggest question would be do you still have problems with 3-5 tabs or is it only when you go 10-20+. This is not a “typical” browsing behavior in my experience and demanding that a mobile class i3 give good long haul performance under that style of load is not entirely realistic unless you are dealing in fairly light pages like the SDMB. > > if you want something to blow out temp files, cookies, java and flash caches, etc. > > TFC by oldtimer > [Downloading TFC](http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/tfc/dl/92/) From hard earned experience I can tell you that tracking cookies can slow the shit out of a machine, and the more tabs open the slower it goes. (right now I have 9 open in Sea Monkey and another 3 in Chrome +plus iTunes playing I often have 20 plus tabs open in SM) I have an I7 with 8 gigs of RAM and if there are more than just a few tracking cookies on my system, I can start to detect a slow down He can always uninstall it if the overhead gets to be too much, I just looked at my system, it is taking 640K of memory right now. It would seem to be a good idea to start with the low hanging fruit first. Clean the crap off the machine and see where he is at. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/27 "2014-07-18T14:24:53Z")
Are you aware that an SSD will [slow down](http://www.howtogeek.com/165542/why-solid-state-drives-slow-down-as-you-fill-them-up/) if you store more than 75% of it’s capacity? Also, it [loses capacity](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ3O2uTVMhM) over time because the constant rewriting of it’s memory damages the circuitry. ---
**Author:** ![Pauly01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Pauly01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pauly01)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/28 "2014-07-21T11:57:29Z")
I used up more than 50 percent of my SSD drive. So if i were to format it, would it get back to normal speed or close to it and when i bought it? Another question i have is if i increase my ram, its 4gb. My laptop can do 8gb. Do you think this will make a big difference? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/29 "2014-07-22T04:08:19Z")
Stupid question: what do people do with hundreds of tabs open on a browser? How do you see them all? I don’t think I’ve ever had more than eight or so open tabs myself and I just don’t understand how one can keep track of that many open tabs. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/30 "2014-07-22T05:32:21Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Stupid question: what do people do with hundreds of tabs open on a browser? How do you see them all? I don’t think I’ve ever had more than eight or so open tabs myself and I just don’t understand how one can keep track of that many open tabs. Speaking for myself lets I’m on a fresh boot and want to cruise the net I’ll open my browser like this: Tab 1 gmail Tab 2 Facebook Tab3 SDMB new posts. As I read the list I will center click every thread that sounds interesting so… Tabs 4-25 SDMB threads and links from SDMB threads As I finish each thread I close that tab. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/31 "2014-07-22T14:26:47Z")
> [@Pauly01](#): > > I used up more than 50 percent of my SSD drive. So if i were to format it, would it get back to normal speed or close to it and when i bought it? Formatting it will not only clear out space, it will also clear out things that are loading in the background and are taking up resources. The computer should end up as fast as it was when you bought it. This assumes though that you don’t have a hardware issue, like dust clogging the heat sinks and making the processor slow down due to overheating. > [@Pauly01](#): > > Another question i have is if i increase my ram, its 4gb. My laptop can do 8gb. Do you think this will make a big difference? No. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241/32 "2014-07-23T23:04:06Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > By the way: don’t defrag an SSD. > > Windows 8 and 8.1 will do this automatically as part of Disk Optimizer, but they shouldn’t. > > I assume when you installed the SSD, you set it up with TRIM and No Paging and all the other things ? For Windows 7, see **[here](http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds)**. Are you sure? Because what Windows calls defragging when it comes to SSDs is different from what it is for classic HDs. If I remember correctly, it just force completes all waiting delete operations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-does-it-cost-for-someone-to-speed-up-my-computer/693241.md?page=1)