I know that I can speed up my computer by upgrading the memory. (Not an option)
What other methods can I use. I have a cable modem, and my computer works well most of the time. I have reformatted and installed the OS several times since I first got the computer, and I noticed that it slows down DRASTICLY (online too) when certain things are installed: like MS Office Professional.
I defrag occassionally, I use X Cleaner to erase temp files, and other unneeded junk, but its not enough. I can’t go without Office, and I can’t upgrade right now. Are there any ways to “optimze” my computer for speed? Also, when Surfing, I occasionally get a message about “memory size”, and the computer offers to up the paging file (I think). I’m not computer illiterate but I don’t know how to adjust the memory buffers/paging file stuff to optimize my computer. Any suggestions?
When you say “it slows down DRASTICLY (online too) when certain things are installed: like MS Office Professional” do you really mean “running” and not “installed”? Simply having something installed will usually not affect performance.
The trick is to see what the bottleneck is. You mention it being slow online, if the data simply isn’t getting to you quickly (like probably the pages of this board) you can have the latest supercomputer and it won’t make a difference.
When it slows down, do you typically see or hear a lot of disk activity?
The computer takes much longer to accomplish the same tasks. Opening files, new windows… heck even just opening the control panel takes longer.
Its not just running Office. I notice the slow immediatelly after installing these programs. I went for a while without MS Office on the computer and it was MUCH faster. I read something about certain programs (like word processors, Photoshop, etc.) keeping “libraries” loaded in virtual memory (or some such concept) to keep them readily accessible or to speed the opening of that particular program, and that this can slow computers. Is this what MS Office is doing? Can I stop it? I use office occasionally, but I would be willing to wait longer for IT to load if it would speed up all other computer operations…
These programs also seem to slow my serfing. It takes longer for pages to load, to switch between multiple pages, and it takes fewer open pages to slow the computer. The “low memory” warning comes up frequently.
Go to Start|Programs|Startup. Delete Microsoft Office Startup and Find Fast. These little beasties run in the background and eat up resources. You don’t need them for Office to function.
Also go to Start|Settings|Control Panel and see if you have an applet called Find Fast. If so, open it and delete any indexes, then hit File|Close and Stop.
Reboot and see if that helps any. If not, see how much free space you have on your hard drive.
Oh, and you didn’t mention what OS you’re running.
