why is my computer slow

I just got a HP 520 Intel pentium4 512mb pc3200 DDR SDRAM memory 160 GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA hard drive. I don’t know jack about computers and it’s and I purchased it from a second hand PC dealer. After 2 months of use, It’s becoming slower and slower. I have a wireless modem through Sprint. What’s going on??:: Modem tower busy or what?

After five years with Qwest’s snail internet, we switched to Comcast. They are*** really*** fast. But to deal with they are a little quirky - the must have the slowest customer service computers in business.

You don’t say whether the slowness is the computer or the connection speed. Check the connection speed with the free NetWorx program.

Hey, thank you very much.

I am not sure if it’s the computer or the WiFi connection. There is minimul downloads. If the slowness varies could that indicate that it’s the connection? If it were my computer, would that indicate that the speed remain the same speed at all times?

When I first saw your post, it made me tired just reading it. Let’s recap the high points;

[ul]
[li]New poster[/li][li]Slow, Used computer[/li][li]Doesn’t know jack about computers[/li][/ul]

My first reaction was that this was some new type of trollish behavior, as in “Let’s go jerk some geeks around”. If that’s true, it’s actually pretty funny. Something my younger, crueler self might have done if computers were around. However, I decided that you were sincere, and will answer accordingly.
Your first task is to educate yourself, at least to the point where you know Jack. There are many sites out there that will educate you. I don’t have any knowledge or opinions about them. If you start a thread asking for recommendations I am sure you will get them. There is a sticky thread in GQ called reference sites. That may help.

One of the first things you should do with a used computer is reinstall the OS (XP?) and start from scratch. Actually, since it is an HP, you probably do not have a copy of XP, but you may be able to restore the computer to the state it was in when it came from the factory. If you go to HPs help site, they will tell you how to do that.
Save any files that you need before you do this.
You will need anti virus software at a minimum. See the sticky about protecting your computer.
Good Luck.

Its a Pentium 4. Its slow.

The 512MB isn’t that hot either. However, it is fine for the Internet. My bets are on a poor wifi connection.

My first thought would be to check the memory usage.

A couple of years ago I was using a Pentium 2 and 192 MB and had better internet speeds than I do now with a Dual Core and 4GB. I still say it is the wifi connection.

The software back then demanded only a fraction of the CPU power it does now. Windows XP home with SP3 installed easily idles at 400MB in use leaving 100MB for programs, open a couple windows or tabs in a browser and things drag down pretty quick.

Alot of computers are sitting around low on ram and the users rarely understand why. We sell dozens of ram upgrades a month and customers are often very happy that such a small inexpensive upgrade made such a huge difference.

That’s what I was going to say, but I researched the PC model, and it uses a dual core processor, and there are dual core processors that are called Pentiums now. (My dad just got one.) But you wouldn’t expect them to have only 512MB of memory, so maybe you’re right.

But, anyways, the problem isn’t that the computer is slow, but that it has slowed down in 3 months. I’d be more suspicious of there being too many program running at once. eddiec3434, try uninstalling everything since you got the computer.

Also, many viruses, malware, and spyware will slow down the computer. So refer to the Computer malware sticky in this forum for how to deal with that.

If you really don’t know much about computers, you may wind up having to let someone “remote” in and take over your computer and try to fix it. There are dopers I’d trust to do that (as long as I was watching), but you may want to stick with some local friends, or even the computer shop you mentioned.

The P2 with 192MB RAM WAS running XPSP3. This was in 2007, and the internet connection was far faster than now with Vista and a computer at least 3 times “better”. Coincidentally, I was using Sprint then (like the OP) and crappy Frontier (ex-Verizon after a buy-out) now. A P4 with 512 MB isn’t going to have trouble surfing if the connection is good unless it has a lot of shit running in the background.

And, seemingly just to prove my point, it now took me 3 tries to post this after my connection timed out.

To speed up a computer:

  1. Press ctrl+alt+delete. This brings up the task manager, which allows you to stop programs which are running that you don’t need. Also, you can stop processes too. Only stop processes that are user initiated, NOT system processes. Don’t stop windows explorer or task manager processes as these are necessary to use the task manager.

  2. Download a program such as CCleaner which will eliminate unneeded cookies. You can also fix bad registry entries. You can also run a defragment on your hard drive. What this means is that fragmented files are put back together so the computer doesn’t waste time going from one fragment to another.

  3. Upgrade your ramsticks. For DDR sticks, I have found 1 gigabite ramsticks on Ebay as low as $20.

Doing these three things have always drastically speeded up any computer I have done it to.

I won’t gainsay you, but the first thing to check is the memory.

Well, actually, the first thing to do is wait until the OP comes back with a less vague description of the problem. The computer being so old and outdated is the problem if they are talking about being slow in general. However, my interpretation of the problem is that their connection is slow.