help with windows xp pro

[alligatorman]

This computer is moving very, very slow, despite using disk clean up and Defragmenting.
It is a windows xp professional version 2002, service pack2. Pentium 4 cpu 1.70ghz and 224mb of ram. I observed that i only have about 5% free disk space. I removed some programms and left with 15% free space, but it still moves slow. I would like to know if by adding another HD, if it would move faster or what  or what i need to do so that it would move faster. Please let me know what i need to do, since i cant buy a new computer. it is my personal computer.

Thanks,

Alli

[patio]

15% is the minimum free space generrally with XP...
Add some RAM.

[Geek-9pm]

with only 15% you will not be able to defrag. Remove more stuff. Like your photos and videos. Move them to CD-R or DVD-R is you have a burner.

[marvinengland]

 

with only 15% you will not be able to defrag. Remove more stuff. Like your photos and videos. Move them to CD-R or DVD-R is you have a burner.

USB flash drives are much better than cdr burns. Try both and you will agree.

[BC_Programmer]

USB flash drives are much better than cdr burns. Try both and you will agree.

Flash drives are also more expensive and aren't a long term backup solution; CD-R and DVD-R disks are.

[Geek-9pm]

Flash drives are also more expensive and aren't a long term backup solution; CD-R and DVD-R disks are.

Exactly!

[Sid]

USB flash drives are much better than cdr burns. Try both and you will agree.

Provided the machine is USB 2.0, other wise it will be SLOW.

Anyway, alligatorman, if you do add a second hard drive in, it might be worth moving your page file, and items that are accessed less often to it.

If it were me, the first upgrade I would do is put more RAM in it, as Patio recommended.  Crucial have an awesome tool on thier site that will tell you what kind you need.  A quick google search following that should result in some cheaper sticks.

That said, I wouldn't spend too much upgrading the machine as it's fairly cheap to build a new machine (£200-£300), and you could "recycle" some parts, like the cd/dvd drive, case and possibly the PSU.

[alligatorman]

Techs,
Thanks for the prompt reply to my request. Thanks to all those who help me with tips.
I will keep u all posted on the results . One question though. How much Ram would be ok for the 1.70 Hz HD.,

Thanks,

Alli

[Sid]

Techs,
Thanks for the prompt reply to my request. Thanks to all those who help me with tips.
I will keep u all posted on the results . One question though. How much Ram would be ok for the 1.70 Hz HD.,

Thanks,

Alli

The maximum I'd spend my money on would be 3GB, but this is down to the O/S (Windows) and 32 bit addressing.

Also, you'll need to make sure you don't go over what the motherboard can cope with, so it would be worth checking that limit first.

[purushottamaher]

hello,

first is your Ram is not sufficient ,if it possible so improve your RAM.
to improve processing speed - delete temporary files & clean start up files (ms config)
remove unwanted files regularary & take back up of important files in other Hard drive /removable drives.


regards,
purushottamaher

[JJ 3000]

Techs,
Thanks for the prompt reply to my request. Thanks to all those who help me with tips.
I will keep u all posted on the results . One question though. How much Ram would be ok for the 1.70 Hz HD.,

XP runs well with 512 MB. Any less than that and the computer crawls. How much RAM can your computer support? If you visit http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/index.aspx and run the scanner it will tell you what your computer will support.

[rthompson80819]

XP runs well with 512 MB. Any less than that and the computer crawls. How much RAM can your computer support? If you visit http://www.crucial.com/systemscanner/index.aspx and run the scanner it will tell you what your computer will support.

If you add 1 GB of RAM you will be amazed how much faster your computer will be.  Current prices for 1 GB are around $40, or less.

[Sid]

If you add 1 GB of RAM you will be amazed how much faster your computer will be.  Current prices for 1 GB are around $40, or less.

If the motherboard supports it.