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From: Hilary on 7 Dec 2009 13:48
I have knocked myself out this past week trying to get a Dell Optiplex
running XP to "go faster." The boot time for everything is so bad that
I'm ashamed to give it to a family who lost everything in a fire--two
school age kids, single parent to boot (so I need to get this up and
running).

I deleted everything that could be deleted. Installed the free AVG
anti-virus (family lives below poverty level). Did a defrag, a couple
of registry-cleaner clean-ups, an error check--the whole nine yards,
as far as a computer layperson is concerned.

Is it that a single chip processor is incompatible with software
programs that connect to the internet? I'm sure this PC could be used
successfully as a word processor or to play CDs; I installed a new
modem and a new USB 2.0 port. Sorry for the language, but it still
sucks.

If anyone can suggest any final band-aid, I'd really appreciate
hearing from you. I absolutely can't give this family a new computer
but now feel that the few bucks I invested in the peripherals would
have been better spent as a gift card for a new system. If there's
anyone who'd look at the start menu and tell me what I could and can't
delete, maybe that would help?

Thanks.
From: Big_Al on 7 Dec 2009 14:36
Hilary said this on 12/7/2009 1:48 PM:
> I have knocked myself out this past week trying to get a Dell Optiplex
> running XP to "go faster." The boot time for everything is so bad that
> I'm ashamed to give it to a family who lost everything in a fire--two
> school age kids, single parent to boot (so I need to get this up and
> running).
>
> I deleted everything that could be deleted. Installed the free AVG
> anti-virus (family lives below poverty level). Did a defrag, a couple
> of registry-cleaner clean-ups, an error check--the whole nine yards,
> as far as a computer layperson is concerned.
>
> Is it that a single chip processor is incompatible with software
> programs that connect to the internet? I'm sure this PC could be used
> successfully as a word processor or to play CDs; I installed a new
> modem and a new USB 2.0 port. Sorry for the language, but it still
> sucks.
>
> If anyone can suggest any final band-aid, I'd really appreciate
> hearing from you. I absolutely can't give this family a new computer
> but now feel that the few bucks I invested in the peripherals would
> have been better spent as a gift card for a new system. If there's
> anyone who'd look at the start menu and tell me what I could and can't
> delete, maybe that would help?
>
> Thanks.

You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading
Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only
option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out
of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add
AVG if you like it. (I do).
From: Hilary on 7 Dec 2009 17:17
On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al <Bi...(a)md.com> wrote:

> You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading
> Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only
> option.   Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out
> of the box.   This way you're sure you have a clean system.   Yes, add
> AVG if you like it.   (I do).

If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly
faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386.
From: Daave on 7 Dec 2009 18:15
Hilary wrote:
> On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al <Bi...(a)md.com> wrote:
>
>> You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading
>> Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only
>> option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out
>> of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add
>> AVG if you like it. (I do).
>
> If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly
> faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386.

It might. (It really depends on how much RAM is installed.) Then again,
are you willing to provide free support for the Linux installation?

If this PC is going to fire victims, unless they are familiar with
Linux, it would be logical to perform a Clean Install of the OS it came
with (presumably Windows XP Home).

Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new
version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week
ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is
*far* less of a resource hog) instead.


From: Shel on 7 Dec 2009 19:29
On Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:15:50 -0500, "Daave" <daave(a)example.com> wrote:

>Hilary wrote:
>> On Dec 7, 2:36 pm, Big_Al <Bi...(a)md.com> wrote:
>>
>>> You would be better off just formatting the machine and reloading
>>> Windows from the CD or doing a factor restore if that is the only
>>> option. Virgin windows allows browsing and playing CD's and music out
>>> of the box. This way you're sure you have a clean system. Yes, add
>>> AVG if you like it. (I do).
>>
>> If I installed a Linux OS, would that make things run even slightly
>> faster? This is a P3, but it's acting like a 386.
>
>It might. (It really depends on how much RAM is installed.) Then again,
>are you willing to provide free support for the Linux installation?
>
>If this PC is going to fire victims, unless they are familiar with
>Linux, it would be logical to perform a Clean Install of the OS it came
>with (presumably Windows XP Home).
>
>Also, although I have been a big fan of AVG for many years, the new
>version (9.0) is a disaster on older PCs (I recently learned this a week
>ago). Do yourself and them a favor and go with Avira AntiVir (which is
>*far* less of a resource hog) instead.
>

Better yet, why not use the free Microsoft Security Essentials.
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