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From: Charles W Davis on 9 Feb 2010 15:28
A newer laptop for under $300 will soon be slower than your computer. If you
are going to spring for a new one, get something that brings a bit of
pleasure with it.

"Bill Bowden" <wrongaddress(a)att.net> wrote in message
news:c4233255-c4b6-475a-b02d-06776b6fce48(a)c29g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...
On Jan 21, 9:21 am, "Ken Blake, MVP"
<kbl...(a)this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:47:16 -0800 (PST), Bill Bowden
>
>
>
> <wrongaddr...(a)att.net> wrote:
> > Trying to improve performance of WinXP Home system running on a
> > 900mHz, 128 Meg, 20 gig drive system.
>
> > The system runs slow and requires 35 seconds to open the FireFox
> > WebBrowser. The page file (virtual memory) is about 250 Megs.
> > Sometimes, I get a message the page file is too small.
>
> > The disk has been defragmented with good apparent results, however I'm
> > having trouble with the disk cleanup utility and not sure what can be
> > safely deleted.
>
> > The cleanup report indicates the following:
>
> > Downloaded Program files - 664KB
> > Temporary Internet files - 43K
> > Recycle Bin - 5076 KB
> > Setup Log Files - 1250 KB
> > Temporary Files - 37466 KB
> > WebClient/Publisher Temp Files - 36K
> > Compress Old Files - 2227 KB
>
> > Can I safely delete all these files to improve performance?
>
> Some of those can be deleted (temporary files, for example). Deleting
> others (recycle bin, for example) has built-in danger. But most
> important, deleting files will save you disk space, but will *not*
> improve performance.
>
> > What else can be done to speed things up?
>
> The single most important thing you *need* to do is add RAM. 128MB is
> insufficient for good performance for just about everyone. How much
> you need depends on what apps you run, but 256MB is the minimum
> anybody needs.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Yes, I suspected the RAM was low,
but not sure this machine is worth upgrading with a slow processor.
I'm looking at newer model laptops for under $300 as possible
upgrades. This desktop machine was destined for the recycle bin a
couple years ago, and I took it home as a gift. It was setup by a IT
service company for low budget use. The customers subsequently bought
new machines and threw this one out. They also gave me another P2
machine, 250MHz, with WinXp and unknown RAM, that takes 5 minutes just
to boot-up. They told me not to worry if the screen went blank for
several minutes, as it would eventually start running.

-Bill

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