PC much faster and I am so happy!

Thrall · Post by **Thrall** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:16 pm

Hi all, just in case anyone else has the same symptoms, here is yesterday´s tale.

My five year old Dell PC has been slowing for a year, until last week I could not download mail and barely get at Google or TS - hence my lack of activity recently. Many advised a new machine, but I persevered, threw out Temporary Internet Files, cleaned all junk out, even disabled the firewall to no avail.
My guru came yesterday, took one look at my RAM, which was 256MB and coped fine with XP in 2003. Now with service packs added etc., he said 1GB was the only way to go, most new laptops have double that. Out to the shop, and even installed the chip myself, never had the box open before.

No change!

In desperation, I then took the router to my provider and demanded another, which I received free, despite admitting to them that the wireless connection was fine for all the laptops of the household.
Lo and behold, I now have the equivalent of a new computer, for a fraction of the cost and surfing is fun!
I am ecstatic (probably the only person in Iceland!) so don´t give up; get more RAM on your old machine and life takes a bold new look. And much faster.

Guid hunting,

Thrall

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:32 pm

Sounds familiar Thrall

That may be all the encouragent hubby needs to attempt the resurection of our Dell that's been given a decent burial in the loft!

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:45 pm

I've been there too, a few years back. Back in the Windows 98 days with a dial-up connection, the internet download speed was greatly improved by adding more RAM to the PC.

All the best,

AndrewP

Post by **Tracey** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:01 pm

Same happened to me last September and i had more RAM added and it was like having a new pc (if only aol was living up to its promise of faster speed i would be a very happy bunny despite knowing i cant get faster speed where i live ).
Its the virtual memory that needs sorting now - know how it feels

Post by **Anne H** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:11 pm

Tracey wrote:

Its the virtual memory that needs sorting now - know how it feels

My computer is constantly telling me my virtual memory needs to be increased...why does it do that...what's it all about?

Regards,
Anne H

Dont rightly know Anne but the man who does told me to

Can you press the "printscreen" button when you have the error message on your screen, open a new word document and go to "Edit & paste"
Email me the file so I have the error message in full and I'll try to let you know what the problem is.

Havnt managed to find this information while the Increasing Virtual Memory box is up

so its not sorted yet.

Post by **Tracey** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:53 pm

Just seen what i did to your post Anne

I hit the edit button instead of the quote button

My reply was

Dont rightly know Anne but the man who does told me to

Can you press the "printscreen" button when you have the error message on your screen, open a new word document and go to "Edit & paste"
Email me the file so I have the error message in full and I'll try to let you know what the problem is.

Havnt managed to find this information while the Increasing Virtual Memory box is up so its not sorted yet.

winslowsmom · Post by **winslowsmom** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:20 pm

Another happiness, RAM is way cheaper these days than a few years
ago! So if price made you put it off before, you will be pleasantly surprised now.

Post by **Anne H** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 12:54 am

Hi Tracey

No problem!

Next time it happens to me I'll have a closer look but I don't think an error screen comes up on mine, just a baloon at the bottom telling me I don't have enough virtual memory and it's increasing it.

I can't afford it right now, as reasonable as the cost may be at the moment, but when I do, I'll see if increasing the RAM will help.

Regards,
Anne H

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:32 pm

"Virtual Memory" is an area on the hard disc that your operating system uses to supplement the actual memory on the system board.

The downside is that your computer's operating system has to spend a significant proportion of the time available swapping info between the main RAM memory and the virtual memory area on the hard disk.

Anyone with this problem is likely to see that little light indicating that the hard disc is being accessed flashing away when you're not aware of doing anything, - you may also be able to hear the hard disc mechanism whirring merrily away.

For a more technically correct definition see http://www.techterms.com/definition/virtualmemory

mb

Post by **Anne H** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:44 pm

Thank you mb...I see and hear all those things on my computer that you mention! By the sounds of things, I need much more than the 256MB that I have.

Regards,
Anne H