Dukasaur wrote:BigBallinStalin wrote:Dukasaur wrote:I took my computer to the shop to get fixed yesterday, and they made a concerted effort to persuade me that it would be better to buy a new machine than to try saving the old one. I haven't made a firm decision on that, but I did learn one key fact: for the next six months it will still be possible to get new machines with Windows 7 instead of Windows 8. After that, the window (no pun intended, lol) of opportunity will close and you will be stuck buying the 8 shit.
Dukasaur, if you got a question about making that kind of investment, then ask us. We're unable to profit from your purchase; those scheisters are.
Okay, it's a Pentium IV, it's getting kind of old. It was state-of-the art once, but it's having problems. The worst problem is that the sound card died, so I can't listen to music. I can't listen to Phatscotty videos either, which I suppose is a blessing. It came with Windows NT, but I upgraded to Vista a while back. It seemed to run Vista quite well at first, but lately it's been very, very slow. Also, both hard drives are more than 60% full, and I think you get big efficiency losses when a hard drive is more than 50% full.
I thought I would gain speed by keeping software on one drive and data files on the other, because both hard drives could be searching in different areas at once. But the planned speed increase never materialized. And now that both drives are so full, it would be very difficult to try to sort out the mess.
Is it worth trying to save it?
Should I buy a new one, even though it's a lot of money that I can't afford?
And if I do buy, what should I buy?
For less than $100, you can get a used computer in great condition from the mid-2000s which would be much better than yours. For the right price, I can ship you a Compaq 6710b (market value is ~$110, shipping will probably be $20 or so), but before you buy anything from us slick businessmen, consider the following alternatives:
Disable useless programs and services:
1. while holding the Windows key, press R
2. type msconfig
3. go to Services tab
4. sort by manufacturer
5. disable any service/program which is useless (you can google to see which ones are useful; if you don't know, then don't disable it. As a general rule, don't remove stuff from Microsoft).
6. Then, go to Startup tab
7. disable stuff you don't use; google stuff you don't recognize/understand. Auto updaters for internet browser and all sorts of quasi-adware lurk in Startup.
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DefragmentationAnother problem is that your hard drives may be fragmented. When you download and delete stuff, it gets scrambled. Consequently, the hard drive has to spend more time 'running around' to 'put it all together', and then deliver it to your RAM then CPU, so that it'll finally load. Unfortunately, the stuff on the hard drive will remain scrambled, so defragmentation is necessary.
1. download Defraggler; get the free version.
http://www.piriform.com/defraggler/download2. find your hard drives, right-click, and Analyze and defrag them.
3. for a complete defrag with minimal effort, you can go to Settings - Boot Time Defrag - Run Once. Then restart your computer, make sure the defrag begins, and then off to bed.
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Virus/adware Removal:1. run a scan. Do a deep scan overnight if possible.
2. google "best virus scanners" and look for someone who ran a benchmark test. Download the absolutely free ones ('free' ones are free-to-scan but require payment to remove the viruses. Tricky bastards).
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Taking those steps may avert the need to buy a new computer. Finally, a last resort is to completely format your hard drive, reinstall Windows and allllll your stuff (and drivers), which is time-consuming.
Duksaur wrote:Also, about the Windows 7/8 thing. I was explaining to the guy that I'm old and set in my ways, and the one thing I loathe above all else is to have to learn new operating systems. Quite honestly, if my Apple IIc had never died, I'd still be using it. I hated switching from CP/M to DOS, I hated even more switching from DOS to Windows 95, I hated switching from 95 to NT, I hated switching from NT to Vista. Every "upgrade" that I've ever had has been forced on me against my will because something died and couldn't be replaced. So, the guy said, we put on Windows 7 or 8, your choice no extra cost, but if you're old school you will prefer Windows 7 which is not much worse than Vista, whereas you will positively hate Windows 8. Do you agree with him? Or should I bite the bullet and learn Win 8 because the cocksuckers will withdraw support for Win 7 before long?
For now I'm using my wife's computer, so I'm okay. I can postpone a decision about mine. But one day my wife will come and reclaim hers. And apparently Win7 is only available for another six months.
Windows 8 offers very little additional benefit and more additional costs than Windows 7. In short, Windows 8 is so retarded that a huge market has been created to get Windows 8 to function like Windows 7 (e.g. StartIsBack). I, an unfortunate soul, had to switch to Windows 8 because the hardware and its drivers for a certain laptop would only function on Windows 8.
I've spent about 4-8 hours readjusting Windows 8 to my preferred Windows XP Professional settings because XP is still more efficient in functionality (excluding potential hardware issues). I've got another 4 hours to go to install my useful programs. First, I need to uninstall Office 2013 because the File menu is bulky, slower, and pointless; the typing speed is hampered; etc. The developers of Windows 8 created a program which is more resource-intensive than playing Oblivion and World of Warcraft at the same time. Anyway...
Windows 7 unnecessarily changes a lot of functions, but spending some time on google can help you readjust everything to as normal as possible. If you're on Vista, you should consider switching to Win7, but it depends on how much time you're willing to spend time on readjusting everything back to 'normal'. If you're going to format your hard drives and reinstall Windows, you may as well download Win 7 and readjust that instead of readjusting Vista.
"So, the guy said, we put on Windows 7 or 8, your choice no extra cost." That's a lie, but it might be unintended since he could be economically ignorant. The price of their services already bundles in the cost of their acquiring the Win7 and Win8 software and licenses. In short, that choice has already cost you extra.
Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:18 pm
