Diagnostic/Optimization Tool?

[VladtheImpaler]

Can someone tell this luddite what would be a good freeware PC diagnostic tool and something that could help optimize performance? I am not happy with the performance of 2 of my 3 computers; both are still using XP. One is a 5-year old Thnikpad laptop, so this may just be at the end of the line. The other is my desktop, which has a new (5 months) motherboard, so it should be doing better. Many thanks.

[Rathji]

I have never really trusted any "automatic" optimization tools I have come across. Maybe CCleaner, but that really doesn't optimize but just cleans out some old junk.

Easiest way to make an old computer work well is do a clean install of your OS.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I have never really trusted any "automatic" optimization tools I have come across. Maybe CCleaner, but that really doesn't optimize but just cleans out some old junk.

Easiest way to make an old computer work well is do a clean install of your OS.

Have done that already with the Thinkpad - I guess that means Mrs. Impaler needs a new laptop.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

Have done that already with the Thinkpad - I guess that means Mrs. Impaler needs a new laptop.

If you are still having problems with a fresh install, verify that you have the correct drivers, especially video drivers. Another option is adding more RAM. If it doesn't have at least 1 GB of RAM it will be swapping out an awful lot if you try to run 2 or 3 things at a time.

Pretty much by default, XP is set to best visual experience. You can change that to best performance and it might push you over the edge. I am not on an XP machine right now but you can probably get to those settings by:

Right click on my computer -> Properties -> Advanced System settings -> Performance settings -> Adjust for best performance.

[Azure]

If you're using Norton, remove it.

[sclitheroe]

In my opinion, any five year old machine is going to start feeling slow. The issue isn’t that the machine is running slower, its that its indirectly running more - web pages are larger and more complex (eg. extensive javascript, CSS, Flash, etc), bitrates on media are higher, etc.

You can argue that the increases aren’t THAT substantial, and I’m sure some on here will love to, but taken as a whole, the computer of today is working harder, and that’s why these 5 year old machines are starting to feel constrained.

You can throw 2 gigs of RAM and a 7200 RPM drive into a 5 year old P4 based system, running a clean install of XP, and its still gonna feel slow compared to anything from the Core or Core2 era. That’s not to say it isn’t adequate for basic work - it is, but once you’ve hit that threshold where it feel slow TO YOU, it’s game over. You’re waiting on the machine, and its going to distract you, impact your concentration and workflow, and just generally frustrate you, even though its technically working perfectly and in peak performance for its age.


What are the specs on the more recent machine? That’s the one I’d concentrate on if I were you.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

You can throw 2 gigs of RAM and a 7200 RPM drive into a 5 year old P4 based system, running a clean install of XP, and its still gonna feel slow compared to anything from the Core or Core2 era. That’s not to say it isn’t adequate for basic work- it is, but once you’ve hit that threshold where it feel slow TO YOU, it’s game over.

I agree with everything you said but I just wanted to make a comment on this.

My wife and I run identical 4 year old, entry level Dell laptops. Mine has 2 gigs of RAM and hers has 1. Hers feels slow and clunky and I can use mine to run anything I need without much issue.

If cost isn't an issue, then go for a new laptop, netbook, iPad or whatever floats your boat, but if the machine isn't for urgent use or you would rather put the cash somewhere else, then a RAM upgrade can easily extend the life of computer for a couple years. It can make an old system not feel old for a while. However, if you both are used a far more powerful desktop, then your laptop will feel old and slow and like sclitheroe said you won't be satisfied with a minor upgrade.

[Nage Waza]

I just got my wife an Imac, it is working out really well. I am still a windows user, so it was a minor learning bump to figure things out. She LOVES the mac.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Rathji

a RAM upgrade can easily extend the life of computer for a couple years. It can make an old system not feel old for a while. However, if you both are used a far more powerful desktop, then your laptop will feel old and slow and like sclitheroe said you won't be satisfied with a minor upgrade.

I agree, and RAM has been cheap enough that throwing 2 gigs into ANY old XP machine is the first thing I do.

I’m finding though, that even that doesn’t have the impact it used to. Putting an end to heavy swapping always helps, but its not the night and day difference overall that is used to be, from a perception/human usability standpoint.

The biggest thing, I think, is that users have evolved and their requirements have become more complex.

I routinely replace client machines that are “too slow” even though they are perfectly functional, and have enough RAM. The difference though, is that office workers have evolved in the five years since the machines were introduced too. They have five years worth of email in Outlook, they have a desktop indexer program running to find their stuff, Word, Excel, Skype, MSN messenger, a browser with half a dozen tabs open, a PDF or two open, maybe a VPN connection to the overseas office with an RDP session, and all these things are legitimate business uses and need to be going concurrently. An older P4 is just slightly slow enough, even with sufficient RAM, that under this kind of load it lags just a little, and that little bit of lag is enough to distract/frustrate the user, and then productivity goes down.

I used to think you could focus on the machine, and whether its running right or not, but ultimately, if its lagging on the user, its not acceptable, if you expect that user to be truly productive. That said, for a lot of other uses, like point of sale, or a simple single browser session, that slow machine is fine, because the lag doesn’t crop up, or doesn’t impact the person, but for a busy office staffer, its not.

[Hack&Lube]

The best performance jumps that can literally be felt are getting a multi core processor if you are still running a single core. The improvement was amazing to me. SSDs also change the experience quite a bit.

As far as optimization tools, most are scams and don't really do anything. It'd be better to get someone with knowledge of computers to help you clean out your operating system for you with you present so you know what's going on and can tell him what programs you need or don't need running in the background.

[VladtheImpaler]

Just a follow-on question... When I open a window on my desktop (running XP) it takes 15-20 sec for the page to load. Once I open it, it all flies super-fast. But why would the initial load take so long?

[Rathji]

What kind of window? Windows Explorer or another program like Word? I assume you are talking about a machine at home, and you are not on a domain or anything like that?

You have any mapped network drives? Especially ones that might not be currently connected or located at a remote location. Sometimes windows gets really bitchy if it can't find one of its mapped drives, even if that drive has nothing to do with what you are asking for.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Rathji

What kind of window? Windows Explorer or another program like Word? I assume you are talking about a machine at home, and you are not on a domain or anything like that?

You have any mapped network drives? Especially ones that might not be currently connected or located at a remote location. Sometimes windows gets really bitchy if it can't find one of its mapped drives, even if that drive has nothing to do with what you are asking for.

Just opening a new IE window in XP... it takes 15-20 secs for a webpage to load. Just 1st time I open a new browser window - once it's open, everything is fine.

[Rathji]

I assume that since you didn't mention it there are no networked drives.

Could be your hard drive, since it only happens when the program is loaded from disk to memory but if it isn't happening with any other programs then it is doubtful. You could try running a chkdsk before you go to bed to see if there is any improvement.

In Start Menu click run and type "chkdsk /f/r"

It will say blah blah, can't do this because it is being used a process, do you want to do it when you next reboot. Just say yes and then reboot.

[Hack&Lube]

-edit mispost