What can be done to speed up a computer

[Lao Tzu]

My parent's computer is a piece of crap. It runs extremely slow and nothing seems to make a difference. I have run various spyware and adaware programs, optimization programs, cleaned the registry, temp files, startup files, cookies, defragmented, ran scandisk, etc. Nothing seems to matter, it still takes 5-15 seconds to open a window.

It is an Emachines Celeron 2.5 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive on XP.

What else is there to do? Just abandon it and get another computer?

 

[jh1]

reinstall the OS

 

[Lao Tzu]

What happens to all your old files hwen you do that? Would it be easier to just get another hard drive and install a new copy of XP on that, then use an external enclosure to transfer needed files onto the new HD?

 

[jh1]

Yeah you need to back up any files first.

You could get an external hdd, if you wanted, and copy all the files you need to save to it. Wipe out the original HDD and reinstall the OS on it...

 

[nimbus]

g1v3 m3 y0uR u53rN4m3 4nD p455w0rD; 1'll f1x 1t 4 y0u.

 

[palehorse51]

Get a Commodor 64, they are THE shit!

 

[NJjuice22]

you definetly took the right steps as far as cleaning it up. You could buy another 512mb memory chip and reinstall the OS..those are pretty much your options. and yes you will lose your files if you do a clean install so they would need to be backed- up ..

 

[p0ink]

g1v3 m3 y0uR u53rN4m3 4nD p455w0rD; 1'll f1x 1t 4 y0u.

LOL!

 

[dsh89]

More RAM for sure. And it depends on what you are doing when it is running slow. Is it a videol issue? etc.

 

[GoldenDelicious]

id follow jh's advice and reinstall, so long as it isnt something obvious like some sort of program stealing all the resources or generally being a pain in the ass (antivirus bloatware can do this sometimes)