Newby Question

[EDPPCLI]

I have an old PII 350 with 128Mhz of RAM running WIN98, Intel i740 4Mb Video card. No serious crashes in 4 years even with alot of downloads, demos and software installs. My problem is that everything seems really slow (opening files, initial boot etc.) Could formating my hard drive and reinstalling the OS speed up my computer? I know I need to upgrade, and my long range plan is to build from scratch, are there any other cheap and fast fixes until then.
Thanks

[Rick]

A Complete format and reinstall may bring back a little of the zip to your system.
Or even a Complete Defrag may help..
However it may also be a sign that things are getting old and slowing down.
the hard drive being the culprit.
In addition it may simply be too full.( Older drives tend to lose performance after ½ full )
Try creating a Swap file at a fixed size .
Then delete all temp files.
Then run defrag and see what happens

[Steve]

Formating and reinstalling the OS probably would speed things up. But before doing that, run all your maintenance utilities. Empty your temporary internet files, delete cookies, empty the history folder, empty the temp. folder. Run scandisk and defrag. Get a good regestry cleaner.

After a good tune up, if it's still not running to your liking, a good format and reinstall can work wonders. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Peace and Love, brothers and sisters. Peace and Love

[pentachris]

Check here. (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/win98/maintain/first.asp?frame=true)

Temporary internet files can act in funny ways. To make sure I get them all, I usually shut down and restart in MS-DOS mode. That brings me to a C:\Windows prompt. Then I type "deltree tempor~1", hit enter, and confirm it. The folder will be recreated by Windows when it restarts (just type "win" and hit enter).

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Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

[This message has been edited by pentachris (edited 06-03-2002).]

[EDPPCLI]

Thanks, I will try all your suggestions.

[Alejandro]

If you have a way of backing up all your stuff, then i'd suggest you just format and reinstall. Specially if you haven't done it before since 4 years! It's the best way to get rid of all the crap installed programs leave in your system. I do this every 3 months as much. After formatting, reinstalling Windows and all your necessary programs, then Run Scandisk and Defrag (or Disk Doctor - Speed Disk if you have Norton Utilities). This way your system will perform the fastest.

[kenz]

I agree with the others especially the cleaning and registry. I run Cleanit daily to rid all the rubbish and have Fixit Registry cleaner to tidy up that particular data base - it is amazing how quickly the registry gets out of line - especially if you often nip down to Dos to do stuff.

I have always had 2 hard drives on my systems- and keep all data, docs, music etc on one drive and the OS and apps on the other. I also sideways copy my bookmarks, address book, printer/modem drivers etc to the other drive. Formatting and rebuilding the C drive (OS and apps) is pretty simple then.

Regards

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There's no future in tomorrow - it'll soon be a thing of the past