Thread: Tried To Speed Up Computer - But With No Success

Just to clarify, are you trying to make the computer work faster or Download speed?

In the case of work faster you need more Memory (RAM)

If D/L what plan are you on and have you checked to see what you're getting via a Speedtest

I would think about a couple of things. Get rid of Norton and use a free one called Avast. Down load Norton removal tool from the Norton site to make sure it cleans every item of Norton.

Change to Firefox as your browser.

As DJ says more memory will help.

I was using RegCure on my XP machine and it did help a bit but the want you to renew every year and that sucks.

I've been using AVG and Spybot Search & Destroy for years, though I'm beginning to think there are some conflict issues. Does anyone have a preference for Avast over AVG?

Woodwould - I shifted to Avast about a year ago, after AVG seemed to go a bit funny (creeping bloat, or a change in the Marketing CEO who had to make his impression or something like that) and it's been fine.

Metal Head - Turf IE and install Firefox. Ditto with Norton, use a freebie like Avast instead.

If it's the net that's slow, I've found the easiest subjective speedup technique is to block every major ad server in the world with a customised hosts file.

You can also add Adblock Plus and NoScript add ins for Firefox to make your browsing more enjoyable.

Check your net speed with somthing like Speed Test.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

I've been using AVG and Spybot Search & Destroy for years, though I'm beginning to think there are some conflict issues. Does anyone have a preference for Avast over AVG?

Woodwould,

I've been running Avast on three computers for three years now. I don't like AVG. It seems to slow things down like Norton.

I see you took the comment out about 60 day trial I think you would find that is for the business version. The home use one is free you just have to re register it every fourteen months.

It loads the pattern files in the background and every so often the they will notify you of a newer version that you just download.

Just don't have your speakers up loud if you aren't at the computer because you will think you have a stranger in the house because it tells you when it downloads the pattern files.

Thanks for the advice men! I've downloaded the free version of Avast and I'll uninstall AVG in the morning.

Any type of "security" software slows down your internet - especially firewalls and active guards.

MH - it's not clear from your original post and only post just what the issue is.

Are you experiencing a general slow down of the machine. i.e. It used to boot and do things a whole lot quicker than it does now?
Try a disk defrag if you got rid of all the other stuff that accumulates over time.
There's always a fresh install but you'd better have your data backed up and set aside a day to do it

Has it always been slow and you want it to run faster?
Upgrade your memory and/or CPU - a slippery slope....Hard disc, graphics card, power supply, motherboard, case ........

Are you talking about the Internet performance or the machine in general?
Firefox seems quicker that IE 8, but not that you'd notice, and I've had crashes on both at times - never tried Chrome

Norton seems to have a bad reputation and it is big and ugly. I've never used it although it came with my wife's laptop and we ditched it.
I doubt that there's much between AVG and Avast that isn't related to a particular quirk of the machine it's installed on - I use NOD 32 - no drama there (for me). A friend uses AVG and it works for him.
Whatever you in relation to this you WILL NEED an antivrus program and a firewall

Ian

Originally Posted by Ian Smith

MH - it's not clear from your original post and only post just what the issue is.

Are you experiencing a general slow down of the machine. i.e. It used to boot and do things a whole lot quicker than it does now?
That's correct

Try a disk defrag if you got rid of all the other stuff that accumulates over time.
We did but it didn't make much difference

There's always a fresh install but you'd better have your data backed up and set aside a day to do it.
We did that to

Has it always been slow and you want it to run faster?
No. Only recently as it started to REALLY slow down

Upgrade your memory and/or CPU - a slippery slope....Hard disc, graphics card, power supply, motherboard, case ........ Are you talking about the Internet performance or the machine in general?
Both

Firefox seems quicker that IE 8, but not that you'd notice, and I've had crashes on both at times - never tried Chrome. Norton seems to have a bad reputation and it is big and ugly. I've never used it although it came with my wife's laptop and we ditched it.
I have read many articles over the past 3 days about Norton products. The main gist is that they sucked up until the last 18 months and the 2009 version is the best so far.......quicker than previous years. Well I didn't find that being the case!!

I doubt that there's much between AVG and Avast that isn't related to a particular quirk of the machine it's installed on - I use NOD 32 - no drama there (for me). A friend uses AVG and it works for him. Whatever you in relation to this you WILL NEED an antivrus program and a firewall
We have done away with Norton (even though it cost us $80 only 3 months ago) and put Alvast (thanks Barry W) after reading many reviews on the net. Thank you Ian very much for your in depth reply & giving us ideas to think about. However, the better half thought it would be a good excuse to purchase a laptop which we did the other day. We got it from Officeworks which was $300 cheaper than at Harvey Norman & $200 cheaper than Dick Smiths. However, we did get a second 3 in 1 unit for $45 from Dicky Smiths. We will continue to use the unit for just the non internet items now

Ian

Thank you to you Ian and all the other contributors who added to this thread - much appreciated.

Regards
MH

Well Metal Head that was probably the dearest way to fix the problem but at least you shouldn't have too many problems now.

That's what I did five months ago and very happy with my Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2ghz 2 Gig Memory Compaq CQ60

Originally Posted by Barry_White

Well Metal Head that was probably the dearest way to fix the problem but at least you shouldn't have too many problems now.

That's what I did five months ago and very happy with my Pentium Dual Core T3200 @ 2ghz 2 Gig Memory Compaq CQ60

You see, great minds think alike!! There were other issues such as more RAM required.....The only problem that I can potentially see is the Norton 60 day initial trial that comes with the product. I let the missus have her way and keep it on but as soon as we start having any hassle with it off it will come as far as I am concerned. Your advice about Avast has worked great on our older system.

Cheers
Metal Head