Cleaning up a slow computer

[Weetabix]

I've got an old computer that I need to keep going (blah, blah, blah, insert long uninteresting reason here).

This is an older machine (circa 2006 or 2007), Windows XP, 3 or 4 gb of memory, can't remember the processor. It was a good AutoCAD work station when it was purchased.

In the old days, I'd:
- take it apart, blow the dust out, clean the component connections a bit or just reseat them
- clean off as much disk space as possible
- run a check disk and let it repair anything it could find
- defragment

I should go through and uninstall any unneeded programs that have accumulated.

I probably need to run some anti-virus or malware software for form.

System registry cleanup?

Are the computer service company "tune-ups" worth the time and money?

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

[Darrell]

A few years ago I used CCleaner to recover a large amount of space on a hard drive. It was a 30 gig drive, IIRC, it gave me back about 2/3 of the drive, getting rid of all the old clutter. CCleaner is free, too. Works for me. I run it once a week or so to keep my present hard drive clean. It will also clean up the registry when told.

[308Mike]

Unnecessary registry entries will slow down a Windows machine, simply because it is just more checks to see if there are required parameters needed for each and every application during start-up and/or launching. TEMP files create slowing (since the system checks to see if it has a current temp file it can use instead of creating new ones - even if it already has MULTIPLE instances of TEMP files already). Excessive Cookies only affect web browsing, and then it depends on which sites have been stored and referenced (usually advertising sites).

Defragging helps Windows computers, since they use sequential-seeking instead of elevator-seeking when gathering file fragments.

[mekender]

cccleaner and spybot scans will do wonders for most Windows installs... Reimaging and putting a fresh copy of windows will do more.

As chris said, upgrade to 4gb of ram.

[mekender]

Defragging helps Windows computers, since they use sequential-seeking instead of elevator-seeking when gathering file fragments.

For 7 and later, it is nowhere near as important to do that.

[308Mike]

Defragging helps Windows computers, since they use sequential-seeking instead of elevator-seeking when gathering file fragments.

For 7 and later, it is nowhere near as important to do that.

Personally, I can't STAND Windows 8/8+!! It's a DISASTER!!

[mekender]

Personally, I can't STAND Windows 8/8+!! It's a DISASTER!!

I can kinda understand people not liking the UI... But the OS is solid and works a lot better than 7.

[Yogimus]

Personally, I can't STAND Windows 8/8+!! It's a DISASTER!!

I can kinda understand people not liking the UI... But the OS is solid and works a lot better than 7.

99% of the people will in no way interact with an OS other than through the UI. In other words, I could give zero fucks about how good it is behind the scenes, when the scenes themselves suck the ballsack.

[Greg]

cccleaner and spybot scans will do wonders for most Windows installs... Reimaging and putting a fresh copy of windows will do more.

As chris said, upgrade to 4gb of ram.

Yeah that's pretty much it. Upgrade the memory, with 4GB as your desired minimum, 8GB as a nice to have. (If you're running Win7. For XP with your copy almost certainly being 32 bit, don't bother going higher than 4GB.) Then a clean OS install.

A machine of 2006 or 2007 vintage is better than the 2005 vintage hardware I was running up until about 2 years ago, when I upgraded to 2009 vintage hardware, which I am still running happily. (Phenom II X4 FTW!) You've got a decent multicore (dual, almost certainly) CPU and a decent vid card. About all that machine won't still be able to do just fine is run certain content creation software, or certain games.

[Weetabix]

The real reason I need to keep it running is AutoCAD Civil3D 2009. I let my subscription go years ago, so I'm not sure how easily this will reinstall if I re-install the operating system.