gflande1 Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I consider myself pretty handy with computers, in fact, I have built several in the past. However, I dont know how to answer this question. My mother in law has a COMPAQ running Windows ME, with 256 megs of RAM. She is complaining the computer runs slow and freezes when she tries to open more than one thing. I suggested that she upgrade to Windows XP, and atleast 512 megs of RAM. According to COMPAQs website, installing a different OS is not suggested, and is done at your own risk since XP has not been tested on the computer. My fear is that XP may not be compatible with some of the hardware. Any experience in this? Im not sure what kind of hardware she has, and if it can be changed (video card, modem, sound card, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevestojan Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Even with ME, with 256, she should be able to run more than ONE app. I would run "HiJack This" and look for spyware... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gflande1 Posted January 7, 2005 Author Share Posted January 7, 2005 Im sorry, I must correct my post. I cant say for sure that she said more than one. Im hearing this all from my wife. I was at her house recently and ran McAffee Virus scan, Spybot, and Adaware with no problems. Computer did seem slower than Im use to. I truly think its a low RAM and OS (I have read that ME is slow) problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
udonkey Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Try disk defrag? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Go to Webroot.com and download Window Washer and Spysweeper. Make sure you don't take the defaults on Window Washer and select "wash slack file space". Also, Windows ME is known for its memory leaks and buffer overruns. It's BY FAR the worst OS ever unleashed by Microsoft. A disaster - if the machine is worth salvaging, it's worth trying to load XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alg Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Also, Windows ME is known for its memory leaks and buffer overruns. It's BY FAR the worst OS ever unleashed by Microsoft. 196590[/snapback] Yep, ME and '98 are terrible. Check the stuff already listed, especially defrag, but you may also want to check virtual memory and set it at about 500 meg - double the RAM - assuming, of course, that the pc has decent disk space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soljc Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 I consider myself pretty handy with computers, in fact, I have built several in the past. However, I dont know how to answer this question. My mother in law has a COMPAQ running Windows ME, with 256 megs of RAM. She is complaining the computer runs slow and freezes when she tries to open more than one thing. I suggested that she upgrade to Windows XP, and atleast 512 megs of RAM. According to COMPAQs website, installing a different OS is not suggested, and is done at your own risk since XP has not been tested on the computer. My fear is that XP may not be compatible with some of the hardware. Any experience in this? Im not sure what kind of hardware she has, and if it can be changed (video card, modem, sound card, etc.) 196578[/snapback] FWIW, my cousin has ME and tells me he reboots regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corp000085 Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 It sounds like a virtual memory or defrag problem. Try setting the VM to a larger value and running a defrag. If that doesn't work, try disabling VM, restarting in safe mode, defragging, and then reenabling VM. If it still doesn't work, then i'd suggest looking to see what runs on startup. a computer with 256 mb of ram on ME should not run that slow without something running in the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 It sounds like a virtual memory or defrag problem. Try setting the VM to a larger value and running a defrag. If that doesn't work, try disabling VM, restarting in safe mode, defragging, and then reenabling VM. If it still doesn't work, then i'd suggest looking to see what runs on startup. a computer with 256 mb of ram on ME should not run that slow without something running in the way. 196673[/snapback] I think corp is right. If your mom in law is like my mom she had about 25 apps starting up with the system that she doesnt need. All just eating up ram and cpu cycles. Although Ive never had a Compaq myself(all self built) I have installed XP on a couple Compaqs at work with no problems at all. Personally I think this would be the best thing to do for your mother in law. XP is much more stable and thats always nice for people who are not as pc savy. However, like others have said in this thread, you will need at least 512 mgs total ram to run XP. If gaming you really should have a gig. Just my .02 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted January 7, 2005 Share Posted January 7, 2005 Also, Windows ME is known for its memory leaks and buffer overruns. It's BY FAR the worst OS ever unleashed by Microsoft. A disaster - if the machine is worth salvaging, it's worth trying to load XP. 196590[/snapback] Sorry Darin, I have to disagree. Microsoft Bob was 1000x worse... http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html (although technically, I guess it might not be considered an OS in and of itself). That said, to the OP -- Windows gets slower with time because of the crappy registry (amongst other things). If you're worried about installing WinXP, simply re-install WinME and I bet you'll be fine. It's probably not worth the money to buy new memory for the box anyway, as chances are it's pretty expensive nowadays. You can buy a new PC for cheap (less than $500) nowadays, and it'll be 10x better than what you have. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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