Computer Help (In General)

[Cavouku]

***NEW QUESTION, PAGE 2***

D&D Online: See page 2 for details.


I suppose we need one of these, as the search bar didn't provide much in the first couple links.

Alright, if you've got a problem, if you can solve one, post away, allow me to start:

Problem: My computer's running like crap.

Elaborated: It started when I noticed all sound came out choppy, then everything started slowing to a halt. I can't watch videos, and it lags. It's not internet connection or a virus, I think there may be programs running that I don't need. Not as in I have programs I don't need, I got rid of those. Maybe something clogging my RAM. Do I need a driver upgrade? That happens with this thing often. If not, can someone direct me to the place where I can see what my computer's running? It's a netbook, so it only has a little over half a gig of RAM.

Problem Status: ***GOOD ENOUGH***

I've been having too many computer problems, so instead of always making a new thread, I'll start here. (I'd revise an old one, but they seem to be lost in the depths of Lurkville.)

The italic paragraphs have been fixed.

 

[CIA]

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

 

[Cavouku]

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

Sometimes, but not often, only if I scroll fast.

Where would I check that? Or just stick a thermometer in the vent? It doesn't feel too hot.

 

[CIA]

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

Sometimes. Where would I check that? Or just stick a thermometer in the vent? It doesn't feel too hot.

Laptop?
There are a bunch of programs that will check your temperature within your OS, but usually the bios has one. You need to restart and enter the bios to have a poke around for the CPU stuff. It should be easy to find.

 

[Cavouku]

I'll add some notes: I defragmented the hard drive. Am currently running a disk clean-up. Currently have two tabs open in Chrome, the Cleanup's running, and am signed into AIM. It's plugged in, and pretty much fully charged (I brought it over from dad's).

Other than things, of which I do not know the purpose of, my program list is only essentials.

 

[Cavouku]

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

Sometimes. Where would I check that? Or just stick a thermometer in the vent? It doesn't feel too hot.

Laptop?
There are a bunch of programs that will check your temperature within your OS, but usually the bios has one. You need to restart and enter the bios to have a poke around for the CPU stuff. It should be easy to find.

Alright, restarting, one moment. (Wait, hit F2 during the loading screen, right?)

 

[Proteus214]

It's a netbook, so it only has a little over half a gig of RAM.

This may be part of the problem. Most modern operating systems and basic programs these days do assume that you have at least 1GB of RAM and 2GB to be optimal. I would recommend an upgrade in that department if it is possible. What operating system are you running?

Other potential problems may include a horribly fragmented hard drive. Do you run a disk defrag often?

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

This may also be a problem. Check your CPU's heat sinks and make sure they aren't clogged with dust or something. I used to run into that problem with my old laptop all the time.

 

[CIA]

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

Sometimes. Where would I check that? Or just stick a thermometer in the vent? It doesn't feel too hot.

Laptop?
There are a bunch of programs that will check your temperature within your OS, but usually the bios has one. You need to restart and enter the bios to have a poke around for the CPU stuff. It should be easy to find.

Alright, restarting, one moment. (Wait, hit F2 during the loading screen, right?)

Usually F2. Some computers have different keys.

 

[Cavouku]

It's a netbook, so it only has a little over half a gig of RAM.

This may be part of the problem. Most modern operating systems and basic programs these days do assume that you have at least 1GB of RAM and 2GB to be optimal. I would recommend an upgrade in that department if it is possible. What operating system are you running?

Other potential problems may include a horribly fragmented hard drive. Do you run a disk defrag often?

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

This may also be a problem. Check your CPU's heat sinks and make sure they aren't clogged with dust or something. I used to run into that problem with my old laptop all the time.

Alright, are these hardware issues, the upgrade and heat sinks? I can imagine the heat. I run a disk defrag every few days. Can I upgrade from here, or should I install a chip or something?

How might I go about cleaning the heat sinks? Restarting, be back in a moment.

(Oh, right, running XP. Restarting.)

 

[MusicalFreedom]

with a system that weak, I don't know if this'll help, but in Windows press winkey + R, and type msconfig

a window should pop up, and there should be a tab saying "startup" or something like that. go into there, uncheck whatever isn't necessary. that way, it might run a little faster.
if all else fails, format and reinstall

 

[Cavouku]

with a system that weak, I don't know if this'll help, but in Windows press winkey + R, and type msconfig

a window should pop up, and there should be a tab saying "startup" or something like that. go into there, uncheck whatever isn't necessary. that way, it might run a little faster.
if all else fails, format and reinstall

Windows... winkey? Uh, one sec...

More notes: Intel(R), Atom(something in parenthesis), And its speed was 1.60GHz, it's system memory capacity is 144GB, with 116GB free, and its specific RAM is about 512MB. (System temp, for some reason, didn't show up anywhere I could see.)

Anyone sure this isn't a driver problem? Because I have had to update the drivers for both the mouse and wired internet connection.

(Sorry to sound thick; what specifically do you mean by 'Windows'?)

 

[Cavouku]

It's a netbook, so it only has a little over half a gig of RAM.

This may be part of the problem. Most modern operating systems and basic programs these days do assume that you have at least 1GB of RAM and 2GB to be optimal. I would recommend an upgrade in that department if it is possible. What operating system are you running?

Other potential problems may include a horribly fragmented hard drive. Do you run a disk defrag often?

Is the screen going by in bars when you scroll down?
Check your CPU temp.

This may also be a problem. Check your CPU's heat sinks and make sure they aren't clogged with dust or something. I used to run into that problem with my old laptop all the time.

Temperature didn't show up in the bios.

 

[thiosk]

Clean install.

Format, install base operating system, enjoy. Repeat every other year.

 

[Cavouku]

Clean install.

Format, install base operating system, enjoy. Repeat every other year.

Directions if you may? Now that you mention it, I did buy this in '07.

 

[Horticulture]

The easiest way to check if it's a RAM issue (likely if you're on anything above XP) is to open task manager (ctrl+alt+delete) and go to performance, and see what the memory usage is without any programs running. If it's close to (or above) 512 megs already, the poor performance is due to running out of RAM and having to continually access data from the hard drive/swap file.

 

[Cavouku]

The easiest way to check if it's a RAM issue (likely if you're on anything above XP) is to open task manager (ctrl+alt+delete) and go to performance, and see what the memory usage is without any programs running. If it's close to (or above) 512 megs already, the poor performance is due to running out of RAM and having to continually access data from the hard drive/swap file.

Is that the PF usage? If so, it is 598 MB. If this is the case, how would I solve the problem? (I am running XP.)

(As a note, I did some sort of update. The mouse isn't lagging much anymore, and it's a bit faster, but for instance, sound is still choppy beyond belief.)

 

[MusicalFreedom]

Windows... winkey? Uh, one sec...

More notes: Intel(R), Atom(something in parenthesis), And its speed was 1.60GHz, it's system memory capacity is 144GB, with 116GB free, and its specific RAM is about 512MB. (System temp, for some reason, didn't show up anywhere I could see.)

Anyone sure this isn't a driver problem? Because I have had to update the drivers for both the mouse and wired internet connection.

(Sorry to sound thick; what specifically do you mean by 'Windows'?)

I mean you press the button that should be directly to the right of the left ctrl button... you know, the "windows key", keep that held, and press the R button to bring up the run dialog

you could probably also find it through the start menu

bear with me, I am very tired

 

[Cavouku]

Windows... winkey? Uh, one sec...

More notes: Intel(R), Atom(something in parenthesis), And its speed was 1.60GHz, it's system memory capacity is 144GB, with 116GB free, and its specific RAM is about 512MB. (System temp, for some reason, didn't show up anywhere I could see.)

Anyone sure this isn't a driver problem? Because I have had to update the drivers for both the mouse and wired internet connection.

(Sorry to sound thick; what specifically do you mean by 'Windows'?)

I mean you press the button that should be directly to the right of the left ctrl button... you know, the "windows key", keep that held, and press the R button to bring up the run dialog

you could probably also find it through the start menu

bear with me, I am very tired

Oh, that. Alright, I'll see... most of this stuff is Greek to me though. Okay, all of it is. I'm scared to touch anything.

 

[Horticulture]

Is that the PF usage? If so, it is 598 MB. If this is the case, how would I solve the problem? (I am running XP.)

Yeah, that's it. Since your memory usage is above the amount of RAM you have, it's probably causing your problems. You want to either install more RAM or cut down the amount or RAM you're using. The former should be relatively cheap and, depending on the model of netbook you've got, probably easy as well.

The latter can be solved in a variety of ways, from reinstalling your OS and making sure that RAM usage doesn't creep up as you install new programs to going through the processes on your computer and uninstalling bloated programs. The quick solution is to open the processes tab, sort the active processes by memory usage, and google the names of the memory-hungriest processes. Once you determine whether they're programs you want/need running all the time, you can uninstall everything that you don't need. Since you're barely over the amount of installed RAM (~600 megs/512), you can probably solve your issues by doing this.
Once you uninstall everything, run CCleaner [http://www.ccleaner.com/] to free up some extra hard drive space and tidy up your registry from the uninstalled programs.

 

[Cavouku]

Is that the PF usage? If so, it is 598 MB. If this is the case, how would I solve the problem? (I am running XP.)

Yeah, that's it. Since your memory usage is above the amount of RAM you have, it's probably causing your problems. You want to either install more RAM or cut down the amount or RAM you're using. The former should be relatively cheap and, depending on the model of netbook you've got, probably easy as well.

The latter can be solved in a variety of ways, from reinstalling your OS and making sure that RAM usage doesn't creep up as you install new programs to going through the processes on your computer and uninstalling bloated programs. The quick solution is to open the processes tab, sort the active processes by memory usage, and google the names of the memory-hungriest processes. Once you determine whether they're programs you want/need running all the time, you can uninstall everything that you don't need. Since you're barely over the amount of installed RAM (~600 megs/512), you can probably solve your issues by doing this.
Once you uninstall everything, run CCleaner [http://www.ccleaner.com/] to free up some extra hard drive space and tidy up your registry from the uninstalled programs.

Uh, I'll give it a shot. (The latter, I'm too low on cash for any fooling around right now.)
(The biggest, Microsoft Works; I've tried uninstalling that a few times in the past but the process craps out. It's evil or something.)