Advice

[JinxAshke]

Allright. I have spent the last three years in computer limbo. And just recently purchased an HP and found not so suprisingly that most of my knowlege is woefully out of date. I dont know if I am being dense or if this particularly model is quirky and I need to handle it with a light touch. Any one that can give some advice to improve the performance I would be very appreciative.

[jmichna]

So.... to start with, what is your new PC's configuration (hardware components) and what operating system are you running? What applications? What other type of hardware do you have (i.e., modems, NICs, routers, scanners, printers, faxes, and so on)? What kinds of information are you looking for?

Otherwise, if you are just looking for general information, you may need to resort to a local library. There is a significant amount of information out there, and it would take a looonnngggg time to go through all of it in a forum such as this.:D
jmichna

[JinxAshke]

Allright I know most of that. By the way of anyone thinks I am an idiot just tell me to go away. It would save everyone time if I was wasting it and I would not be offended.

Windows XP
Intel (R) Pentium 4 1.8Ghz
NVidia GeForce 2 MX/MX 400
512MB DDR Sd-Ram I dont know who makes that either
dont know who makes hard drive 100GB
LITEON DVD Rom LTD163
LITEON CD-r/w 24x10x40
APC UPS 500
BroadXent 8012U G
Lexmark X83 scanner/printer
The **** that comes with XP and it did not run without..

Hmm, if it helps I am using the VPR Matirix Model number 1800 that the sell at best buy. If more info is needed I can get that as well. And information wise I want to make my system more stable. And at the same time perhaps a little faster..I do have in my budget for more bars of RAM in about a month.

[tycoonist]

To me you have a pretty good system. I don't know what you want to upgrade. Maybe you can tell us what you what to improve, or what you want to do with your computer. Like are you into working with graphics, a game player, video editing, etc.

Finally, you aren't wasting anyone's time. We all have questions and we come here to ask and get answers. So, if you have more questions, just keep posting here and someone will answer.

[jmichna]

Originally posted by JinxAshke
By the way of anyone thinks I am an idiot just tell me to go away. It would save everyone time if I was wasting it and I would not be offended....

...And information wise I want to make my system more stable. And at the same time perhaps a little faster..I do have in my budget for more bars of RAM in about a month.

Jinx...
Meant no offense at all, just your first post was extraordinarily broad.
Re stable... are you getting spontaneous reboots, hangups/freezes, BSODs, what kind of problems? Some may be hardware, hardware/driver, OS, or other software-related. Do you get reeze ups after hard cpu use (overheating)?

For picking up more speed, there are probably dozens of WinXP tweaks that you can do. I use a tool called Tweak XP which you can find at http://www.totalidea.de/ (http://www.totalidea.de/) I'm certain there are others. You can also probably do all these tweaks manually, especially if you feel comfortable doing registry editing. There are web sites devoted to WinXP tweaking:
Here's an
article (http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s%253D1027%2526a%253D19543,00.asp?kc=ETEL10 112TTX1K0000475) at TechExtreme on XP tweaking.
Here's another site called
Tweak XP (http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/) that I have found to be useful.
Good luck, and enjoy your tweaking.
jmichna

[SearchSkillzzz]

Good job man! Well handled!Originally posted by jmichna


Jinx...
Meant no offense at all, just your first post was extraordinarily broad.
Re stable... are you getting spontaneous reboots, hangups/freezes, BSODs, what kind of problems? Some may be hardware, hardware/driver, OS, or other software-related. Do you get reeze ups after hard cpu use (overheating)?

For picking up more speed, there are probably dozens of WinXP tweaks that you can do. I use a tool called Tweak XP which you can find at http://www.totalidea.de/ (http://www.totalidea.de/) I'm certain there are others. You can also probably do all these tweaks manually, especially if you feel comfortable doing registry editing. There are web sites devoted to WinXP tweaking:
Here's an
article (http://www.extremetech.com/article/0,3396,s%253D1027%2526a%253D19543,00.asp?kc=ETEL10 112TTX1K0000475) at TechExtreme on XP tweaking.
Here's another site called
Tweak XP (http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/) that I have found to be useful.
Good luck, and enjoy your tweaking.
jmichna :D

[Bizkitkid2001]

I would get a better vid card if your into gameing like a Geforce 3 or Geforce 4 ti

[JinxAshke]

Nonono I was not offended I was just saying if I was wasting your time let me know and I would go take some classes or something.er update my brain so to speak which I decided to do anyway. And I thank you for the advice.. And yes I am getting a few hangups and stalls on programs. I just did a fresh install and almost immediatly certain programs would crash.. Specifically on MCCafe. And I get those annoying Blah blah blah experienced an error and must close do you wish to send a report to Microsoft.

A new video Card is a good idea since I do a good bit of gaming. And some stuff with Photoshop. I dont know if the card with help with Photoshop. In addition in the respect of ram can anyone suggest a brand it says on the specs on my computer I can go up to 2GB of ram but the people at Best Buy says that it can hold more then that.

Thank you all for being patient with me.

[JinxAshke]

Forgot a question as well I been meaning to ask this one since the get go. unfortlantly because of circumstance I am using AOL. And the modem I got the BroadXent can connect either USB or Ethernet. I have ports for either but I just connected it to my USB port since I got 6 of them and it was just easier.

Would I increase my connection speed using the ethernet?

Should I just use the ethernet card I already have or the one that came with the Modem?

I am not sure exactly what I have now. I think it is a Texas isntruments uhm it says 1394 Net adapter. The one that was sent to me is..well all the info on it I have is SOHO-fast/RE

[arkie]

Originally posted by JinxAshke

Would I increase my connection speed using the ethernet?

Should I just use the ethernet card I already have or the one that came with the Modem?



First, 512 is plenty of RAM.
XP will run with 128, better to have 256, so you are in excellent shape.

The ethernet card is for cable or DSL internet service.
Yes, either would increase your internet speed a bunch!
:)

[jmichna]

Originally posted by JinxAshke
And yes I am getting a few hangups and stalls on programs. I just did a fresh install and almost immediatly certain programs would crash.. Specifically on MCCafe. And I get those annoying Blah blah blah experienced an error and must close do you wish to send a report to Microsoft.

Besides McAfee AV, what else are you running? Have you been diligent about downloading all the WinXP updates (especially the "critical" updates, which usually deal with security and compatability issues).

Do you mean that you did a "fresh" install on top of an exisiting, or that you did a "clean" install on a freshly reformatted HD?

I have 2 pcs at home, one I did "clean" and another was an "upgrade" (W2K Pro --> WinXP Pro). Although the upgrade installtion went well, no problems, I did find that there were some (infrequent) lockups and strange behaviors (... that did prompt me to send MS an error message... which I did allow).

The clean installation had no issues, so I decided to reformat and do a clean install on the upgrade pc, and since then have had zero issues. I made sure that I had all the patches/upgrades recommended by all the software that I intended to install. Also ran that XP compatibility "tool" (part of the XP installation CD) that alerted me to some potential hardware and software problems; had to upgrade to newer versions of some things (Easy CD Creator being one).

If your motherboard uses the VIA chipset, I would recommend installing the latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers (I know that other folks may recommend letting XP use its native VIA chipset support, but...) but I have had no VIA chipset issues whatsoever. I'm using rev 4.38a.

Hope this helps,
jmichna

:D

[JinxAshke]

once again I have to repeat thank you: :D . The tweaks program made a big differance. I have redirected my funds and am getting the GeForce 4 I think it is. Which is something really good since I have a Logitech 5.1 Surrond speaker system and I dont think my current card supported full surrond sound. It only had one output jack that is for sure.

Yes I did a completle reformat and reinstall. And keep ontop of the windows updates. Uhm unfortulantly I must profess my ignorance and say I do not know what chipset I am running and not really sure how to find out.

Other then Mcafe Pro 6.0 I am running ZoneAlarm Pro 2.68, Photshop 6 (which runs fine), The AOL software (which I expected to suck anyway), Winamp and winrar (never use mediaplayer), DivX, smattering of games like AOEII and Starwars Galactic Battlegrounds which occasionally close inexplicitly..particularly Ice Wind Dale. really that is about all I run.


As for what I use my computer for..Well I use photoshop alot. And of course the internet alot.. And if anyone can suggest a really good firewall? Should I get a physical firewall?

Thanks again for the patience and the advice.

[tycoonist]

Since you already have McAfee installed on your computer, you could look into buying the firewall that they produce. Also, some people here use a firewall program called ZoneAlarm.

[SearchSkillzzz]

Zone alarm works quite well! Zone Alarm (http://www.zonelabs.com)

[jmichna]

Re firewalls, I use ZAPro (same rev you are at) on my little home network (3 pcs - 2 with Intel NICs (my 2 WinXPPro pcs), 1 with Linksys NIC (WinMe) - Linksys BESFR41 router, Westel Wirespeed DSL modem).

I'm happy with the protection I get from ZAPro. Combined with the NAT security afforded by the Linksys router, I feel secure as a home user.

Re antivirus/utility stuff - I use Symantecs Norton Systeworks, but I use it judiciously... mostly for the antivirus protection (keep the virus definitions update, check weekly or more frequently). For defragging W2K drives (esp NTFS) I use Perfect Disk 2000 by Raxco Software (www.raxco.com (http://www.raxco.com)).

Be real careful if you use any utility software's registry cleaner feature... back up your registry first, anyway. Also, try to be diligent about making a registry backup before installing any new software. That way, even if you find you need to uninstall, once uninstalled, you can return the registry to the pre-installed state... with no doubts.

I gave up on AOL several years ago... I suspect that many of your problems are related in some way to AOL and all the clutter and cr*p it installs, and how it tries to take over your pc's settings. When I added up the cost of the second phone line/month + monthly call charges, and the $21.95/month AOL fee, I could go DSL for what amounted to $5.00 more per month. That decision was a no-brainer for us. Is DSL or cable available in your area?

If you can, and do decide, to go that route, I found that AOL's uninstall program does not uninstall all of AOL, especially registry entries. I would do a reinstall of XPPro and NEVER install AOL again.

Re chipset, I just took another look at your system specs, and -- since you are running a P4 -- you are probably not running a Via chipset. (I'm really not familiar with mobos for Intel cpus.)

Regards,
jmichna

[JinxAshke]

I am using the AOL DSL service. er it is about 10 bucks less then the cheapest broadband for my Area. And that Cable service puts a..er I think it is called a cap on their speeds. And actually now that I have done some registry modifications shutting down windows with AOL open actually shuts down windows instead of closing AOL. In about 6months Earthlinks DSL will be available for my area. But as for cable well pretty much Comcast has this area in their hip pocket and I doubt anyone will knock them off unless some government agency steps in and makes Comcast rent out there cable. ::shrugs::

Since changing my registries and using the Tweak-XP program everything is running smoothly without a hitch. I know I have said it before but I will say it again. Thank you thank you thank you

*comcast charges 39 bucks for the first 6 months then goes up to 60 something. Earthlink is gonna be about $50. Bellsouth is in cahoots with AOL in this area except bellsouth charges $50 except you have to pay for your modem and you get a crappy Actiontec. I pay $31.08 for what I have now. I guess you get what you pay for, Though after enough threatning letters they have sent me a bunch of free stuff and I am not immune to bribery :D