I'm a newbie on computers

[harley11]

I need to know some stuff about computers as i know nothing about them but im thinking of buying a new one because:

A. my computer is slow (i think) when 4 pages are open and downloading it takes forever for another window to open....thats slow right?

B. I take alot of pictures and videos with the digital camera and high dev camcorder and need somewhere to store all of them.

I need to know isn't it worth buying a new computer or just updating mine to 2007 spec? I dont even have dvd burner which i want...ohh and i have 17inch lcd and i want 20inch so right off the bat its cheaper to buy new right?

Here's my real questions:

How do i check really what i have on this computer/ storage/ speed/ blah blah blah???????????

what is the speed of a computer called?

computer storage called?

Im looking for a computer that can handle anything i throw at it...have 10 windows open downloading music and downloading movies from the camcorder. To give you guys a clue i take about 15 videos a month and over 1000 pictures a month that i need on the computer. I want them on there forever....lol...i do so many roadtrips and would like to have them at my finger tips....

Iam using pisca2 (google software advanced) and im right out of room...which is 25000 pictures in 2 years

Someone just pm'd me trying to sell me ram" ummm

system properties: AMD ATHLON (TM) XP 2500+ 1.86GHZ, 240MB OF RAM.....What the hell does this all mean??? where can i check to see how much im using? Ive just deleted a whole pile of pictures...

[viperous]

240MB of ram...oh geez...no wonder why it's slow.

[harley11]

Originally posted by viperous
240MB of ram...oh geez...no wonder why it's slow.

Okay so its the ram that makes it slow...umm okay

[Mibz]

Find out the model # of your motherboard (It'll be on it in big letters) and bring that to Memory Express and ask for 1GB of RAM. $130 and you'll have drastically improved the performance of your current computer.

[soupey]

yea definitely invest on increasing the ram, u should have a minimum of 512mb..

if u want more info about ur computer jus go

start -> run -> type in "dxdiag" without the quotations

[Zero102]

Still, it's only 1.86GHz
Memory express could build you a bitchin computer, but if you want something much better and really cheap then hold on.
Wait for Dell's big christmas sale (it will probably start around the 13th-15th), or watch future shop on boxing day.

IMO get something that is at least 3GHz, 1-2GB of ram with a 300-750GB hard drive. Make sure it has a decent video card as well, doesn't have to be top of the line.
You will be able to do pretty much anything you want on that.
Of course, if you want a DVD burner make sure it has that.
It will probably set you back better than $1k, but you will be very happy.


To determine the size of your current hard drive, open 'My computer' and right click on 'Local disk C' and any other hard drives listed.
Add up the 'total size' attribute of each drive.

There are lots of other ways, but this is the easiest.
Sounds like you're figured out the other important attributes

[bball2]

Buy new, I bought a sweet system from futureshop over the summer:

Compaq Media Centre
AMD 3500+
1 gig of ram
200gb hard drive
dvd-rw

and a LG 20inch flat screen (2000:1 contrast ratio, 5ms refresh rate)

All for 650$

IMO, that would be way cheaper than trying to bring it up to "2007 specs". If you really, really don't wanna ditch your old system, upgrade the ram to 1gb (2x 512), put in a dvd burner, and a bigger hard drive (~200-250$ for everything?). Ask one of your tech-savy friends to help out with the installation, won't take more than half an hour.

[frostyda9]

Originally posted by harley11


Here's my real questions:

How do i check really what i have on this computer/ storage/ speed/ blah blah blah???????????

what is the speed of a computer called?

computer storage called?

Press the Windows key + the Pause/Break key and it will tell you precessor type, speed, and how much memory is installed. Seeing as it's a Socket A/462 CPU with a 333MHz bus speed, I would almost guarantee is uses PC2700 DDR SD RAM. Press Control + Alt + Delete and look under the perfromance tab to see how much total RAM you have available (physical memory). It's probably not much.

Speed of the processor is measured in gigahertz (GHz).
Memory size is measured in megabytes (MB), or gigabytes (GB) 1000 MB= 1 GB.
Hard drive capacity is measured in GB.

As was mentioned, to get HD size info, go to My Computer, right click the drive, and look under properties.

If you want a more in depth idea of the components in your system, download SiSoft Sandra Lite 2007 and browse through the various categories :thumbsup:

A 1.83 GHz system with 1GB of RAM is more than sufficient for email and web browsing. If that's all you do, just buy some more RAM, clean up the hard drive, run WinASO's registry Optimizer, and defrag the hard drive.

[googe]

the cheapest way as mentioned would be to put in 1gb of ram and call it a day.

unless you play games or edit videos, you dont need to upgrade anything else.

you can also buy a dvd/cd burner for like $40.

deleting files wont change anything. if you find that youre getting messages saying that your hard drive is full, you can put in another hard drive for relatively cheap that will probably be 4x the size of what you have.

speed isnt *really* measured in mhz or ghz. they are a speed measurement, but it means next to nothing for comparison purposes.

its basically ram that dictates how much you can have open at once. speed isnt going to help you with that.

if you have money to spend, even $1000 will get you something that will keep you happy for a long time. but you can make a drastic improvement to what you have for even $200.

[EnRich]

I can also build you a brand new one from scratch. Cheaper then anything else out there.

[googe]

^ya but youll probably rip him off with a broken video card ;)

[harley11]

Here's my computer stuff...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6156959040144723105&hl=en

[viperous]

Originally posted by harley11
Here's my computer stuff...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6156959040144723105&hl=en

One word...

Screenshot.

Hold Ctrl and press PrtSC (Print Screen) Paste that into Paint or something, save, and upload the image.

[harley11]

Originally posted by viperous


One word...

Screenshot.

Hold Ctrl and press PrtSC (Print Screen) Paste that into Paint or something, save, and upload the image.

My computer really is getting slow...this Hold Ctrl and press PrtSC i tried but doesn't do anything...

Also how do i get google to remember my info and fill in the blanks?

[zeroX420]

try holding alt and press prntscrn
then paste it in a word document, upload image

[EnRich]

Originally posted by googe
^ya but youll probably rip him off with a broken video card ;)

Ouch... words hurt man...

[yellowsnow]

have you run ad-aware on your computer or a virus scanner lately? slow system speeds could be the effect of some trojans or other background programs.

[nos_efx]

I would not bother pumping money into upgrading your computer. Chances are another GB of RAM is gonna cost you a pretty penny, because your motherboard is probably quite old and purchasing outdated RAM sticks are expensive.

Go with buying a new computer. It seems to me that you multithread quite a bit, go buy a new computer that has either the new Intel DUO or the AMD Dual core processors with at least 1GB of RAM. You don't really even have to go expensive either, the Athlon 3800+ dual cores are decent in speed and decently priced.

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

[harley11]

Originally posted by harley11


My computer really is getting slow...this Hold Ctrl and press PrtSC i tried but doesn't do anything...

Also how do i get google to remember my info and fill in the blanks?

Nothing happens when i do that...the time icon happens but nothing pops up.

[harley11]

Originally posted by yellowsnow
have you run ad-aware on your computer or a virus scanner lately? slow system speeds could be the effect of some trojans or other background programs.

Ive got the free shaw protection

[harley11]

Here's my computer info: If you need to know more let me know i'll just take a picture. http://www.4wheeler.ca/uploads/post-2687-1165342780_thumb.jpg

http://www.4wheeler.ca/uploads/post-2687-1165342820_thumb.jpg

http://www.4wheeler.ca/uploads/post-2687-1165343455_thumb.jpg

http://www.4wheeler.ca/uploads/post-2687-1165343492_thumb.jpg

http://www.4wheeler.ca/uploads/post-2687-1165343562_thumb.jpg

http://www.4wheeler.ca/uploads/post...43455_thumb.jpg

[nos_efx]

Yeah the SHAW protection is pretty much useless.

If you have not rebuilt your computer in awhile, awhile = 1+ year then I would suggest you rebuild the OS.

Tons of junk gets placed on your computer while you surf and the only way of permanently removing this stuff is to reload the operating system.

Downloading and running ad-ware scans will likely kill your comp as it already can't handle the current load. But you can definitely give it a shot.

Go for Spybot Search and Destroy first as its relatively less memory intensive.

[harley11]

How do you so call" back up youre system so i dont lose anything...like right now if my computer failed i would be screwed.

[nos_efx]

You can always purchase a USB pen drive or a external hard drive for your backups. If you don't want to invest money into this you can buy DVD-R's, assuming you have a dvd burner on your computer.

Backup your data to this, you can also backup your windows profile as well (your internet favorites etc).

If you are using programs that contain a lot of customizations, there are registry keys that you can export you may want to ask around first before messing around with the registry.

Anyways let me know if I can help.

[codetrap]

.

[harley11]

hey guys as soon as i posted those pictures my computer shut off...it wont turn on...im at best buy right now....im going to get them to diagnose the problem...but should i buy parts from here???? i dont have money for new computer till after dec...

[bball2]

Yikes, diagnosis at best buy, usually followed by them recommending you do an emergency 250$ virus / spyware removal and you'll still have the same crappy computer as before...

Go with the new computer route, it'll be better in the long run. Or get a friend to diagnose the problem, I'm not a big fan of the geeksquad at all.

[frostyda9]

Buy a 512 MB stick of PC2700, bring me the computer, RAM, and $100 for my time, and I'll make it faster than it was when it was new, guaranteed.

[harley11]

im at best buy again. they say my mother board is toast...now my computer is in peaces....im not sure what to do now...buy a used one intill i have enough to save up for a really nice new one,