Tip-Of-The-Week

March 9, 2007

From the Free Computer Consultant

http://www.FreeComputerConsultant.com

Speed Up Your XP PC - Give it new life

Speed up your PC experience by replacing it? That's what a lot of people do. Others are buying a new PC so they can get Windows Vista.

Certainly that's the easy thing to do, if you have the money.

But all is not happy in Vista land. More and more big name commentators, gurus and pundits are either going back to XP for their working computer, or, in one case, moving to Mac OS X.

You see, Vista is a great operating system for Microsoft fans who either use only Microsoft's latest products, like Office 2007; and/or just use their computer for the simple edutainment type tasks of internet, email, music and video.

But the greatest number of users still use older applications that won't work with Vista, through no fault of their own. These same people have perfectly good printers and scanners that will probably NEVER have a Vista driver written for them by their manufacturer - even if it's a big name like HP.

So what do you do?

I have written often about how Windows computers get slower (and self corrupt) over time. I have written often how we really don't do much different (in the business world especially) today than we did in 2000. In fact, almost all of my clients are still using MS Office 2000.

We need to extend the life of XP, but renew the speed we once had! We need to speed up our computers to regain the feeling we had when they were new.

The best way to do that is with a clean install of Windows XP. Is now the time for a larger hard drive maybe? They're cheap. Take your old hard drive out, install the new one. Load XP. Then put your old drive back to copy data, maybe find drivers you need, etc.

Sidebar: Don't just buy a larger hard drive, after all, we're trying to speed up our PC. Always buy 7200rpm drives (10,000 rpm are rare & expensive, but if you can afford it, go for it) from name brand manufacturers. I use only Hitachi, Seagate, and Western Digital. And make sure it works in your PC - IDE, SATA, SATA II - it makes a difference which interface.

Ok, this isn't for the faint of heart, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist either. Find someone to help with a hurdle or two or just to hold your hand if you want.

The great thing about this is that you still have your entire old drive as a backup. But...make a good backup first anyway!

What if I don't need a new hard drive?

A fresh, clean install with only the programs you use

...will give your PC a fresh lease on life.

If you have a few extra bucks and your Windows XP computer has only 128 or 256MB of RAM, see what it would cost to upgrade to 512 - you'll really see the difference coming from 128, but even 256 to 512 is noticeable.

A fresh install, formatting the hard disk, is a sure way to speed up your PC because:

• No malware or virus infections - keep disconnected from the Internet entirely until you are fully protected again. Get needed drivers FIRST before starting the process. Put them on USB hard drive, USB Flash or CD.
• Eliminates bloated registry hives
• Acts as a defragmentation, of sorts
• More space, you only add back what you use
• Good excuse to get latest drivers for your components

I used to reload Windows every year on my primary machine. As I have gotten busier, it's fallen to about every 1.5 to 2 years.

My clients, friends and I have seen great results doing this; consider giving it a try.

It's a lot cheaper than a new PC. Read 3 Common Myths about new computers for more info.

P.S. - There is a convenient Daylight Savings Time readiness test for the Windows XP family (does not work for Windows 2000). I have a link to it on my Daylight Savings Time page.

Hope this information is of use to you, that's it for this week. When was the last time you backed up YOUR PC? Thanks for subscribing,

The Free Computer Consultant