Diagnose Granny's Hardware (ISO nerdy boys)

[AngryCola]

Good to hear, Granny.

The registry can get very cluttered.

[RollaJ]

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System Mechanic

i used system mechanic tonight and fixed the registry of 378 items!! 31 broken shortcuts and defragged. my pc is licketdy split now, and i entered mason@myINbox.com for my name and used the freebie.

thanks terry!

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If you think you are lickity now, wait till you add that extra ram (yes you still should)

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]
f you think you are lickity now, wait till you add that extra ram (yes you still should)

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I agree with the last bit. Granny should still upgrade her RAM.

[Terry]

Lickety split, huh? And Mason still maintains title to the INbox ... there’s just no justice. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Kellon]

I would like to suggest one possible additional procedure. B/c Granny's HD is relatively full and b/c the pc has been operating with limited RAM, the virtual memory file (pagefile.sys) is likely fragmented badly. Simply defragging the HD will not change this because pagefile.sys blocks cannot be moved during defragging. The only way to get the pagefile into one continuous part of the HD is to set virtual memory to zero, reboot, defrag, and then reset the virtual memory, if my personal memory serves me correctly. If others agree, maybe one of us can recall the specific steps to accomplish this, as it has been a while since I have done it and I don't recall the process step-by-step. (And I'm too time-committed at the moment to document it, unfortunately.)

I believe that this problem, which causes much thrashing while the pc is on and while it is trying to shut down, in combination with the limited physical memory, is the major source of the problem (along with the registry issues, which Granny has fixed and which has resulted in a fair amount of improvement.)

IMO, the processor is plenty adequate for the stated tasks being performed. Adding more RAM (512 MB) should make a serious difference, but I really would like to see her pagefile defraggged also.

What do y'all think about this possibility?

[smoore]

yeah man, VM to 0, reboot, defrag, reboot, set VM to what you want, reboot.

-or- install additional 1GB of RAM, set VM to 0, reboot, defrag, done. Might need 2GB to do this with the next iteration of windows, but 1GB is enough for XP so far.

[Terry]

System Mechanic has Boot Time Defragmentation. It defrags not only the pagefile but also all the Windows system files that are spread all over your drive from all those updates and service packs.

[GrannyMae]

after the scan, when i mashed the button to delete all those 378 errors, i thought my PC would never work again. there were important-ass looking registry entries diappearing before my eyes, and granny FORGOT to set a restore point.

i am a VERY lucky person. that fix registry option is a powerful and scary remover, but your warning to set a resore point should have been in bold red, not just caps.