Guest Joan Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 I am a "young" senior citizen and an avid enthusiast of digital photography and editing. Due to the large size of Photoshop files and that I cannot afford a new PC with a faster processor I am looking for ways to make my PC more productive. It's been slowing down quite a bit lately. I have IntelP4 and have upgraded to 2GB of memory, so don't think memory is an issue. I have a 80GB HD with 48GB of free space. I move important picture and project folders to DVDs for safety but also to keep more free space on the hard drive.I also keep my system maintained very well (clean, defrag, A-virus, firewall, etc..,) it'd help me to know the following: - What changes can I make to empower my PC to "get back to speed"? - Have been thinking of getting an external HD, is that a way to help? And when an external HD is connected to PC and turned on, is it taking "energy"?? from the PC's performance? - Is it OK to move My Picture folder to an externa HD and use it from there? Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan
Guest Darhl Thomason Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP "Joan" <josie63@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:eXUfan32HHA.4184@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > > - What changes can I make to empower my PC to "get back to speed"? Do you defrag your hard drive? I would recommend scheduling a Defrag to run once a week at minimum. > - Have been thinking of getting an external HD, is that a way to help? Not really in this case > And when an external HD is connected to PC and turned on, is it taking > "energy"?? from the PC's performance? Not really, it may slightly, but depending on how the eHDD is connected may make a difference when accessing files on it. If your computer or the eHDD is USB1.1 then that's pretty slow. If your eHDD is USB2.0 or FireWire or eSATA then those are all pretty high speed connections and would not slow things down. > - Is it OK to move My Picture folder to an externa HD and use it from > there? Sure, that won't be an issue, but I don't think it will help you in this case. > > Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan Let us know how it goes. Darhl
Guest Ghostrider Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP Joan wrote: > I am a "young" senior citizen and an avid enthusiast of digital photography > and editing. Due to the large size of Photoshop files and that I cannot > afford a new PC with a faster processor I am looking for ways to make my PC > more productive. It's been slowing down quite a bit lately. I have IntelP4 > and have upgraded to 2GB of memory, so don't think memory is an issue. I > have a 80GB HD with 48GB of free space. I move important picture and project > folders to DVDs for safety but also to keep more free space on the hard > drive.I also keep my system maintained very well (clean, defrag, A-virus, > firewall, etc..,) it'd help me to know the following: > > - What changes can I make to empower my PC to "get back to speed"? > - Have been thinking of getting an external HD, is that a way to help? And > when an external HD is connected to PC and turned on, is it taking > "energy"?? from the PC's performance? > - Is it OK to move My Picture folder to an externa HD and use it from there? > > Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan > > The most important piece of information is missing. Just which Intel P4 CPU is installed and what is its speed? The next bit of needed information is the hard drive, viz., IDE vs. SATA, make/model, etc. These would be two areas which can be changed to increase speed. Attaching an external drive does not really contribute to speed issues other than to offload files cluttering up the hard drive. Again, what type of external drive connection - USB2 vs Firewire vs Firewire 2, etc.? (And, BTW, I would never store any hard-won work in MyPicture. I prefer using discrete folders for each download from the digital camera, working folders and dedicated folders for finished work. Much easier to maintain backups, archival storage, protection, and so on. A heartbreaker is the loss of the original digital picture and from which the production shot is generated.)
Guest Bert Kinney Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP Hi Joan, Having 48 GB's of free disk space, the disk should not be the issue. Here are some tips for dealing with a Slow Computer: http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm You can also download and run Process Explorer. Look for any processes that may be taking up a lot of CPU recourses. When the system is at rest, normally idle time should be around 95%. Process Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx Regards, Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User http://bertk.mvps.org Member: http://dts-l.org Joan wrote: > I am a "young" senior citizen and an avid enthusiast of digital photography > and editing. Due to the large size of Photoshop files and that I cannot > afford a new PC with a faster processor I am looking for ways to make my PC > more productive. It's been slowing down quite a bit lately. I have IntelP4 > and have upgraded to 2GB of memory, so don't think memory is an issue. I > have a 80GB HD with 48GB of free space. I move important picture and project > folders to DVDs for safety but also to keep more free space on the hard > drive.I also keep my system maintained very well (clean, defrag, A-virus, > firewall, etc..,) it'd help me to know the following: > > - What changes can I make to empower my PC to "get back to speed"? > - Have been thinking of getting an external HD, is that a way to help? And > when an external HD is connected to PC and turned on, is it taking > "energy"?? from the PC's performance? > - Is it OK to move My Picture folder to an externa HD and use it from there? > > Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan > >
Guest Anna Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP "Joan" <josie63@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:eXUfan32HHA.4184@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >I am a "young" senior citizen and an avid enthusiast of digital photography >and editing. Due to the large size of Photoshop files and that I cannot >afford a new PC with a faster processor I am looking for ways to make my PC >more productive. It's been slowing down quite a bit lately. I have IntelP4 >and have upgraded to 2GB of memory, so don't think memory is an issue. I >have a 80GB HD with 48GB of free space. I move important picture and >project folders to DVDs for safety but also to keep more free space on the >hard drive.I also keep my system maintained very well (clean, defrag, >A-virus, firewall, etc..,) it'd help me to know the following: > > - What changes can I make to empower my PC to "get back to speed"? > - Have been thinking of getting an external HD, is that a way to help? And > when an external HD is connected to PC and turned on, is it taking > "energy"?? from the PC's performance? > - Is it OK to move My Picture folder to an externa HD and use it from > there? > > Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan Joan: It really would be best if we had a clearer picture of what you mean when you say that you "are looking to make my PC more productive. It's been slowing down quite a bit lately." Are you referring, for example, to a significant difference in the time it now takes to manipulate (edit, save, etc.) your digital photos as compared with the past? Lengthy bootup time? Or is it just a case where you feel the computer is somewhat more sluggish than in days gone by and seems to be getting progressively worse? Are you familiar with XP's Disk Cleanup feature - (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup)? Do you use that feature more-or-less routinely? That might help. I assume you're aware of the fact that you don't want unnecessary programs running in the background after you boot up. Are you familiar with the msconfig command from Start > Run > OK to check this out and uncheck the startup of any programs that need not be running in the background? And, as you've indicated, you're performing the appropriate "housekeeping" chores re checking out your machine for any malware/viruses/spyware, etc.? The basic use of an external HDD - I assume you're referring to a USB external HDD - is for storage/backup purposes. It might be desirable for you for storage/backup of your digital photos. At least the process of copying that data to an external HDD would be considerably faster than copying/burning such to DVDs. But for archival purposes, which I take it may be your main objective, it probably would be better to store your photos/digital images on that latter media as you are now doing. Many users use both kinds of backup/storage devices for additional safety, especially where their main concern is with protecting precious, irreplaceable photos, videos, etc. In any event, the use of a external storage/backup device, USB or otherwise would ordinarily not have any significant advantages in your situation where your primary concern is with the perceived "slows" of your PC. There wouldn't seem, for example, any performance advantage to moving your My Pictures folder over to a USB external device. In the final analysis - as you apparently infer - assuming one is working with a reasonably "clean" machine as I suppose you are, the truly significant performance improvement will result from a higher-powered processor, associated RAM, together with some other components. For all practical purposes, a new system. And, of course, you've indicated that is not possible at this time. Anyway, if you want to pursue this issue further and perhaps receive other responses that might be helpful to you, it would be wise to include in any subsequent post the make/model of your motherboard together with the precise designation of your Intel P4 processor and the type of RAM you're using. I take it this is a desktop PC, yes? Anna
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP On Fri, 10 Aug 2007 13:11:05 -0500, "Joan" <josie63@hotmail.com> wrote: > I am a "young" senior citizen and an avid enthusiast of digital photography > and editing. Due to the large size of Photoshop files and that I cannot > afford a new PC with a faster processor I am looking for ways to make my PC > more productive. It's been slowing down quite a bit lately. I have IntelP4 > and have upgraded to 2GB of memory, so don't think memory is an issue. I > have a 80GB HD with 48GB of free space. I move important picture and project > folders to DVDs for safety but also to keep more free space on the hard > drive.I also keep my system maintained very well (clean, defrag, A-virus, > firewall, etc..,) it'd help me to know the following: > > - What changes can I make to empower my PC to "get back to speed"? See below. > - Have been thinking of getting an external HD, is that a way to help? No. An external hard disk might be very useful as a backup device, but it will not affect your performance. > And > when an external HD is connected to PC and turned on, is it taking > "energy"?? from the PC's performance? No. > - Is it OK to move My Picture folder to an externa HD and use it from there? Yes, but again, don't think of this as a way to improve performance. That might actually decrease performance slightly, since access to the drive will be slower than to an internal one. > Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan You have apparently experienced a recent slowdown. If the hardware you are using is the same (actually better, since you say you've increased the amount of RAM), your problem is clearly *not* any deficiency in your hardware. Don't look to solve a non-hardware problem by installing or upgrading hardware. These days one of the most common cause for performance issues is spyware infestation. The first thing to do is always to be sure you are free of malware. I recommend that you go to http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware and follow the instructions there. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Uncle Grumpy Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP "Joan" <josie63@hotmail.com> wrote: >Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan Pay CLOSE attention to Ken Blake's reply.
Guest Joan Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP Thank you all for your efforts to help me, you are wonderful. After reading all the comments from each one of you I've come to suspect (although I certainly could be worng within my limited knowledge) that my PC is either infected by a silent invasor or the processor or something may be malfunctioning ???. My processor is IP®4, 2.40GHz, my PC is a Dell 8200 Dimension circa 2002. Have never in this PC's life had any problems with it. As I mentioned earlier. I do maintenance regularly: disk clean, defrag check for errors, and I also use run and update Win XP2 Updates, NortonAV, Windows Defender, WinPatrol, Adaware and Zone Alarm Pro. In addition I control unnecessary programs running in background and at startup. I have not had any reports of virus or any other type of invasion after current scannings. The slowness can be described as a longer time to complete tasks than previously and happening at bootup, log off, applying Photoshop editing steps, opening and closing files, etc... It seems after your responses that memory and HD size and external USB connections are non issues. Initially, I will follow through on Ken Blakes recommendations to make sure infection is not the case. After that it will be either take it to a technician to check it out or get a new PC. Ouch! either way. Thank you again for your comments, I'll let you know if I find any infection. Any additional comments will be appreciated. Joan "Uncle Grumpy" <unclegrumpy@ameritech.net> wrote in message news:e70qb3dok2a29ps63iflpapbtma4pl664p@4ax.com... > "Joan" <josie63@hotmail.com> wrote: > >>Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan > > Pay CLOSE attention to Ken Blake's reply.
Guest GHalleck Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP Joan wrote: > Thank you all for your efforts to help me, you are wonderful. > After reading all the comments from each one of you I've come to suspect > (although I certainly could be worng within my limited knowledge) that my PC > is either infected by a silent invasor or the processor or something may be > malfunctioning ???. My processor is IP®4, 2.40GHz, my PC is a Dell 8200 > Dimension circa 2002. Have never in this PC's life had any problems with it. > > As I mentioned earlier. I do maintenance regularly: disk clean, defrag check > for errors, and I also use run and update Win XP2 Updates, NortonAV, Windows > Defender, WinPatrol, Adaware and Zone Alarm Pro. In addition I control > unnecessary programs running in background and at startup. I have not had > any reports of virus or any other type of invasion after current scannings. > > The slowness can be described as a longer time to complete tasks than > previously and happening at bootup, log off, applying Photoshop editing > steps, opening and closing files, etc... It seems after your responses that > memory and HD size and external USB connections are non issues. > > Initially, I will follow through on Ken Blakes recommendations to make sure > infection is not the case. After that it will be either take it to a > technician to check it out or get a new PC. Ouch! either way. Thank you > again for your comments, I'll let you know if I find any infection. Any > additional comments will be appreciated. Joan > Joan, a Pentium-4 2.4 GHZ CPU is not a known speed demon nor is the Dell 8200 in contrast to today's computers using multi-core, multi- threading CPU's with real and perceived speeds in the 3.4 GHz and faster range. Nor should all of the programs be causing any issues even though they may be resident in memory...we are no longer in the days of MS-DOS. I think you are getting more inpatient and justifying a purchase of a computer newer and better than the Dell might be the cure. If this is the case, go for it! I do my digital photowork using a 3.4 GHz Pentium-D CPU, 2 GHz of PC-6400 RAM, and fast 300 GB SATA HD's.
Guest Bert Kinney Posted August 12, 2007 Posted August 12, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP Hi Joan, Ken is correct, you will want to at least rule out infection. Download ATF Cleaner 1.0.0.15 - ATF Cleaner is a personal Temp file removal tool - Softpedia. Remove everything but cookies, unless you don't need them. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Secure-cleaning/ATF-Cleaner.shtml Download, update and run Ad-Aware 2007 Free - Lavasoft http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php Download, update and run, Spybot search and destroy: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html Download and run, CWShredder™ - Trend Micro USA http://us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/CWShredder/index.html Run Kaspersky Online Scanner . http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner Read the Requirements and limitations and click Accept. Allow the ActiveX download if necessary Once the database has downloaded, click Next. Click Scan Settings and change the "Scan using the following antivirus database" from standard to extended and then click OK. Click on "My Computer" wait until the scan is finished. It will take a long time. When the scan has completed, click Save Report As Text file. Enter a name for the file in the Filename: text box and then Click Save - by default the file will be saved to your Desktop, but you can change this if you wish. Go to the following forum and read the Announcement at the top of the page. Follow the instruction to download the HiJackThis (HJT) application, run it and post to log. Let the folks there know all steps you have taken before submitting the HJT log. Regards, Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User http://bertk.mvps.org Member: http://dts-l.org Joan wrote: > Thank you all for your efforts to help me, you are wonderful. > After reading all the comments from each one of you I've come to suspect > (although I certainly could be worng within my limited knowledge) that my PC > is either infected by a silent invasor or the processor or something may be > malfunctioning ???. My processor is IP®4, 2.40GHz, my PC is a Dell 8200 > Dimension circa 2002. Have never in this PC's life had any problems with it. > > As I mentioned earlier. I do maintenance regularly: disk clean, defrag check > for errors, and I also use run and update Win XP2 Updates, NortonAV, Windows > Defender, WinPatrol, Adaware and Zone Alarm Pro. In addition I control > unnecessary programs running in background and at startup. I have not had > any reports of virus or any other type of invasion after current scannings. > > The slowness can be described as a longer time to complete tasks than > previously and happening at bootup, log off, applying Photoshop editing > steps, opening and closing files, etc... It seems after your responses that > memory and HD size and external USB connections are non issues. > > Initially, I will follow through on Ken Blakes recommendations to make sure > infection is not the case. After that it will be either take it to a > technician to check it out or get a new PC. Ouch! either way. Thank you > again for your comments, I'll let you know if I find any infection. Any > additional comments will be appreciated. Joan > > "Uncle Grumpy" <unclegrumpy@ameritech.net> wrote in message > news:e70qb3dok2a29ps63iflpapbtma4pl664p@4ax.com... >> "Joan" <josie63@hotmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Thanks for any suggestions and/or ideas you can provide. Joan >> Pay CLOSE attention to Ken Blake's reply. > >
Guest Darhl Thomason Posted August 13, 2007 Posted August 13, 2007 Re: Questions about external drives for XP "GHalleck" <ghalleck@arrakian.mining.com> wrote in message news:uR2Y9CG3HHA.4676@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... > > Joan, a Pentium-4 2.4 GHZ CPU is not a known speed demon nor is the > Dell 8200 in contrast to today's computers using multi-core, multi- > threading CPU's with real and perceived speeds in the 3.4 GHz and > faster range. Nor should all of the programs be causing any issues > even though they may be resident in memory...we are no longer in the > days of MS-DOS. I think you are getting more inpatient and justifying a > purchase of a computer newer and better than the Dell might be the cure. > If this is the case, go for it! I do my digital photowork using a 3.4 GHz > Pentium-D CPU, 2 GHz of PC-6400 RAM, and fast 300 GB SATA HD's. Joan, I think that the machine you have is plenty for what you wish to do. I really don't think you need to purchase a new machine. Since you say you are doing regular maintenance (AV/spyware scans, defrags, etc.) have you looked at your page file? You said you recently upgraded your RAM to 2GB, but did you also update your page file? I typically recommend a page file to be at least 1.5x available RAM, plus 11 MB. I can't remember where the 11MB comes from, but I know if you have Windows control it, that's what it adds as well. So, with your 2GB RAM, I would really recommend your page file to be 3083MB. I also do not recommend you let Windows control the page file, if you do, that file will become fragmented and defrag.exe will not fix it. Best thing to do is tell Windows no page file, run a defrag (3 or 4 times back to back to ensure you're as defragged as you can get) then tell Windows you want your page file Initial size to be 3083MB and the Maximum size to be 3083MB. This will create a single contiguous page file that will not change size and thus will not become defragmented. To find the page file settings, right click My Computer, go to Properties, the Advanced Tab, under the Performance section click the Settings button, go to the Advanced tab, at the bottom there is a section for Virtual Memory. Click Change then set your Initial size and your Maximum size. Then click the Set button. You may need to restart your computer after doing this. Let me know how it goes. Darhl
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