Non techy needs hardware advice

[KidsBeeHappy]

Hi

I have a basic PC set up, nothing posh or fancy, and it's done me fine, but is now grinding to a halt. Will probably take this opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7, and get new base unit, and dual monitor.

Currently have;
AMD 64x2 Dual
Processor 4000 2.11 ghz 2gb Ram
Windows XP.

I don't use graphics a lot, so not really an issue.

Usually I have concurrently running;

MSSQL
Adobe contribute and smart FTP
Outlook
Firefox
2 back office connections (webbased) ASP/MSSQL nature.
Live help system
About 6-12 browsers.
Probably an office program or 2.
Occaisionally accounts programs, other programs etc. Nothing too strenuous.
AVG (paid for version)
XP
Outlook is slow. Powering on in the morning takes a while and I can't do anything else when the virus scanner is on. Generally all too slow.

So, my big question, is what do I need?

Thanks
Sandra

[KidsBeeHappy]

And.......

Would Quad core be better for me, would I notice the difference from Dual Core?

Thanks
Sandra

[SFD]

I'm no expert but I would have thought your current setup would cope fine with that requirement, maybe a lot better with 4gb ram.

In AVG I think there is a setting for priority (I don't have a copy so can't check.)
Reducing the priority increases the time taken for the scan but allows you to do other things while it scans, increasing the priority speeds up the process but make it near-impossible to do anything else while it is scanning. Default is high-priority.

[stender]

Your current setup shouldn't be running that bad. mysql can hog memory sometimes but you can adjust settings in mysql admin. I would advise running some virus and adware scans first and make sure all is clean and maybe download hijack this. Then have a look in task manager and see what the cpu and memory is doing and which processes are hogging.

You don't want system scans running whilst your working so make sure scheduled to run out of hours. I run avg without issue and have 1gb of ram.

[KidsBeeHappy]

It is, really, slow. Not just me.

I run anti virus and spyware checks daily. Use cc clean every now and then, ditto de-frag etc. Regularly remove old programs, clean out temp files etc. And most of the data is saved to external drive. Outlook operates so slowly that downloading the 200 odd emails in the morning takes longer than getting my kids fed, dressed and ready for school.

AVG seems to use quite a lot.

Working on it is a bit like having a conversation with someone in Australia....

[KM-Tiger]

... And most of the data is saved to external drive.

Is that USB connected?

Reading/writing to that drive will be slower than an internal SATA connected disc.

[KidsBeeHappy]

writes to the harddisk during the day, current documents etc on the hard disk, then backups to the external at night.

When editing programs etc am doing so off the hard drive, but all old stuff, archived stuff etc, all that volume of data that's just kept and rarely ever used - all that is only on the external drive.

[vivoo]

Depending on how much memory your motherboard can take more ram would be very effective, and yes a quad core processor would be more beneficial for anyone really, but again it depends if your motherboard can take it. I currently have a quadcore, 4gb ram, duel screen set up with windows 7 and have never had 1 problem since I built it, works like a dream!

[KidsBeeHappy]

I am on second motherboard for this unit. First one replaced a year or so ago with a RAM upgrade.

[vivoo]

I am on second motherboard for this unit. First one replaced a year or so ago with a RAM upgrade.

Do you know the make and model of the computer?

[KidsBeeHappy]

I think the words "Budget" would cover it.
Asus motherboard.

[SFD]

Have you got your eye on any new systems?

[Kev Jaques]

I take it you have assigned an approx budget?
2 monitors what resolution? what have you currently got?
Preferred makes?

I would go Intel at your next purchase and the new i series do not offer value for money at this current time.
Asus still a solid choice for mobo but could cost approx 30 quid to 250 quid depending on which model.
If you have a ballpark budget you will be in a better position to get value for money components/system.

[KidsBeeHappy]

Dell Vostro?
Budget £600-£1200 depending on what i'm getting (inc monitors)

I've had the last unit for about 2 1/2 years (feels longer though).

Monitor, again, non techy bit, so as far as I'm concerned, just a monitor!!!
Erm, it's 19inch. Yuraku, on a Nvidea Geeforce card.

[estwig]

I had the same problem with AVG, puter would grind to a halt for an hour whilst it was running. Changed to Avast and don't even notice it is running.

The spec of your existing puter is about the same as mine and mine fly along. Maybe a format and reinstall, is needed??

[Richard Moore]

I had the same problem with AVG, puter would grind to a halt for an hour whilst it was running. Changed to Avast and don't even notice it is running.

The spec of your existing puter is about the same as mine and mine fly along. Maybe a format and reinstall, is needed??

That's some good advice.

I've seen a lot of PCs (dozens) running AVG that are running unacceptably slowly - it works fine for some time and then starts to get bogged down.

Try removing AVG and replace it with a decent (and fast) anti virus such as Nod32 by Eset - it doesn't get much better than that.

If you can format and re-install with a decent AV package then even better, it could be that if you've already had the motherboard replaced but didn't have a fresh install at the time that you're drivers aren't exactly optimal.

The spec of the machine you have should handle the workload you're giving it without crawling too much.

The move from dual core to quad core probably won't give you a perceptible speed increase. Yes it will be faster but you won't observe it being twice as fast as dual core.

[Comspec]

Your machine would probably benefit from a good system clean by an IT bod tbh, as it should handle all that you want it to do reasonably well.

You would gleam little improvement between a decent Dual core and a Quad core for the uses you are listing, so if you go for a new PC, don't get hung up on CPU alone.

It is important to get the balance correct, and not to get bottlenecks.

For example, I built a gaming machine lately, using a Quad Core CPU, a Velociraptor System HDD, and a great spec mobo and gfx card. It outperformed one of the overclocked 'geek' machines I had in lately, yet cost a heck of a lot less.

CPU is only one part of the overall system speed.

Anyways, I geekily digress, get your PC system cleaned, or take your important data off it and give it a Windows Reboot, it will definitely speed up. alternatively, buy another slightly better PC for your main use, and load this current one with Linux Mint - it will fly on t'internet :)

Re the RAM......It could take a little more RAM, bearing in mind the limits of XP are 3.5Gb and your Gfx, etc will take up a little of that. Stick another 1Gb into it if you can, it will help,. though maybe not all that much.

[KidsBeeHappy]

I had nod32 before, and it seemed to have issues with the wireless router. Everytime I got an MSupdate (and believe me, until that point I never realised how many of the bloomin' things there were), nod32 would firewall the wireless router.

[estwig]

Give Avast a bash, ain't done me no harm, well apart from the annoying way it talks, yes it has sound. If you get an iffy email, it says in a load voice.....

DANGER, DANGER, THIS EMAIL IS INFECTED!!

Reminds me of the robot from Lost In space.........

Danger Will Robinson, Danger!!!

;)

[Richard Moore]

I had nod32 before, and it seemed to have issues with the wireless router. Everytime I got an MSupdate (and believe me, until that point I never realised how many of the bloomin' things there were), nod32 would firewall the wireless router.

Was that the whole 'Smart Security' thing?

In my experience all types of smart security and all-in-one AV and firewall apps are absolutely rotten - including the Eset one.

Go for plain old Nod32 antivirus with no bells and whistles.

Honestly it's about the least resource hungry and most effective AV there is at the moment.

We've installed hundreds of copies on PCs and Servers and it is absolutely solid.

[KidsBeeHappy]

NOd32 antivirus - not smart security?

Used to have Avast, I remember that "warning will robinson" thing. But did come a cropper under avast, it did let a sneaky wee bug through, think it was the windows XP, oh my computers complete f'd virus.

[Richard Moore]

Yes, just the vanilla anti-virus and not smart security.

I always find the smart security packages slow down the computer they're on, and often shut down network connections as described.

The best combination I've found is Nod32 Anti-virus, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall and a firewall on your router.

Combine that with sensible surfing habits (stay out of the back streets ;-) and you'll be fine.

[KidsBeeHappy]

Well, seeing as i'm not on the wireless, but now the lan, the router thing should be less of an issue......

Right, off to give it the nod!

[greenwood-IT]

Hiya,

Currently have;
AMD 64x2 Dual
Processor 4000 2.11 ghz
2gb Ram
Windows XP.




Usually I have concurrently running;

MSSQL
Adobe contribute and smart FTP
Outlook
Firefox
2 back office connections (webbased) ASP/MSSQL nature.
Live help system
About 6-12 browsers.
Probably an office program or 2.
Occaisionally accounts programs, other programs etc. Nothing too strenuous.
AVG (paid for version)
XP
Outlook is slow. Powering on in the morning takes a while and I can't do anything else when the virus scanner is on. Generally all too slow.


The software you've listed is pretty well known stuff, the majority of which just sits there all day doing nothing but using memory except when you bring it to the forefront.


Most people actually moan about their machines when there in a hurry or it's first thing in the morning. When you first start up your system there's a heck of a lot of background stuff that's going to be happening that you're not actually interested in;

Adobe checks for updates and downloads
Outlook downloads new emails, AVG joins in and scans each one. Anti spam has a go as well.
Firefox checks for updates
AVG checks for updates and runs missed scans
XP checks for Microsoft updates, downloads and installs them.
You might well be sitting there doing nothing but everyone is shouting for more memory and bandwidth. If you're getting 300 emails overnight, then I would expect a cold boot to a stable 'usable' system to take 15 minutes or more! :eek:

The three suggestions I would immediately put forward are;

1) Add some more memory, Google the motherboard and see what it can support - also check what you already have onboard. If you've got 4 x 512Mb you'll have to replace all of them, if you've got 2 x 1Gb then you're in luck! You'll get a general speed improvement, but it will still be quite slow to startup in the morning.

2) Leave the beast on overnight! The additional electric cost will be negligible, but you're system will be up and running full speed when you want it. Each email will be scanned as it arrives, spreading the load. All backups and AVG drive scans will be completed while you sleep and all Products Updates (AVG, Adobe, XP etc) will be downloaded and ready for when you want to install them.

3) Get a geek to have a look at what's running on startup - there will be loads of threads that can safely be killed or delayed.

I'm a great one for not rushing out and buying a bigger/faster machine, simpler/cheaper options should always be tried first.

Chat soon.

[computer storm]

If I was you I would give Stu a shout and get him to have a look at what is starting up and also change the amount of RAM that your SQL is using, another good antivirus is Microsofts free offer but it only for home PC, if yours is a home PC and not registered against your business then you can use it. Check out the link for the software.
http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

[KidsBeeHappy]

OK, have nod antivirus back on. need a spyware solution for XP? Had the usual suspects in the past and not particularly impressed by any.

IE seems a bit f'd up :(

[estwig]

OK, have nod antivirus back on. need a spyware solution for XP? Had the usual suspects in the past and not particularly impressed by any.

IE seems a bit f'd up :(

That's interesting I've always been a bit confused over the difference between anti virus software, nod, AVG, Avast, etc and spyware protection.

What's the difference???

We run Malaware bites every day, does that help??

[KidsBeeHappy]

AVG paid for did both. I never had any viruses, but it would haul up a few warnings every now and then on the malware, and pull out a whole bunch of cookies and spyware everyday, and just deal with them automatically.

[Zeal]

IE seems a bit f'd up :(

Ie = the devil! :) Try: firefox, chrome or opera. Much much better then IE :)

[Richard Moore]

Ie = the devil! :) Try: firefox, chrome or opera. Much much better then IE :)

There isn't much between them all these days. IE isn't the nightmare it once was.

Presonally I think Firefox is rubbish. Slow and clunky compared with IE8 :)

[Richard Moore]

That's interesting I've always been a bit confused over the difference between anti virus software, nod, AVG, Avast, etc and spyware protection.

What's the difference???

We run Malaware bites every day, does that help??

Anti-virus works against viruses i.e. things that can infect your machine just by allowing them to open. Whereas spyware protection deals more with things that you inadvertently install (sypware, adware & trojans).

So a virus could be an attachment to an email that if opened could execute and drop its payload.

Spyware or adware would be like a toolbar that gets installed inadvertently as part of another application.

Strictly speaking a trojan would be an app that you install that has a hidden probably malicious side to it.

These days I reckon you're better off with a separate AV and spyware solution that way you can use the best of each. All in ones never seem to work properly - a bit like the Amstrad Tele-Video ;)

Windows Defender is free, built into Vista and Windows 7 and is pretty effective against most stuff.

Also make sure you keep UAC enabled if using Vista or 7 as that will help with damage limitation.

[Richard Moore]

AVG paid for did both. I never had any viruses, but it would haul up a few warnings every now and then on the malware, and pull out a whole bunch of cookies and spyware everyday, and just deal with them automatically.

AVG is pretty good still, certainly beats bloaty ineffective junk like Norton and MacAfee.

But we still get a few machines through our labs that have AVG *and* viruses on. Not many but a few. But then again if a user has bad enough surfing habits nothing will stop malware getting onto the machine :)

[KidsBeeHappy]

There isn't much between them all these days. IE isn't the nightmare it once was.

Presonally I think Firefox is rubbish. Slow and clunky compared with IE8 :)

And you;ve gotta remember that 80%+ of your customers use IE.

Although I have discovered that Safari customers make the best customers, definitely more purposeful than IE ones, they come to the site, they make a purchase, they leave! (I love my live stats!)