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Your computer could be slow because the hard drive is dying or it could be slow just because its from 2002. That's a pretty old computer. I wouldn't spend the money replacing the hard drive unless I was sure that was the problem. Download SeaTools and run a full (long) test on it and see if it detects anything.
If you still replace the drive, you'll need to clone the old one onto the new one. I use a program called Acronis True Image to do that. Install True Image on the old drive, then connect the new drive in place of the CD/DVD drive. At this point you're still booting off the old drive. The new drive is just a second drive. Run True Image and walk through the wizard to clone your old drive onto the new one. When its done, shut down, disconnect the old drive, and connect the new one in its place.
A slow computer does not mean a failing hard drive, they don't get slower with age. determine the mfg of the drive and download and run their diagnostic utility to determine the condition of the drive, you'll likely find it is ok, as was mentioned, it is likely just age and use, or you've been infected with malware.
Failed hard drives.. usually crash the computer and you never get in.. or there are whole pauses.. and these can be accompanied by usual noises from the hard drives.. like a loud clicking..
I recommend you check out your background programs.. which is cause of 90% of computer slow downs anyway.. (be they legitimate or spyware/adware) and see my advice here..
I have a 2002 Gateway, and the HD has been real slow lately, which I think is one of the signd that the HD is beginning to go.
Mechanically, I know how to do it, but how do I get the all the programs on it to inclode my DOS and XP, etc?
Thank you,.....marc
IMO, your best bet is to do a fresh install of Windows and your programs on a new (larger) drive. If you get cloning software like Norton's Ghost, all you're doing is transferring all of the problems to the new drive.
I have a 2002 Gateway, and the HD has been real slow lately, which I think is one of the signd that the HD is beginning to go.
Mechanically, I know how to do it, but how do I get the all the programs on it to inclode my DOS and XP, etc?
Thank you,.....marc
A lot of computers from that vintage seem to have gotten slow now. How much memory is in it? In 2002 a well equipped machine had 512 MB, but now it needs to have over 1 GB. Have you done a disk cleanup recently? Cleaning out Temporary Internet Files, Windows Temp files, Recycle bin and doing a defrag can really make a difference.
A lot of computers from that vintage seem to have gotten slow now. How much memory is in it? In 2002 a well equipped machine had 512 MB, but now it needs to have over 1 GB. Have you done a disk cleanup recently? Cleaning out Temporary Internet Files, Windows Temp files, Recycle bin and doing a defrag can really make a difference.
If he hasn't reinstalled windows in a while, cleaning it up probably won't do much.
If he wants to try a new drive, they're cheap and if the computer eventually dies, he can reuse the drive in the new one.
Download and run Ccleaner. It will clear temp files, cookies, etc. Do pay attention the first time you run it. There is a list of items on the left side that it clears. If you want to keep Internet History, recent files, etc, uncheck those boxes before running.
This will not get rid of spyware, malware, trojans, viruses, etc, but it can help the PC run faster.
Your computer could be slow because the hard drive is dying or it could be slow just because its from 2002. That's a pretty old computer. I wouldn't spend the money replacing the hard drive unless I was sure that was the problem. Download SeaTools and run a full (long) test on it and see if it detects anything.
If you still replace the drive, you'll need to clone the old one onto the new one. I use a program called Acronis True Image to do that. Install True Image on the old drive, then connect the new drive in place of the CD/DVD drive. At this point you're still booting off the old drive. The new drive is just a second drive. Run True Image and walk through the wizard to clone your old drive onto the new one. When its done, shut down, disconnect the old drive, and connect the new one in its place.
Cloning to replace a full (or almost full) drive is a good idea.
Adding RAM may help. An indication of needing more RAM is to run three or four programs at the same time and then open a document in Word or something similar. Do some editing, etc. and watch the drive light on your computer. If it runs constantly then you could use more RAM. If programs take a long time to load and the drive light is on constantly - same.
When RAM fills up in your PC the system starts using a page file on the hard drive as "RAM". At this point all your I/O that usually goes through RAM goes through this file. RAM is exponentially faster than disk access so things slow down. Since this I/O runs constantly your hard drive is too. Hence the drive light is always on. In the meantime anything you are trying to do that requires disk access is competing with the page file usage so the drive is doing more work and slows down.
If the hard drive is almost full you get the same result. Since work is swapped out to/from the drive (not just the page file) as programs load (many programs write temp files when they start) , you save a file, etc, the system slows down when the drive is almost full because there is little room to do this work. This results in the system swapping out small pieces of data to accomplish what it could do with large chunks if there was sufficient room on the drive. This is what programs like Ccleaner can help with. If you have a high speed connection to the Internet and spend a lot time surfing you will be surprised at how much data this program can remove.
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