Fixing up a crappy computer

So Ive been given the task of revamping a computer thats ~4 years old. The thing is so slow its ridiculous.

At the moment it has about 14% HD space and Id say more viruses than a prostitute.

Am I correct in thinking that if I format the drive, reinstall windows, maybe add 4gb of ram it should be at least useable. Ill probably have to clean a crap load of dust out of the fan too.

But is there anything else I should consider replacing, the fans not that loud so I think its ok. Should the ram thats already in there still be useful, and the hard drive (once wiped) will be ok too.

Im not looking for it to be mega fast, just not infuriatingly slow.

Cheers dooodz

a solid state drive could make it go much quicker if it isn't ide33 or something

as long as you know all your bases are belong to us you'll be a-ok!

depends on what its use will be. if just a basic computer for browsing the internet, first do a format / reinstall and test it out then, might be good enough. if used for anything heavier, some ram and a cheap video card maybe. if it will be on all the time, just buy some new fans, they're cheap.

  On 3/25/2011 at 2:09 AM, Charles Nelson Reilly said:

depends on what its use will be. if just a basic computer for browsing the internet, first do a format / reinstall and test it out then, might be good enough. if used for anything heavier, some ram and a cheap video card maybe. if it will be on all the time, just buy some new fans, they're cheap.

Ye its pretty much only used to browse the internet. Im going to format the drive in the next few days and see what happens. Thanks.

specs?

btw if it's just a basic web-browsing box and you can convince the owner: http://www.linuxmint.com/

super user-friendly, and does everything windows does

yeah, linux works so much better on old computers.

my lappy is 3+ years old but still is about as quick as a new windows computer for most normal tasks.

  On 3/25/2011 at 3:36 AM, kaini said:

specs?

 

btw if it's just a basic web-browsing box and you can convince the owner: http://www.linuxmint.com/

super user-friendly, and does everything windows does

*barfs*

(sorry, is my obligatory forkbuntu response)

Is this computer running vista? Get rid of that shit and install windows 7 for fucks sake.

i recommend mint because it has all the closed-source/binary blob media stuff that ubuntu needs you to install, and only richard stallman gives a shit about that crap.

  On 3/25/2011 at 3:31 AM, nene multiple assgasms said:

How to Fix Your Relatives' Terrible Computer

what a sharp idea, to just take the question and directly answer it... i mean really, how many people face this? i know computers, but if you don't, jeez, that article must be the tits.

Don't follow the penguin. open a window.

And yeah, If you have Vista, upgrade to Windows 7. It takes half the resources to run.

What are your specs?

send it to me

i'll trade.

i've got an athlon mobile 2600 with a gig of ram, blisteringly fast!

  On 3/25/2011 at 6:47 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 3/25/2011 at 3:31 AM, nene multiple assgasms said:

How to Fix Your Relatives' Terrible Computer

 

what a sharp idea, to just take the question and directly answer it... i mean really, how many people face this? i know computers, but if you don't, jeez, that article must be the tits.

lifehacker's a great site. I've learned a lot about keeping my computer (and other's) in good shape there, and they always have new articles up.

  On 3/25/2011 at 7:55 AM, nene multiple assgasms said:

  On 3/25/2011 at 6:47 AM, hahathhat said:

  On 3/25/2011 at 3:31 AM, nene multiple assgasms said:

How to Fix Your Relatives' Terrible Computer

 

what a sharp idea, to just take the question and directly answer it... i mean really, how many people face this? i know computers, but if you don't, jeez, that article must be the tits.

 

lifehacker's a great site. I've learned a lot about keeping my computer (and other's) in good shape there, and they always have new articles up.

bookmarked!

You could get a relatively fast CPU, Motherboard, Ram combo for pretty cheap these days. Remember that 32 bit operating systems and software can utilize no more than 4 gigs of system ram total (including graphics card) so it's best bet to upgrade your mobo for faster RAM as well. 64 bit is(edit:)ISN'T quite adopted enough to really utilize that much more than that with audio software, VSTs mostly being 32bit still (Ableton Live doesn't have a 64bit version yet for instance) etc. but 64 bit windows 7 with more than 4 gigs is nice for utilizing a bunch of a different software at once.

but making sure you have at least 3 gigs of ram, enough hard drive space, (kill disk your old drive don't just reformat it btw)((reformating alone does not really fully clean & optimize the hard drive) and at least a mediocre graphics card if you want to play games at all takes first priority on a budget.