Glacial PC

Open my computer - Right click on C drive - click on properties- check how megabits are used and how many are free - Share detail - get feedback from members - act on suggestions - check performance - share again with us-

20 GB total. 7.23 GB used, 11.23 unused.

Thanks!

check your ram then, and upgrade it, those figures look ok.Check you PC for virus also.

It tells me to go to My Computer and click on Properties.

There is no Properties choice anywhere to select.

Hello, AP1,

Doomed is a pretty strong word for your situation. I've seen worse.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the 20G hard drive is the original, which would make this system fairly old.

Not to say unusable, though, as a lot of older systems can still run well under the right conditions of use. You didn't say what the system will be used for, but I suspect that the graphics will likely by the most serious limitation and couldn't be used for modern games or programs like AutoCAD.

No guarantees here, but sometimes computer manufacturers 'hide' a partition on the hard drive that can be used to make the computer back to its original, as-bought, condition. This is IF someone hasn't gone through and deleted or corrupted the partition. This is sometimes called a Recovery Partition, but goes by other names, too. It's also possible, but not too likely(?), that when you all bought the PC it came with a set of CDs that can be used to do the same thing. These would be called Recovery CDs. I'd suggest calling the manufacturer and see what they can do for you on that score.

CR4'ers are always glad to help but we need to know the manufacturer's name, operating system, and a lot more. There's a free program called CPU-Z that can be downloaded; when it's run, it'll tell you a lot about your system. If there's any way you can get that done, let us know more details about the system, please.

Oops! Just thought of something else. The following is strictly up to you all, but you might contact the Internet store BEFORE INSTALLING AND RUNNING ANY DIAGNOSTICS and ask them if the computer has any kind of warranty or was sold as-is, or whatever. There may be a chance to work out a returned merchandise agreement.

OK,

Thanks, I'll try that.

Compaq Armada M 300 2002 date of manufacture

Intel Pentium III E 600 MHz

SDRAM 320MBytes

core speed 500 MHz

bus speed 98.7 MHz

L1 D-cashe 16 Kbytes

L2-Cashe 256 Kbytes

Trash it and spend a few bucks on something more modern, unless of course ALL you want the kid to do is browse non-video websites and send and receive non-html email.

Hooker <-- ex IT manager

PS - send shipping costs and I'll send you 3 or 4 computers of equal or older vintage that I have laying around for God know what reason.

It seems the RAM should be more, at least 512 MB. On the other hand, the operation speed highly depends on the operating system you use. For example I use an IBM ThinkPad 365XD manufactured in 1995 for controlling a digital o'scope and sometimes for receiving/sending mails. It has a P-I 100 MHz processor with 24 MB RAM and 800 MB HDD. But I use OS/2 WARP4 on it...

If its got a parallel printer port, sell it to a CNC buff and buy something faster......that is truly a Dinosaur of a computer.

I hope she did not pay much, its probably worth less than $25. at best!! If someone gave it to me would accept, but I would not pay anything at all......

It just hit me, you could of course install Linux and give it a further lease on life as an email machine.....or even as a mail router.....once its running it doesn't need a Keyboard, mouse or screen, just power!!!

PS. Someone else mentioned Linux before me....I just got to their post, sorry!!

Your computer meets all the requirements for Win XP and then some. Get rid of the viruses and it should work fine. What operating system does it have now?

Good for you, you bought a fossil. But start check for viruses and malware.

Here's a link to the HP website that will give you a little more information about the system:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Home.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=96234&lang=en&cc=us

Thanks,

I'm starting to cook brats and beans now, so this will have to wait till tomorrow. I'll check it out then.

Your machine is a dinosaur. The great thing is that it still works with what could be the original drive!!

If you have Norton installed uninstall it (it used to slow down practically everything) and install a lightweight, free antivirus, or even just Windows defender. uninstal all surplus services, or better still do a format and re-install Windows and only the bare necessity programs. Do all the updates required by Windows (this will take a while and it will slow the computer down a lot while updating) then turn off auto updates and do them manually once every couple of weeks.

If you have the manual install updates turned on, and an update is available, the machine will be slow until you accept and install it. Check the update icon on the taskbar (bottom of the screen)

De-fragment C drive, only use it for word processing, internet and spreadsheets and don't expect the old boy to run like a modern machine.

Call a local computer club at the senior center. There will be people there who are still using computers of this vintage. I really think your kid will get a much better introduction to computers with a decent machine. And start with an Apple Macintosh. Why beat your head against the wall?

Oh yes the Dino seems to be rather old. Under Windows --> no fun.

Have such an 13year old monster too with Pentium III and 512Mb RAM but larger HDD - under Linux Unbuntu it is really fast and working smooth with Open Office and all I need for the T&M. Games I have not tried - but simple CAD which works well.

Might be give the kid the challenge to setup a complete Linux system after "Format C:" - all you need is open source, free of charge and available in Linux magazines / Books. It is might be educational fun without any damages to anything. And an interesting opportunity for the summer break to look over the Microsoft "fence".

go to piriform.com they have some applications that may be able to help. Ccleaner will help clean out all the temp files stored that maybe slowing it down. Will also clean the registry. Speccy is a one click app that will list the hardware and most of the info on the device. Will also give the SMART info on the drives. They also have de-fragment application. All are freeware. I believe they will run on OS back to windows 98.

There in itself maybe the problem if you are trying to run applications written for a later OS.

Thanks to all.

I have decided to use it as a security camera monitor at work and buy the kid a new PC.

Thanks for your help.

Gramps.

Gramps,

20g HDD is not bad at all. It is an IDE drive, and that is what you will need to load WinXP and AutoCAD without the hassle of trying to get them to jump onto a SATA!

Basic programs on the HDD and put all work (.doc, .dwg, .xls) onto a flash-drive and keep the laptop clean.

Download some utilities from minite.com and cleanup unnecessary trash.

Firefox and Opera have small versions that live on a flash-drive for surfing.

You don't have to run everything from the HDD.

John (Dell Inspiron 3800)

On a Windows computer, click Start > Computer (shows Hard Drive space)> System Properties (shows all System Properties, i.e., Processor Speed, available RAM, etc.)

To do anything fast and modern, you need at least 100GB of Hard Drive, and 1GB of RAM. On an older computer like yours, you should be able to buy newer boards to upgrade your system. You can usually take those computers apart and install newer boards. They also sell external devices you can connect and upgrade. Try a computer store, a guru, or scan the Internet.

Your computer the way it is can do word processing and most other functions offline, and slower email and Internet unless you download programs that require more memory space than you have. I hope this helps.

Once it's cleaned up a little you may notice it runs "slower" than most computers, and think it should be "faster". It may be running just fine, but your expectations are 10 years ahead. Try to remember just launching Word used to take 20 or 30 seconds just a few years back.

That's not a bad computer good for general surfing and email, but even a little non-descript flash or DHTML advertisement will bog you down as it loads.

Thanks Guys,

The 6 year old has taken over the old beater unit and he seems to think it's fine.

12 YO has now taken over mine, for the most part. When school starts, I'm buying myself a new laptop and giving 12YO my 2 year old laptop.

Fortunately I have a new PC at work.

Gramps

If anyone is still following this, I found out that I have 312 KB of ram.

That's a bit sad. But how much has the computer got

Sorry, but I only have 32 bytes of ram. I've lost some tooth over the years.