Computer ? memory install !!

[redls1]

My parents have an emacine with a 2.8 celeron with 256meg ddr and a shared video card. I put 1 gig of memory in and its running windows xp. Start up is completely a dog and takes forever. Also they have cable internet. When it first starts it takes forever to load. While it is faster for the amount of ram I added its pathetic. Any ideas? I disabled any processes I could think was of and pulled everything in I could in the start up menu.

[SeVeReDiStOrTiOn]

Sounds like you ran msconfig already...you could also adjust your virtual memory by going to control panel-system-advanced-under performance click settings-advanced again-under virtual mem click change. The general rule is to set it to 1.5 times your ram...so with with 1 gig mem it would be 1500mb. I have 2 gigs and mine is set to 3067mb..

Also it would be good to defrag your harddrive but set the virtual mem to 0 first..then restart the comp...then defrag. That way it'll defrag the space used for virtual mem on your harddrive. Getting rid of BS programs also will help..

[redls1]

I already set virtual memory at 1500 total but havent done a defrag in awhile. Was told or read somewhere that with xp its not needed as much as previous OS's.

[86 IROC-Z]

Defrags, virus/spyware sweeps, etc are great and all, but if you know what you're doing I would just save anything important and reformat the harddrive... It'll clean out everything thats accumulated over the years and will run much better.

However, regardless of how much RAM you add to it... keep in mind it's still a Celeron.

[redls1]

I know its a celeron but going from 256meg ram to a gig I thought would make a huge improvment but it didnt. I should have formatted but between doing the computer putting songs on my sisters phone etc.. really didnt have the time. It will have to be next visit.