Old PC tuning

TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
in Off-Topic
Well I got my old HP Pavillion out of storage and it came up good. Windows XP and 512M of RAM. I would appreciate any tips on how best to scrub up/tune this PC to get the best performance out it. Please dont say upgrade ok!

Been a while since I did PC support ;)

Cheers
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Comments

  • dave330idave330i Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Set the display to 16-bit vs. 32-bit. Run regclean.
    2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
    "Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
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  • BokehBokeh Member Posts: 1,636 ■■■■■■■□□□
    ccleaner is a good utility to help clean things up. Defraggler is another good program for cleaning up the HDD. Planning to read PDFs on it? Go with FoxIT reader, less overhead than Adobe reader.
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  • MAC_AddyMAC_Addy Member Posts: 1,740 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Disable everything on startup that's not needed.

    Start -> Run -> msconfig -> startup tab.
    2017 Certification Goals:
    CCNP R/S
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  • WafflesAndRootbeerWafflesAndRootbeer Member Posts: 555
    Turgon wrote: »
    Well I got my old HP Pavillion out of storage and it came up good. Windows XP and 512M of RAM. I would appreciate any tips on how best to scrub up/tune this PC to get the best performance out it. Please dont say upgrade ok!

    Been a while since I did PC support ;)

    Cheers

    Gotta have the model number before we can give you any real advice beyond generic responses.
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  • gunbunnysouljagunbunnysoulja Member Posts: 353
    Since you won't be doing any HW upgrades and will really just be tweaking XP, I would reduce unnecessary services (I like Black Viper's recommendations).

    Check out some decent tweaks here: Black Viper’s Windows XP Super Tweaks | Black Viper's Website | www.blackviper.com
    WGU BSITStart Date: July 1, 2013
    In Progress: CJV1 (4 CU)
    Transfered: WFV1, TJP1, CLC1, INC1, INT1, EUP1, EUC1, BVC1, GAC1, DHV1, DIV1, CWV1, CRV1, DEV1, CTV1, DJV1, IWC1, IWT1, CVV1, RIT1, CIC1, CJC1, TBP1, TCP1, EAV1, EBV1, TJC1, AGC1 (82 CU)
    Completed: MGC1, TPV1, CUV1 (14 CU)
    Remaining: BOV1, BNC1, TXP1, TXC1, TYP1, TPC1, SBT1, QZT1 (22 CU)

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  • rsuttonrsutton Member Posts: 1,029 ■■■■■□□□□□
    Control panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Adjust for Best PErformance
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  • demonfurbiedemonfurbie Member Posts: 1,819 ■■■■■□□□□□
    linux mint
    wgu undergrad: done ... woot!!
    WGU MS IT Management: done ... double woot :cheers:
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  • TackleTackle Member Posts: 534
    Find the nearest Window -> open it -> toss the comptuer out -> go treat yourself to a new one!

    If you don't want to do that, I'm a fan of CCleaner. Otherwise if it has a recovery partition, Google how to access it (I think it's esc or f2 on pavillions during boot). Then follow the prompts to do a "Factory image restore". This is your best bet for getting performance.
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  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    LucasMN wrote: »
    Find the nearest Window -> open it -> toss the comptuer out -> go treat yourself to a new one!

    If you don't want to do that, I'm a fan of CCleaner. Otherwise if it has a recovery partition, Google how to access it (I think it's esc or f2 on pavillions during boot). Then follow the prompts to do a "Factory image restore". This is your best bet for getting performance.

    I said in my post I dont want to upgrade in this case ;)
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  • TackleTackle Member Posts: 534
    Turgon wrote: »
    I said in my post I dont want to upgrade in this case ;)

    Ahh, I thought you meant you didn't want to upgrade parts. Would it help if I called it a replacement? haha.
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  • tpatt100tpatt100 Member Posts: 2,991 ■■■■■■■■■□
    gunbunnysoulja wrote: »
    Since you won't be doing any HW upgrades and will really just be tweaking XP, I would reduce unnecessary services (I like Black Viper's recommendations).

    Check out some decent tweaks here: Black Viper’s Windows XP Super Tweaks | Black Viper's Website | www.blackviper.com


    +1 This

    I had an old laptop and a buddy of mine went through it disabling stuff and somehow got it running pretty quick.
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  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    LucasMN wrote: »
    Ahh, I thought you meant you didn't want to upgrade parts. Would it help if I called it a replacement? haha.

    Not really. Im stuck with it.
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  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Incidently it hates browsing..keeps tripping out and rebooting. Annoying.
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  • NetworkingStudentNetworkingStudent Member Posts: 1,407 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Turgon wrote: »
    Incidently it hates browsing..keeps tripping out and rebooting. Annoying.

    Would you up want to update the ram?
    Here’s some good links to check out

    How to Dramatically Speed up Windows XP: 15 steps - wikiHow

    The PC Decrapifier Wipes Unwanted Junk | The PC Decrapifier

    Maximum PC | How to Set Up a New PC the Right Way

    Also, I might suggest updating the BIOS and using Google Chrome or Fire Fox it's faster and alittle more secure than older IE

    Malwarebytes : Speed up startup! StartUpLite helps eliminate Windows' slow startup


    Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

    This is good for checking on updates

    Good luck
    When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened."

    --Alexander Graham Bell,
    American inventor
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  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Reinstall Windows or clean boot. Disable unnecessary built-in services as has been recommended. Don't install a damn thing except exactly what you need. Use Chrome as your web browser if you need to browse the web.
    Working B.S., Computer Science
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  • CodeBloxCodeBlox Member Posts: 1,363 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I have an old Pentium 2 which I "brought back to life". it's got a 450mhz processor and even though it can only handle one thing at a time, I makes for good network storage. It's capped out at 386mb of RAM to! Funny thing is that old dinosaur boots quicker than the computers we have at work for the clients. As others have said, only install what you need and disable anything thats un-necissary at startup
    Currently reading: Network Warrior, Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens
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  • petedudepetedude Member Posts: 1,510
    Make sure service packs are all installed. Defragment the drive.

    Tuning old PCs can be a lot like tweaking old cars. . . always "one more thing" you can do.

    Find some used but clean RAM on eBay if it's not maxed. No, you probably don't want to spend money on it, but there's no value in running it crippled. If it's worth keeping around to any degree, find better parts cheap. If it's not worth maintaining, it's probably not worth keeping.

    What else? It probably uses a mid-tier processor and an old video card. Improve on those from used eBay parts. If you really want to go nuts. . . if it's not SATA, buy a cheap SATA card with firmware and a small used SSD (admittedly, other OSes will run better than XP on SSDs).
    Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
    --Will Rogers
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  • SteveLordSteveLord Member Posts: 1,717
    Start with doing a fresh install of Windows for sure.
    WGU B.S.IT - 9/1/2015 >>> ???
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  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    SteveLord wrote: »
    Start with doing a fresh install of Windows for sure.

    I would like to Steve but no media Im afraid. I just need this box to serve as a TFTP server and run SecureCRT really. I have got the defragmenter going though..
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  • joehalford01joehalford01 Member Posts: 364 ■■■□□□□□□□
    What kind of Ram is is running and how much can you add? I'll send you some from work if its ddr sdram (you pay shipping of course). We're replacing every single workstation in the building and all of the old ones are either being sold to employees for next to nothing or being recycled. They are a mixture of dell gx260/gx270/sx280s.
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  • exampasserexampasser Member Posts: 718 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Run CentOS on it.
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  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Guys. Thank you all very much for the advice on this thread. I have executed some of it this afternoon and still have more things to try. I think this system is more stable now!

    I have managed to get SP3 onboard. One issue is my TFTP/Bootp server. Wireshark shows my term server making requests but the PC isn't offering responses. No windows firewall running. I haven't tried since just getting SP3 on so will have a look on Sunday. Perhaps I need updated drivers for the onboard NIC.

    That said, I think this old application has struggled on XP before so if anyone can recommend a good TFTP/BootP app that would be good. The app needs to know the MAC address and IP address of the device requiring the system file and should then provide it over the network.
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  • CodeBloxCodeBlox Member Posts: 1,363 ■■■■□□□□□□
    I've never had a problem using TFTPD32: TFTPD32 : an opensource IPv6 ready TFTP server/service for windows : TFTP server Give that a try!
    Currently reading: Network Warrior, Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens
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  • TurgonTurgon Banned Posts: 6,308 ■■■■■■■■■□
    CodeBlox wrote: »
    I've never had a problem using TFTPD32: TFTPD32 : an opensource IPv6 ready TFTP server/service for windows : TFTP server Give that a try!

    Does it have BootP/RARP functionality? I have had trouble with the app Im using and XP before if I recall.
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  • CodeBloxCodeBlox Member Posts: 1,363 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Um... I think it has BootP functionality but honestly I've never checked. And I'd hate to sound stupid but I really thought that DHCP replaced BootP (Which by the way, this does have DHCP functionality). I've never had an issue with the server learning MAC/IP addresses either.
    Currently reading: Network Warrior, Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens
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  • esswokesswok Member Posts: 74 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I scanned pretty fast through this and did not see mention:

    Simply removing all extra fonts drastically increases speed.
    Especially any eastern character support <(that in itself slows it down allot.
    Removal of all help files also speeds it up lots.

    2 specific copies of XP come to mind for me that are very nice.
    I have a copy of XP pro 64 from a Norwegian fella it is super speedy, also there is a French copy of xp 64 that is nice but u must know xp well enough to install it in French or know French.
    >note if above mentioned install only what you want was insinuated to remove fonts/help files/…my bad sorry.

    PS: i though the title would insinuate Legacy as in w95 or w98.
    I recently did a w95 that was fun, but not a fun as the alleged“Plug n Play” w 98 wow a what fun!
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