computer advise

[bedway]

My computer i had custom built per my son in laws instructions, its about 6 years old. Its xp 64 bit operating system. 1.8 ghz and 2.0 gb ram. Lately it crashes and freezes up to the point its very annoying. Do you think i should have this one rebuilt or buy a new one? Input will be helpfull in my decision making. Thanks

[Ianab]

With an old machine like that, check the processor heat sink. It will be packed full of dust, and so it overheats.

If it's not that, I'd start again with a new machine. Age of the hardware, XP support ending etc. It's not that it can't be repaired or upgraded, it's just you are going to spend more than it's worth. I have a computer graveyard full of parts, so I can fault find and fix them for almost nothing. But if you have to buy parts just to fault find, not so good.

Even if it's just dusty, and that fixes it, you still need to upgrade the Operating System (Windows). No support means no Windows Updates, so any new security flaws are not going to be fixed. The machine would run Windows 7 or 8 OK, or switch to Linux if you are just wanting basic internet stuff.

Ian

[dgdrls]

Bedway,

Depends on what you want the machine to do.

Before you buy a new one and/or strip off Windows,
Save all the files you want to save to a separate drive or thumb-drive
give the machine a good cleaning (canned compressed air).

Make or have your S.I.L. make you a Bootable Thumb-drive with Zorin Operating System.
http://zorin-os.com

Zorin is a Linux based system that resembles Windows but is an Open Source code and can be obtained for $0
You can start the computer from the Zorin Thumb-drive and see if you like it and what it offers.

I run Zorin on a Netbook and it works fine. 
Internet, Office suite, pictures and music.
Good luck,

DGDrls

[luvmexfood]

Stay far away from windows 8. I made the jump from XP to 8 and I hate it.

[Ianab]

Stay far away from windows 8. I made the jump from XP to 8 and I hate it.

Load a program Classic Shell. http://www.classicshell.net/
It bypasses the "Metro" interface that everyone hates, and gives you an "old school" desktop with a start menu, program list, desktop icons etc. Do that and Win8 is fine, fast and stable. Rumour has it that this is the next update to Win8.1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/03/windows_desktop_updates/

I've been using Kubuntu Linux here. Has a similar look to WinXP / 7 and runs fine on older hardware like you have. Again you can download a disk image, and burn it to a CD. Boot off that and you have the option of running it off the CD to test it out. If you are happy with it, click on the install icon and install it to the hard disk. You can also resize the disk and have a dual boot machine that you can also run windows on.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Again, it costs nothing to try.  ;)

Ian

[bedway]

Hmmmmm, wondering here how much a plane ticket would cost me to fly Ianab here.  ;D

[r.man]

Isn't it a shame he doesn't live closer, I spent two hours trying to get a virus off my wife's  computer yesterday. Give me a 60 year old tractor any day.

[r.man]

Hey Bedway, just realized that you are across the lake from where my wife's family comes from, Port Dover Ontario just east of Long Point. Probably when I looked across the lake I was seeing your home territory.

[Ianab]

According to Google I'm 8,661 miles away.  :-\  The callout charge would be a doozey  :D

[r.man]

Need a Waldo.

[bedway]

Hey r.man, next time your over at your wifes family's place yell loud and wave maybe ill see ya! ;D

[kderby]

I had similar problems and got a new computer.  My wife works for the university and the computer guy said go to best buy and step forward.  We just got the CPU and kept the old attachments.  I am still getting used to it but new is nice.

I am a super simple user.  I will never need all the capacity these machines come with.  I tell my wife to find a computer that just does simple things and I won't get so confused (frustrated).  I do not need "Whiz Bang" but that is how they all come.  I miss the old T.V. with an on/off button and channel/volume up/down remote.

That being said, much of my business is via the computer and Email.  I can't imagine life without it....I'd miss you guys as well :'( :'( :'( :'(

[DDDfarmer]

Little bit of dust leads to heat and kills computers.  Keeping the motherboard free of dust and the cooling fans working will keep them running a long time.  At work we have a 486 to run windows 95 which runs 24/7-365 since '96. 

I had to upgrade last year and was advised to get the biggest and best I could afford, and that was from my BIL( computer tech) and not from a sales clerk.

[dgdrls]

Stay far away from windows 8. I made the jump from XP to 8 and I hate it.

Load a program Classic Shell. http://www.classicshell.net/
It bypasses the "Metro" interface that everyone hates, and gives you an "old school" desktop with a start menu, program list, desktop icons etc. Do that and Win8 is fine, fast and stable. Rumour has it that this is the next update to Win8.1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/03/windows_desktop_updates/

I've been using Kubuntu Linux here. Has a similar look to WinXP / 7 and runs fine on older hardware like you have. Again you can download a disk image, and burn it to a CD. Boot off that and you have the option of running it off the CD to test it out. If you are happy with it, click on the install icon and install it to the hard disk. You can also resize the disk and have a dual boot machine that you can also run windows on.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Again, it costs nothing to try.  ;)

Ian

Ian,
Is  Kubuntu 12.07 resource hungy?  I upgraded to Zorin 8 on my Netbook and it runs a bit slow, understandably.

DGDrls

[Ianab]

Ian,
Is  Kubuntu 12.07 resource hungy?  I upgraded to Zorin 8 on my Netbook and it runs a bit slow, understandably.

DGDrls

Seems to run OK with 2 gb of ram . The OS itself is pretty light, and will run in ~512mb. It's what you run on top of that that counts.

Lil is running it now, and managed to bog it down a bit making a Mosiac picture in Picasa (Windows program running under Wine). But that was combining  16 x 8 mpix photos into one.  :-\ Doesn't matter what OS you run, that's going to bog down on an old Core 2 with 2 gb. But it did it..... Pretty good considering it's running a program written for a totally different OS.

Anyway, for a lot of folks, it's an option. Heck I dumpster dived 3 PCs last week. 2 of them are Core 2s, and a 3 ghz P4. One had a dodgy PSU, no worries, I have spares. Upgraded because of the Win XP end of support. They are all  are 100% running now. Load up Linux flavour of choice and you have a useful computer again.

Got another 4 to upgrade this week  :-\

[Rockn H]

Bedway, with 6 years and 2gb of ram, do you run routine cleanups to defragment and dump all unnecessary files?  You can do this manually or there are programs that are plug and play to do this for you.

[bedway]

Bedway, with 6 years and 2gb of ram, do you run routine cleanups to defragment and dump all unnecessary files?  You can do this manually or there are programs that are plug and play to do this for you.

Yes i do Rockn H, I run ccleaner, malware, disk scan, defrag, etc.
This all started about a year ago when the windows security downloads wouldnt install. At about the same time it wouldnt let me defrag, but later i found if i went in on my c disk and hit properties, then tools i could run the defrag from there. Also the restore program quit functioning at that time. Maybe i should just go out and buy a new cpu tower.

[Rockn H]

Ianab is a lot more experienced than I am so I'd like to hear his opinion.  I'm just wondering if it couldn't be more of a software problem and maybe a different operating system would be the cheapest answer. 

[Ianab]

Maybe i should just go out and buy a new cpu tower.

There is something to be said for that if you have a 6 year old PC. You are running again (for another ~6 years or so) with little fuss.

Then you can still have a play with the old box. Run it up with a new OS (Linux) and have a play. Either way you get to learn a new system.  :D

Windows systems can also get corrupted, things missing, registry entries messed up, incompatible files installed etc. They just get so complex, so many different things that can mess up that registry cleaners and AV software aren't able to fix. Sometimes you just have to Nuke the machine and re-install a clean verison of Windows to get things back in order.

This sort of thing is a lot easer if you have couple of spare PC boxes and can play around with them, without breaking your main machine.   :-\

Ian

[bedway]

Ive played (cussed) with this computer long enough. Time for a new machine. Passed by Staples the other day and talked with one of their sales people. He steered me to two units he recommended. The first being a Lenova H535 DT that was 8GB and 2TB with a A10 processor for $599. The second machine was a HP Pavillion 500 that was 8GB and 1TB with a AMD-A6 for $479. Any opinions on these or other machines would be appreciated.

[thecfarm]

I would get the Geek Quad warranty.We brought it for 3 years. Had two problems and they came right to the house and put the part in for me.

[jamesamd]

Upgrade to Win 7 ;)

Jim

[bedway]

In my effort to solve some of the issues on this old computer i uninstalled firefox and reinstalled it. Now all the icons on my desk top wont open. Any thoughts please?

[pappy19]

I picked up a refurbished Dell that's 4 years old, looks brand new, with Vista improved on it for $200. It has a 500 HD and 4 G of ram. It's a spare for the wifer. Works great. Got it on amazon or ebay, can't remember.

[roadiestar]

Reformat your hard drive and reinstall windows and see how it works.

[mburrow]

Reformat your hard drive and reinstall windows and see how it works.

that is what I would do.
backup all your important documents, pictures and what ever first

[pappy19]

Any more, you can get a thumb drive with more space on it than your original hard drive on the older machines.

[SPIKER]

Reformat your hard drive and reinstall windows and see how it works.

that is what I would do.
backup all your important documents, pictures and what ever first

After cleaning it up real good, (unplug it first pop covers off and go at it.) then try to set windows back to the latest update or windows.   see how it runs, otherwise hit AMAZON for a NEW one (or local BB Staples etc.) 

Problem being if you do re-install windows from fresh all the updates are gone and they have stopped support for it (apr 8th) so not sure you can get those security updates that fixed all the issues up till then?

Mark

[bedway]

Ok heres the latest. I went out and bought a new HP. My son in law is in the process of transfering stuff from the old to the new. Now the irony, i again dumped firefox and installed google chrome on the old machine. That didnt help so i reinstalled the old firefox 21.0 version. The old unit hasnt crashed for 5 days. Seems for some reason the updated versions of firefox gave the machine heart burn.

[clww]

Microsoft does not support Windows XP any longer as of April 2014.