Is there any way to tell what the limiting component of my home desktop is? I doubt I'm going to do much with it but if there's a single component I can just swap out to increase my speed, I'd like to do that... since I'm going crazy without a decent compy...

Perhaps there are components or suggestions as to what usually dies out first? Fan, cpu, ram, motherboard, etc...

edit: or possibly something like system requirements labs?

Tell me your computer's specifications. Likely it's graphics... probably some integrated crap. If it's older, it's likely RAM. Did it always go slow? If not, your hard drive could be clogged with copious amounts of pr0n.

Ctrl+Alt+Delete, when the Task Manager opens up, choose the PROCESSES tab. Depending on your computer, some of the processes might be hidden, but there should be a button somewhere allowing you to view all the processes.
Look through the list of processes (this is easier if there absolutely NO programs like internet/MS word etc running) and find any processes that use up too much 'CPU' or 'Memory'. Things like 'svchost.exe' are MANDATORY, so ignore those. If there are some processes requiring abnormally high Memory (say 50 000 K or above), then look up the process on google to see which program it belongs to and if it's necessary for your computer to function. If I do spot an abnormal, memory-hogging process, I usually look it up on http://www.processlibrary.co m/. u

If it does turn out to be a useless process/non-mandatory memory hog, then go to Start --> Search msconfig (if you have Vista/w7) or choose "Run" and type in "msconfig" if you have XP. Open up msconfig, go to the STARTUP tab and try to look for the program corresponding to the process or the process itself in the list and uncheck that program/process so that it will no longer startup everytime you turn your computer on.

Hope this helps!

Don't know if this will be of much help..

Press control, shift, escape - and click on performance to see what your current CPU usage is like. This will give you an indicator of how much memory your comp is using at the moment.

Try deleting some programs you don't use anymore. Try to get rid of anything you don't need. Put photos, old course work on separate USB stick. That way you can always pop in your USB key whenever you want to access your files but at the same time you get to free up a lot of space on your hard drive.

Delete your browsing history/temporary internet files/cookies, if that helps.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Tell me your computer's specifications. Likely it's graphics... probably some integrated crap. If it's older, it's likely RAM. Did it always go slow? If not, your hard drive could be clogged with copious amounts of pr0n.

NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256k mem)
Intel P4 2.4GHz

Not sure how to check for the RAM, but apparently its 2GB.
Harddrive is old and used, but tons of space and been defragged, disk-clean-up'd many times, etc.

Gonna format eventually, but wanna fix any issues caused by old hardware first.

Originally Posted by Vaidawg

Ctrl+Alt+Delete, when the Task Manager opens up, choose the PROCESSES tab. Depending on your computer, some of the processes might be hidden, but there should be a button somewhere allowing you to view all the processes.
Look through the list of processes (this is easier if there absolutely NO programs like internet/MS word etc running) and find any processes that use up too much 'CPU' or 'Memory'. Things like 'svchost.exe' are MANDATORY, so ignore those. If there are some processes requiring abnormally high Memory (say 50 000 K or above), then look up the process on google to see which program it belongs to and if it's necessary for your computer to function. If I do spot an abnormal, memory-hogging process, I usually look it up on http://www.processlibrary.co m/. u

If it does turn out to be a useless process/non-mandatory memory hog, then go to Start --> Search msconfig (if you have Vista/w7) or choose "Run" and type in "msconfig" if you have XP. Open up msconfig, go to the STARTUP tab and try to look for the program corresponding to the process or the process itself in the list and uncheck that program/process so that it will no longer startup everytime you turn your computer on.

Hope this helps!

I've been process terminating and msnconfig'n for like... forever. Thanks though for reminding me, I'll take another look through.

Originally Posted by RyanC

NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256k mem)
Intel P4 2.4GHz

Not sure how to check for the RAM, but apparently its 2GB.
Harddrive is old and used, but tons of space and been defragged, disk-clean-up'd many times, etc.

Gonna format eventually, but wanna fix any issues caused by old hardware first.

Out of curiosity, is that a dell?

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Out of curiosity, is that a dell?

Its actually an asus.. has been working fine for years, its just been on the downward slope!

I actually had no idea it was an asus till I just looked now... interesting

I don't fully understand everything that it does, but I've been using this program for months now and it's done me solid.

Originally Posted by RyanC

I've been process terminating and msnconfig'n for like... forever. Thanks though for reminding me, I'll take another look through.

Haha yea I thought so, an engineer would probably well versed in this awesome trick.

I'd say replace that P4...

Originally Posted by Andrew A

I'd say replace that P4...

I'd say try getting a better video card, like a 6800 GT (last semi-decent card I know of that's AGP and probably next to nothing in cost). Make sure your computer has an AGP slot... if you're lucky, it might even have a PCI-E slot, in which case things can be even cheaper.

It's still going to be shitty, but it should provide a significant performance boost over what you have.

This would work if your computer has AGP.

It's all the pr0n. 100%

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I'd say try getting a better video card, like a 6800 GT (last semi-decent card I know of that's AGP and probably next to nothing in cost). Make sure your computer has an AGP slot... if you're lucky, it might even have a PCI-E slot, in which case things can be even cheaper.

It's still going to be shitty, but it should provide a significant performance boost over what you have.

This would work if your computer has AGP.

Ehh, I guess it depends what he's doing with it/when it's slowing down.

Its very unlikely to be the GPU. Post a screenshot of the activity monitor, its most likely the processor or ram. If you cant afford a new one, install linux on it.