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Computer upgrade ideas

wonsngis

wonsngis

New Member
Every time I feel that a computer is getting sluggish I will wipe the entire hard drive and put a fresh copy of windows in place. If you're backing your critical files up like you should, it shouldn't take more than 2 hours to do. The difference is always tremendous. Most OS's will slow down with use.

Some may think this is extreme, but the results can't be beat.

You may also want to give Windows 7 a shot. You've got plenty of power to run it properly.
 
Z

zigns62

New Member
I know VW will work with Win 7. I just did the update and it works fine. you'll have to go back to Rolands web to download the new profiles. You'll lose your most resent profiles :thumb:
 
C

CustomRide

New Member
Download
ccleaner from ccleaner.com
Run it

Then on the same site

Download:
defraggler then run it when ccleaner is done.

They are free with no bugs or hidden installs will make a huge difference in a windows machine that has not been cleaned often.

When installing the program I opt for the desktop icon for ccleaner....do it every few days....it fast and %110 SAFE.
 
heyskull

heyskull

New Member
I would backup all your working files and settings then format and reinstall.
I promise it's like doing an upgrade without having to open it up!
Also if the computer is not used for surfing the web I turn off the automatic updates.
I have another computer in another office which was wiped and only used to run a plotter with the updates switched off.
After 2 years it is faster than all our other computers which have 2 to 3 times the amount of Memory, Processing Power and Disk Space.

I reformat our whole system every 2 years.
It takes 2 days to get everything talking to each other again.!!!!!
 
wonsngis

wonsngis

New Member
dirtracer23 said:
Thanks for the replies, I just bought the Windows 7 upgrade. Will my Corel x-3 and VW run with this W7
Click to expand...

If it ran in Vista, it'll run in 7. Again, just make sure that you do a clean install! Never do a standing upgrade. Win7 is fantastic!
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
Yup. Do a clean install of Windows 7 64 bit and reinstall your software. Also consider adding a second fast internal drive like a Western Digital Raptor and using it as a scratch disk for Corel (assuming Corel uses a scratch disk.... I dunno).
 
choucove

choucove

New Member
This computer seems new enough (based on the hardware) that it really might not need a whole reformat and re-installation to get things clean and running faster. If you have Windows 7 available to put on it, then I would do so.

If you purchased this with the default installation of Windows from HP then most likely what is causing the sluggishness is all the pre-installed bloatware that comes in Windows from HP. On every Dell, HP, Acer, etc. computer with the factory install of Windows, I have seen a lot of sluggish performance due to their added software. The easy option is to have someone who knows what software is and isn't needed go through and clean the system of all the unwanted pre-installed bloatware. That will immediately show a little better performance for you at least. The second option would be a complete reinstallation of the operating system and everything else from scratch, not a system restore using the original HP disks or restore partition. If you use the HP restoration disks or partitions to rebuild the system, it will still reinstall all of that unwanted bloatware.
 
Rooster

Rooster

New Member
An eSATA RAID Drive will increase the speed of your machine every time the hard drive gets used (which is a lot). Especially if you're working on files that max out your RAM use and cause you to have to use the hard drive as virtual memory. There's also the added benefit of more secure data storage using a RAID 5, 6 or 10 set-up. RAID zero is less secure and RAID 1 offers no increase in speed.
 
D

dirtracer23

New Member
OK, guys thanks for the info, and heres an update. I figured out that one of the RAM sticks was not snaped in tightly. So after figuring that out, I upgraded to Windows 7. I also adjusted the amount of ram to be used by my Coreldraw and it made a dramatic differrence. OK, my next step is to add a second HD for a scratch disk. I have a Seagate 750gb 7200 rpm 3.0gb/sec HD and was thinking bout the 300 gb Velociraptor for the scratch disk. Will this work and How do I go about doing this.
 
choucove

choucove

New Member
The external hard drive would offer a simple and quick idea for a scratch disk, but the speed link through USB is horrendously slow for this kind of task, as USB offers around 25 MBytes/sec of data transfer speed while that VelociRaptor drive can easilly beat 100 MBytes/sec of data transfer speed. For a scratch disk you want as fast of access speed and throughput as possible. This is why some people who have plenty of RAM to spare will even create a virtual drive in their RAM (RAMdisk) which offers unbeatable speed for a scratch disk. However, it does require quite a bit of RAM to do effectively.

If you're looking to get a VelociRaptor drive as a scratch disk, you just have to install it and format it as usual. Within the program preferences of Adobe you can set the location to be used as a scratch disk (usually defaults to the C:\ primary drive.) Just set this option to use the drive that is the VelociRaptor hard drive.
 
OldPaint

OldPaint

New Member
your probably right about the SPEED, but for the NON-TECHNICAL COMPUTER USER, the exrernal drive case....is just so easy and fool proof.
 
D

dirtracer23

New Member
Thanks for all the replies, I have a Velociraptor 80 gb coming to designate as a Scratch disk. I also noticed my CPU is only running at 28%, is this normal? I would think it should work harder than that.
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
Ignore OP, he's being, ahem, himself again. If you want a scratch disk, do not use a USB connection, if you think Photoshop is slow now you won't be able to stand it with a USB scratch disk. If you have to go external, eSATA is the way to go, and if you can install RAM in your computer you can easily install an eSATA port.
 
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