Tech People - I need your genius! *Update*

[Chickerdoodle13]

I have a Toshiba Satellite A215-S4747 laptop computer which is about four years old now. It runs slow sometimes and I just recently read about upgrading the RAM. Other than being a bit slow, the computer is a workhorse and I've never had any major problems. From what I read, it is very easy to do. However, I've never done it before and I need a bit of advice.

I've found this product which seems like it should work in my laptop, but I want to be sure. Right now I only have 1 GB RAM and my laptop supports four. This is a pretty good price. A single 2 GB chip is about $26. Can someone tell me if I'm reading everything right and these chips will actually work in my laptop? Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-Channel-P...WN8U/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1307464904&sr=8-5

I've been kicking around the idea of either getting a new computer or a netbook, but if I can make my computer faster and last a bit longer for just $50, I would rather do that!

 

[Crazy4mypeeps]

The specs say that the motherboard can handle up to 4gb, so you should be ok with that. Have you done a disk clean up? Taken off programs that you don't use, and also defragged the hard drive? Those are typical things that I do when I experience a slow down, first, before trying and upgrade.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks Crazy4myPeeps!

I've done all of those things mentioned, but I've pretty much always done them on a regular basis. I just recently downloaded all of my pictures that were taking up about 60 GB of hard drive space onto DVDs and my parent's external hard drive for backup. Then I deleted them from my computer. It helped a little, but my computer is 4 years old and just lags a bit more than I'd like it to. It takes a little while for programs like Word and Excel to load, but nothing major. I've just dealt with it for a while, but it seems so easy to replace the RAM. Also, Adobe Photoshop is a pain to deal with, but from what I read it just seems like 1GB of RAM is just not enough these days.

I spoke with a friend who knows a lot about computers and he sent me his recommendation for a memory upgrade. My comp has two 512 MB cards in it right now, so I would have either had to go with 2 X1GB cards, a 1GB and 2GB, or 2 X2GB cards. I decided to go with the latter. Apparently this particular computer with Windows 7 can only utilize 3.25 GB, but it was only $8 more for the 4 GB. I ordered the cards and should have them by the end of the week. I will let you know how it goes when I replace them!

 

[Crazy4mypeeps]

Cool, keep me posted. Hope it speeds things up for you!

 

[fuzziebutt]

If you have XP or earlier on it, you probably need to disable all the programs in the startup. On the bottom right of the computer screen, is there a line of icons? Those are all the programs that start when the computer starts, and continue running in the background. You don't need all these programs running all the time, as it will slow the computer down. To fix this, do this:
Go to Start, click on run. In run type exactly this: MSCONFIG This will bring up the system configuration. Across the top, click on Start-up. In startup, disable all. Click Apply. It will tell you that you need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Restart, and a box will pop up that says that you have used the system configuration utility, just click on the Don't Show This Again box. All the little icons on the bottom right will be gone. You still have the programs, but you have to start them yourself. You can go back into the configuration and restart some of them, like your antivirus program. That should really help your speed.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks Fuzziebutt!

I have Windows 7 and I have most all of my startup programs disabled except for my antivirus and mouse/pointer programs. There are a few I wasn't sure about and disabling seems to negatively affect my system, so I just left them. Over time I always have to go and redo that startup list because start up definitely gets slower over time as I change or add new programs!

I've also changed my appearance settings to be pretty basic, although I left some of the settings that I really liked. I just don't like the plain appearance of the "best performance" setting! Hopefully increasing the memory will allow me to add the other display features that I have disabled.

I should probably go through my add/remove program list, but for the most part I remove unused programs fairly regularly. I wish I could free up more hard drive, but I have about 30 gigs of music that I have to keep on the computer unless I want to run a external hard drive all the time. I have 185 GB of HD space, and only about 65 GB free. I know about 20 GB of used memory is pictures that I haven't deleted yet, but I always have trouble finding out what else is taking up space besides my pictures and 30 GBs of music. I use CCleaner regularly, but I always have issues with space on this computer!

 

[fuzziebutt]

If your computer is 4 years old, is 7 an upgrade, or a fresh install? If it is an upgrade, it kept your old operating system, and saved it as WindowsOld. THAT will take alot of space. Or unless you complety wiped your hard drive out, 7 saved everying in an Old file. And I have no idea how to get rid of that. It can be done, just don't know how. Email your pictures to yourself. That way you always have them, and it doesn't take any space.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Alrighty guys, I got my RAM cards in the mail yesterday and promptly upgraded them. It couldn't have been easier! Turned the computer back on and it recognized them right away. Took a few minutes for the computer to settle in with its new cards and now it is faster than ever. So far I am very, very pleased. I can't believe I didn't do this upgrade sooner!

Fuzziebutt,

I installed Windows 7 on my computer after a friend gave me a Beta copy, which I didn't realize would need to be replaced with the full version within a few months. I found out it wasn't an easy fix and I had to erase everything on my hard drive and install windows 7. The windowsold file was helpful because I was able to transfer all my pictures fairly easily, but I did delete that section after I was done with it.

My picture files are so huge and I have thousands and thousands of them. Unfortunately if I were to email them to myself, I'd have to send only one or two per email and it would take forever! The only way to send more than two is to lower the quality of the pics. However, I have been backing them on up on two separate hard drives and I've put most of them on DVDs. I just have to buy myself a little fire proof safe to keep the DVDs in so I never lose them! I do know there are online backup programs which I may look into once I get more into photography.

 

[Crazy4mypeeps]

Good to hear! Glad that is was easy and painless.

 

[fuzziebutt]

Glad you got that fixed!