First off... Dell 1501, junk...

Anyway, I have a few thousand pictures along with songs... Thing is slow... Can I get an external hard drive and dump all the media onto the external and make the thing run faster???


I have Vista Home Premium, also junk. Every now and then it wants to update when shut down, do I never shut it down, but when I forget, it updates. Well I log onto my user name, and nothing is mine, its all default. I dont have my wallpaper, no pictures, nothing... Just a generic default... wtf?

 

You could get an external hard-drive. Also do a disk clean-up to clear out temp files for the internet and extra files that may be stored. I would also recommend a Disk Defragment to compress the files. Give that a try and see what happens

 

How much ram is in that thing and how full is the hard drive?

 

even if you upgrade the ram and to the diskclean up and defrag get the external still!

 

Maybe it needs a block heater.

 

Yes, unfilling the HDD will make the computer appear faster due to page times and some other reasons that are minor.

As also said, you need to defrag to "put" together scattered "files" or data fragments so search times are quicker on the HDD.

Also good to clear out temp files, doesn't really make your computer slower.

Just get a USB HDD with 500+ GB. They are pretty cheap.

But ultimately, you'll probably need to upgrade the ram. And in todays DDR ram you'll most likely need to do it in pairs. 512 x 512 or 1gb x 1gb. NOT 512 x 1gb, etc.

If this review is right--
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3359

AMD proc is your biggest problem

I would add another gig of ram and downgrade to XP pro. It will cruise then. Good luck. 32 bit can only handle 3gigs so don't go overboard.

 

this is like pseaking messican to me..... the computer already is set to defrag automatically.... how do I find out my ram and gig?

 

Go here http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php or directly at http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpuz/cpuz_152.zip

Download it. Click memory tab or SPD tab for individual information on each stick.

SPD Tab;

 

No need to download third party software. Here's how to find out how much RAM you have:

1. Open System by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Maintenance, and then clicking System.

2. In the System section, under Memory (RAM), you can view the amount of RAM your computer has.

 

Then you can go into My Computer, find the C drive, right click on it and select Properties - and see how big it is and how much is used and how much free space you have.

 

Doing those suggestions does not tell you what 'type' of ram only what ram you currently have in size (1gig, 5 gig, etc).

So if you go buy DDR when you have RDRAM you will be screwed. Unless you can look up model specifications from dell or know how to take apart the laptop and look at the ram for specification you need a peice of software which can identify type of ram.

Touche. No applause needed.

Even guys in the field use these appplications when ram type cannot be identified. I have, we all have.

 

The 1501 is a low end Dell... I would never run one with Vista on it. I swear people are wayyyyyyyyy too patient for their machine to load....

I'd suggest getting an external hard drive, or a cakebox of DVD-Rs and backup your pictures and reformat the hard drive with XP Pro x32.

Running XP Pro x32 will solve your needs.

I hate Vista.

The only time a machine should take more than 1 minute to boot is a server with Backplanes and SCSI controllers...

 

Mosh, you don't need to figure out what type it is ahead of time if you simply look the machine up in one of the online upgrade configurators such as the one at Crucial.com. Let's crawl here before we try to walk - see how much it has and how full the hard drive is first.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...ron%201501

It takes DDR2-667, 2 slots, 1gb max per slot, it is not dual channel so there's no need to use a matched pair, and it came with either 512mb or 1gb - neither of which is enough to run Vista well. $43.98 plus tax will max it out - two 1gb modules - with removal of whatever it already has. If it's got a single 1gb already, then you only need to buy one.

 

I already said that in a previous post but I'll say it again.

X1 again.

 

With 2gb, it will run Vista "okay" - but run XP a LOT better. Dell has a full set of XP drivers available. The AMD processor in that thing is what's really holding it back - it's a dog.