How to stop Opera and Chrome from using HDD when browsing

klrman · Oct 3, 2014

I have an old dell dimension 4550 with 750mb of RAM and noticed whilst browsing with opera or chrome, every time I need to scroll a page or doing anything worthwhile, my HDD is constantly accessed slowing everything down.

Anyway to have opera and chrome make use of the RAM itself whilst browsing? Or is there something I can do in XP settings for this?

ronintexas · Oct 3, 2014

As you are browsing the internet, files are being downloaded so you can display the page (i.e. pictures, music, videos, etc). It shouldn't slow the computer down much....

If you haven't cleared out your temporary internet files in a while - that could slow things down - try a program like CCleaner to clear them out....

klrman · Oct 3, 2014

I always use ccleaner. Is it possible to use the RAM to cache the pages as my old hard drive is really slow.

maestro0428 · Oct 3, 2014

You can also install your browser on a ram drive (or like was said, at least put the cache on a ram drive). I had Firefox on my ram drive and it was faster than when on my Samsung 840Pro. It seemed to get bugged out once and a while though, so I went back to just putting the cache on the ram drive for Chrome instead.

maestro0428 · Oct 3, 2014

Oops, I see you don't have much ram. I recommend moving to 2GB and it won't access the HD so much (even without a ram drive).

klrman · Oct 3, 2014

That's good news, thanks! I ordered a couple of days ago 2GB of ram and was hoping it would help.

Chicano · Oct 3, 2014

1. Managing the internet cache size may help... try reducing the size to the minimum possible without experiencing browsing issues... I have never done this so can't advice on the optimal size... you'll have to try different sizes to find the smallest and optimal cache size.
2. You can disable third party cookies or all cookies to control cookie accumulation.
3. Use custom settings for history.
4. In opera these settings ar similar... click on the Tools menu / Preferences / Advanced / History and Cookies settings can be configured to turn off memory cache, disk caché, and addresses.

Firefox / Tools / Options / Privacy.... confiugre the cookies and history settings, so Firefox will not accept and save cookies, and delete the browsing history when it closes.

How to change your firefox cache settings
http://www.cs.uic.edu/~consult/how/firefox-cache.html

Disable third-party cookies in Firefox
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/disable-third-party-cookies

Enable and disable cookies
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences

Opera Advanced Settings
http://help.opera.com/Windows/11.60/en/history.html

klrman · Oct 4, 2014

Thanks for the tips Chicano, I appreciate it. I also stopped the page/swap file and that helped quite a bit. If I open too many pages at once, the last page will crash but otherwise it makes things much better as well.

Chicano · Oct 5, 2014

klrman :

Your new RAM should take care of the rest... having different size modules can causes this type of problems and if they are different speeds that makes it a certain issue.

I know it by experience because I own a Dell Dimension 4500 with 2.0Mhz and 1000MB (one DDR 2700 and one DDR 3200) with XP installed and it's probably worse than what you describe. I don't use it much because of that, but a few months ago I tried a slimmed down Windows Vista on it, with the classic theme enabled and believe it or not, it worked much better than XP... I can format and clean install XP and it doesn't help much.. So, to some degree, XP is part of the problem.. seems that it can't handle the increased size of programs and the large amount of data that flows through Internet browsing... at least not even with the maximum originally recommended amount of RAM.

XP was made when programs were much lighter for example an antivirus installer was less than 10MB in size, they are now 10 times the size... Firefox's installer first edition was about 6MB... it's now 34MB and so on... if programs have increased in size, the amount of data that flows through the Internet has to now be equally large. So, an old computer and old OS now have to handle several times the data they had to when they were new....

Check this thread with solutions for slow performing computers... something there may help even further. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1863469/slow.html

klrman · Oct 5, 2014

That's interesting you say that Chicano as I totally gave up on Firefox for my old system as it just slows down everything to a crawl as well. I use Opera now and it runs much faster and real fast after a few of your tips and disabling page file in XP.

I ordered 2 sticks of 1GB RAM each with the same speed, but I'm pretty sure it was only 2100 but maybe the 2GB will help. I will also try and run a RAM drive as well as switch over to Linux. Problem with Linux is I can't even get it started yet. Downloaded the light version but it won't boot. That's another thread lol.

Thanks for yours and other posters help it's running better but I might as well play with it to make it as fast as possible without spending more than a couple of bucks. I think I spent too much already. Here is the list so far.

$19.57 2GB of 2100 RAM
$30.00 SATA to IDE adapter (will probably send it back as many have said it doesn't work)
$23.00 512MB ATI radeon DDR3 card
$17.00 ASUS DVD/CD ROM drive/burner.

That's all I'm willing to spend on the old system as a hobby to get it going decently and I'm hoping I can get some version of Linux to run on it.

Chicano · Oct 6, 2014

Yeah, Firefox has some bogging and freezing issues but most of them have a solution through the Configuration settings with "About:Config" typed on the Address bar.. those settings can be enabled, disabled or their data values changed.

To find a solution for a specific FF issue, just type a short description of it on a search engine, and you may find something. This one for example... it has lately been freezing my installed FF and I had put off solving it... I had solved it before, some time ago, but I had forgot how to... it took me less than a couple minutes to refind it... and here it is.

How to Stop Script Errors on Firefox
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/stop-script-errors-firefox-48954.html

Other Firefox script error solutions.
https://www.google.com/?hl=en&gws_rd=ssl#hl=en&q=which+about:config+to+disable+scripting+errors+that+block+firefox
DDR 2100 RAM should be ok.. the speed only makes it a bit slower than 2700/3200 but the total physical memory size is also important, probably more.

There are some light Linux distros that would surely run much faster than Windows XP on your system resources. I have tried Vector Linux 6.0 and UIbuntu 9.04 on the old Dell and these two were much faster than XP... Vector a bit faster than Ubuntu 9.04... the later editions of Ubuntu are not so light anymore but 9.04 is even faster than 7.04.

Linux has a few lighter distros like Puppy Linux which is probably the faster one.. but you can try others searchig for "Light or Lightest Linux Distros"

6 Lightweight Linux Distributions
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-lightweight-linux-distributions-give-pc-lease-life/

klrman · Oct 6, 2014

Chicano :

Thanks for all those tips, very very helpful

Hey your just the linux man I was looking for lol. I did have one question. I downloaded Puppy Linux last night and will try that on my old Dell, but for our new PC, I download Mint-17, KDE.

My question is, HOW do I get it to boot? I burned the whole download as an image file in Windows 7 but even if I switch the BIOS to boot from the DVD drive just to test Linux, it just goes straight back to windows? I've tried several different versions of linux, but none of them boot, so what am I doing wrong here?

Chicano · Oct 6, 2014

I would have to know the motherboard brand and model to look for the manual which may have the BIOS setting, but see if this works in the meantime... The BIOS has a boot menu which you can bring up with the right key... several keys are detailed in the BIOS post, see which one to press to bring up the boot menu... tap it several times and from that menu select the DVD drive. If it still goes on to Windows 7, let it complete the boot and at the logon screen or from windows reboot the computer, access the BIOS and from the boot device selection, disable the hard drive, floppy drive (if you have one) and everything else leaving the DVD Drive as the first and only enabled boot device... this should force the Linux disk to boot without obstructions. If this still doesn't help, either reset the BIOS or enable the BIOS failproof settings and try again.

What software have you used to burn the Linux ISO?.. Have you made sure the Linux disks are bootable?. You can also try booting Mint from USB as last resort.

As the Mint disk boots, make sure you select the Live CD/Disk Mode so it doesn't automatically start installing it. Linux distros behave the same in Live CD/Disk Mode as installed... so only install it when you are convinced you want to. As you may know, Linux installations almost always trash the Windows bootloader.. there are solutions but don't get into such mess if you don't have to. And when/if you want to install Mint, take the necessary precautions like having the Windows 7 DVD on hand, previously installing a BCDedit (bootloader) editor on Windows 7 to repair or configure the Windows - Linux dual boot, and if possible install Linux (Mint or other) in a separate hard drive with the Windows HD disconnected to prevent the bootloader from suffering damage.

EDIT: Two more Linux distros:

Linux Lite Installation Guide
https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/install.html

Linux Lite Downloads
http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxlite/files/1.0.6/

YlmfOs 2.0 Looks like Windows XP.. not sure about this edition but the first edition was as light as Ubuntu 9.04 http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/YlmfOs+2.0+-n+GTK+3.10?content=165037

klrman · Oct 7, 2014

Thanks again for your help! Motherboard is a MSI Z97 U3 Plus and I used ISO image burner that comes with windows 7.

Not sure what you mean when you say "Have you made sure the Linux disks are bootable?" I thought by burning them as an ISO image they will be bootable?

A big thank you for the advice not to damage the windows boot loader. I was just going to try Linux on the CD and not install it yet so hopefully I am safe there and for my brothers new build, I was just going to install Linux first if I like it and not install windows at all. Trying to ween our whole family away from windows if there is no real reason to use it. MS just seems to hold us hostage on everything and I'm tired with it. If my mobo fails, it seems I have to beg ms to let me use windows on a replacement board etc etc and there just has to be a better way never to even think about things like that.

I will try your boot advice and see if I can get it going now.

Chicano · Oct 7, 2014

What I meant is to confirm the burned disk is bootable with a ISO Builder/Maker... the ISO is ready to burn and obviously bootable but burning it can have errors, so after burning bootable disks, you have to confirm they're bootable... but if you verifyed the disc after burning with the Win 7 ISO burner's check box, then that's that... and if you need third party software to confirm it, PowerISO, MagicISO, UltraISO and other freeware software can be used to confirm you have a bootable disk. I personally don't use or even trust any of the included programs Windows has to offer.. they are so poorly done and austere.. I rather use third party software for most things. As you may tell, I also have some issues with MS, specially with included software, and particularly when MS fans try pushing the use of such programs when you know you can get much better third party software which always have all the information you need to do things well, and the Windows apps don't.

So I downloaded the Motherboard manual. Download the 7.88MB PDF file http://us.msi.com/support/mb/Z97_U3_PLUS.html#down-manual
Something in the BIOS may be set wrong for the Linux disk not being able to boot. Check: Boot Device Priority (Page 3-4) It may have a lock button which you may have missed and that left the HDD as the first boot device. There is also a FIXED BOOT ORDER Priorities (3-16) that may have to be disable before you can change the first boot device.

The boot menu is accessed with key F11 (page 3-2), next select the DVD Drive to run Linux. You may have to disable the "Full Screen Logo Display" (Page 3-16) to show the full screen logo while system POST to show the POST messages at booting and see boot menu key (Page 3-14)... but pressing F11 may still work without disabling the full screen logo.

See in page 3-5 There is a Lock button to fix the settings when changing the order of BIOS items. The Boot Device Order may also need this button pressed before the Boot Device sequence changes. Is it possible you missed it and that skips the Linux boot?.. There is also a Boot Override (page 3.17).

klrman · Oct 8, 2014

Yes I did check the verification box in win-7 to make sure it burned with no errors. I think your on to something here as even when I moved the drive icons in BIOS to make the dvd drive boot first, I did not unlock anything so that must be what's blocking it, thanks Chicano

If I can get it to boot and test it out, then it's going to be a lot of fun to learn more about linux and see how it runs compared to windows. Many people love linux so I have to give it a try for myself. Can't thank you enough for helping me out to get it booted up!

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