Physically clean computer?

super777

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I have had my computer for about 5 years I think. I have only added one upgrade, but it is still a decent system:

P4 2.66Ghz
512mb ram
Asus ATI 850xt

My computer has gotten progressively slower. I have a dog, and I think that that has caused the problem. I have a theory that hair has gotten into my computer parts and slowed it up. I have vaccuumed the computer, removing both hair and dust. Is there anything else that I should be doing that could speed up my comp? Or am I just in need of an upgrade?
 

butcher

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Jan 13, 2006
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dust really does not make a pc go slower , it might make it run hotter but not slower

try formating , defraging or upgradeing
 

chuckshissle

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Yeah reformat and clean install of the operating system. Not to mention check for updates on your hardwares and softwares and bios. Aslo replace thermal compound from your coolers since it's been five and chances are it has dried out and not able to transfer heat effeciently. Keep your components cool heps run your system smoothly as well.

And what kind of games do you play in that system?
 

super777

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Thanks for the advice..Actually I have 1 90mm fan... :p I tried to play company of heroes, but even on the lowest settings it doesn't run well. My 3dmark06 score is only 1800 :\ Anyway, I'm forced to play games such as runescape...and that's pretty much it. I used to be able to run FFXI, but then the graphics on that died on me. I actually reformatted after that, but I still had problems running it. So now, I stick with runescape heh. I'm building a PC right now, I will be ordering the parts in a couple of weeks:

1000w Supply
680i mobo
2x 8800 gtx
qx6800
4gb 1066mhz ram
2x 150gb 10k RPM raptors
liquid cooling system (FINALLY)
Dell 2407 monitor

It's my graduation present..my dad is giving me the money for it. I really want to get this comp working though, so I can practice overclocking on it. The problem is, that at the heat that it currently runs at w/o mods, it wouldn't do much good to try. I plan on blowing this machine up, but I want to fix it first :p
 

turpit

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I have had my computer for about 5 years I think. I have only added one upgrade, but it is still a decent system:

P4 2.66Ghz
512mb ram
Asus ATI 850xt

My computer has gotten progressively slower. I have a dog, and I think that that has caused the problem. I have a theory that hair has gotten into my computer parts and slowed it up. I have vaccuumed the computer, removing both hair and dust. Is there anything else that I should be doing that could speed up my comp? Or am I just in need of an upgrade?

Bad, if not outright dangerous information, without the proper cautions.

I recommend a full re-format of your primary OS HDD.

You should see a very noticeable increase in performance.

You have several options, depending on your problem.

Reformating your primary HDD is one of those options, and if your machine is that old without ever having been defragmented or had worthless programs/data removed, reformating will increase your performance. HOWEVER, you will lose everything you have on that drive. First, go through and save everything you want saved to a different physical device i.e secondary HDD, CDR, DVDR, external HDD, then reformat your drive.


If the drive is nearly full, or extensively fragmented, this slows performance significantly. A nearly full drive limits swap file space while a fragmented drive forces the computer to 'look' in multiple locations on the HDD to locate information, slowing transfer rates due to excessive seeking.

If your disc is nearly full, you can buy an external drive, transfer 'stored' files i.e. pix, mp3, mpegs, word docs, whatever, free up your primary drive space, then get away with a simple defrag. If its not that full, then a dfrag will solve your problem anyway.

If its not full, but has a lot of programs you dont use anymore, or overtime you have removed a lot of programs go ahead and reformat. Even though you may have removed programs, unless you used a third party uninstaller, most programs will leave space sucking, performance robbing little tidbits behind, in the registry, ini's and random save files.
 

super777

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Thanks :) Actually, I have reformatted plenty of times, and replaced my hard drive in this machine once. Sadly I know enough about computers to build one, set up raid, sli (which is easy >.>), and overclock. Yet, I have one of the crappiest systems I've seen advertised on a forum.

BTW chuck, I watched that vid of your rig...man you could probably throw food in there at night to use it as a freezer. You could probably overclock all of the hardware in that thing to max capabilities.
 

ausch30

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mpilchfamily had a good thread but I can't seem to find it about cleaning your system and keeping it that way. I would suggest you not use a vacuum in your computer because static can build up at the nozzle and fry system components. A good way of preventing dust and hair buildup is to use dry Swiffer pads as filters to catch the debris.
 

bonse

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Whenever ive cleaned my system i've held the hoover around 4 inches form the nearest component, and got the girlfriends makeup bush out (cleaned it of course) and started brushing, almost like i'm dusting for prints lol, usually does the job, as for the FANs, inc the cpu and gfx i take them out and get her tweezers out and pull owt tha i physically can out then brush it down again wth the hoover at a short distance.

Hope this may help. If it's unsafe at any point please tell me, i dont wanna destroy my pc lol.
 

Krakatoa

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Download crap cleaner. Although not perfect, its very useful. Before you install, remove any programs not being used regularly.

First thing to do after installing is go to tools/start up and see how many `nice` programs have decided that they are mission critical. Remove all that aren`t important. Use google for any you are unsure about. (Fixed a slow laptop last week, 73 running processes, 49 of which were start ups).

Run the registry cleaner afterwards(wont work miricles, but it all helps), and then the cleaner.(Current customer record;3gbs removed).

You shouldn`t be getting the problems you mention if you`ve cleaned properly.

And buy an extra 512mb, thats really not helping either. Windows needs between 140-200 just for it to run. There`s not exactly much ram left for games right now.(My kids pc matches your specs roughly, except they have a 5900xt and 1gig of ram and its a celeron:/. Runs CS source fine though :D )
 

valis

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I have a dog, and I think that that has caused the problem. I have a theory that hair has gotten into my computer parts and slowed it up.

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

... LLOOLL

i think you should upgrade your dog. perhaps with a cat. or a fish.
 

rodney_ws

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Dec 29, 2005
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I suppose if the dust was causing something to overheat, the component could throttle itself... in that instance, dust could make for a slower computing experience. Admittedly that's a stretch... but I'm sure somewhere someone has a slow computer because of dust buildup.
 
When hard drive free space gets below 40% it will slow down significantly as your free space gets smaller. Remove any unused programs and games. Run Windoze 'Disk Cleanup' and clear out cache and temp files. Backup and remove that five years worth of emails, old photos, mp3's, etc.

Download and run AdAware & Spybot Search and Destroy.

Run defrag. Run Defrag again (LOL) - the Windoze defragger is kinda crappy. Read the report upon completion and check for page file fragments. (If you have more than a handfull of page file fragments download VernDewds Page File Defragger from M$ and run it.)

Download a copy of HijackThis! and post your log to this thread so we can see what's going on with your rig.

With the amount of money you are planning on spending on your new rig you should definately hold back $300 to upgrade your current rig.

You need more RAM. Check and see if you mobo is capable of dual channel. If so, buy at least a 1Gb kit. If not, at a minimum increase your memory another 512mb - RAM has gotten really cheap these days.

If your video card is the X850 Pro you should probably upgrade that pos. The X850 XT was 20% faster and the X850 XT PE was 30% faster than the 850 Pro. Consider something like the Radeon X1950 XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X for around $140 - easily twice as fast as the 850 Pro.

If you mobo has SATA capabilty (or even if it doesn't) hard drives are really cheap ($.25.Gb) these days. Run your OS and apps on your original hard drive. Setup a shortcut on your desktop to the new hard drive and store all of your *files* on it.

Design a directory/subdirectory *tree* on your storage drive that reflects what you do, i.e., set up folders / subfolders for CAD, Computer, Downloads, Graphics, HTML, Office, Politics, Rips, School, Videos, etc, and keep your stuff organized. If the OS/Apps hard drive crashes you can easily move the drive to your new gaming rig and not miss a beat.

That processor you selected for you new rig is a waste of money (insert flaming here >___< ). You will be able to purchase a e6750 @ 2.66GHz 1333 fsb for $183 on July 22.

Post that HijackThis! log and we will make suggestions to speed yah up . . . . :D
 

super777

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Wow, so much to respond to...but alas, I'll stay on topic.

Whenever ive cleaned my system i've held the hoover around 4 inches form the nearest component, and got the girlfriends makeup bush out (cleaned it of course) and started brushing, almost like i'm dusting for prints lol, usually does the job, as for the FANs, inc the cpu and gfx i take them out and get her tweezers out and pull owt tha i physically can out then brush it down again wth the hoover at a short distance.

Hope this may help. If it's unsafe at any point please tell me, i dont wanna destroy my pc lol.

This sounds like a good idea to me. I would probably have to open all of the flaps so that the vaccuum was at its lowest but thanks :D I'll try this tonight when I get home from work.

As for clearing out my computer, and shutting down the extra processes, I will do that tonight too.

And yes, I wish my parents would upgrade my pet...maybe not replace her, just shave her :p
 

YoHoJoe

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HOW DOES USING A VACUUM CAUSE STATIC???

When dust travel's in the air that sucked through a vacuum cleaner it impacts on the pipe walls and other internal parts. These impacts generate static charges on the particles and on the pipe walls. If these parts are made up of plastic or other insulated materials they can charge up and give a static discharge.
Best advice on TGF I read today was USE COMPRESSED AIR. Vacuums are for house cleaning.
Advice is free and always worth every penny.