Hardware Requirements for Internet PC

Can someone give me an idea of what the minimum hardware requirements
are for a PC that will be used mostly for internet, as well as playing
DVDs? (I have a 900Mhz, 512mb XP system).

I ask because the system I've been using gets progressively more
sluggish after a reformat and re-install. There seems to be a lot of
background operations going on that I cannot find.

I alternate between installing Avast! and AVG after routine XP re-
installs and I usually disable as much I can in "Start Up" for all the
good it does because after a while the boxes tend to get checked again
anyway.

The sluggishness now occurs immediately after a new XP install, so it
is not malware. It seems that that problem may be that the increasing
complexity of software that I've been using for years may be the
culprit. (Not that I install much software).

I do have issues with jerky video at Youtube, and even worse issues
with loading pages at Photobucket, but that may be my connection.
(Even though I'm told by Verizon that there isn't a problem). But the
biggest problem involves random freezing of my cursor, freezing with
switching between tabs, freezing when typing, etc. Every operation I
perform with the mouse or keyboard can randomly get hung up,
necessitating a waiting period. At worse I have to reboot. Sometimes
going as far as having to pull the plug out the back of the PC case
because the pc case on/off button will not work. ("Ctrl+Alt+Del"
doesn't work at all on my system).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

From: "Searcher7"

Can someone give me an idea of what the minimum hardware requirements
are for a PC that will be used mostly for internet, as well as playing
DVDs? (I have a 900Mhz, 512mb XP system).

I ask because the system I've been using gets progressively more
sluggish after a reformat and re-install. There seems to be a lot of
background operations going on that I cannot find.

I alternate between installing Avast! and AVG after routine XP re-
installs and I usually disable as much I can in "Start Up" for all the
good it does because after a while the boxes tend to get checked again
anyway.

The sluggishness now occurs immediately after a new XP install, so it
is not malware. It seems that that problem may be that the increasing
complexity of software that I've been using for years may be the
culprit. (Not that I install much software).

I do have issues with jerky video at Youtube, and even worse issues
with loading pages at Photobucket, but that may be my connection.
(Even though I'm told by Verizon that there isn't a problem). But the
biggest problem involves random freezing of my cursor, freezing with
switching between tabs, freezing when typing, etc. Every operation I
perform with the mouse or keyboard can randomly get hung up,
necessitating a waiting period. At worse I have to reboot. Sometimes
going as far as having to pull the plug out the back of the PC case
because the pc case on/off button will not work. ("Ctrl+Alt+Del"
doesn't work at all on my system).

Any advice would be appreciated.


..9GHz w/512MB means an older system. Maybe a Celeron.

You want a 2~4GHz P4 or multicore CPU with at least 1GB of RAM with WinXP.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

In
,
Searcher7 wrote:
Can someone give me an idea of what the minimum hardware requirements
are for a PC that will be used mostly for internet, as well as playing
DVDs? (I have a 900Mhz, 512mb XP system).

I ask because the system I've been using gets progressively more
sluggish after a reformat and re-install. There seems to be a lot of
background operations going on that I cannot find.

I alternate between installing Avast! and AVG after routine XP re-
installs and I usually disable as much I can in "Start Up" for all the
good it does because after a while the boxes tend to get checked again
anyway.

The sluggishness now occurs immediately after a new XP install, so it
is not malware. It seems that that problem may be that the increasing
complexity of software that I've been using for years may be the
culprit. (Not that I install much software).

I do have issues with jerky video at Youtube, and even worse issues
with loading pages at Photobucket, but that may be my connection.
(Even though I'm told by Verizon that there isn't a problem). But the
biggest problem involves random freezing of my cursor, freezing with
switching between tabs, freezing when typing, etc. Every operation I
perform with the mouse or keyboard can randomly get hung up,
necessitating a waiting period. At worse I have to reboot. Sometimes
going as far as having to pull the plug out the back of the PC case
because the pc case on/off button will not work. ("Ctrl+Alt+Del"
doesn't work at all on my system).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Darren! Well I could configure such a machine as yours to do a fine
job for those tasks. Although performance really jumps up with 1GB of
memory. And depending on what kind of memory and the max that machine
can use, it might not be too costly at all.

The second thing I would check is CPU use. The Task Manager comes with
all XP machines, so watch what percentage of use it runs at. Sure it
will be jumping around depending on what you are doing. But I mean say
on average. If it is spending most of the time at 100% or something very
high, that is a problem. And if it is, we can tackle that one if it is.

Another thing that can slow a computer like that one down a lot is high
disk activity. Yes 512MB of RAM will cause lots more disk swapping than
1GB will. But other things like AVG might be scanning the drives at boot
or something. You can stop AVG from doing this if this is the case. And
I used to use AVG in the past, but later versions slowed down my
computers and I found Avast (the free one) to be very quick, so I
switched.

You also mentioned sluggish video with youtube. That uses Flash and the
newer versions of Flash requires a much more powerful machines. I would
use an older version of Flash. I usually use v9, but v8 might be ok for
most modern day websites. Older versions can be found at:

Old Version of Adobe Flash Player
http://www.oldapps.com/flash_player.php

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz - 2GB - Windows XP SP3

From: "BillW50"

In ,
Searcher7 wrote:
Can someone give me an idea of what the minimum hardware requirements
are for a PC that will be used mostly for internet, as well as playing
DVDs? (I have a 900Mhz, 512mb XP system).

I ask because the system I've been using gets progressively more
sluggish after a reformat and re-install. There seems to be a lot of
background operations going on that I cannot find.

I alternate between installing Avast! and AVG after routine XP re-
installs and I usually disable as much I can in "Start Up" for all the
good it does because after a while the boxes tend to get checked again
anyway.

The sluggishness now occurs immediately after a new XP install, so it
is not malware. It seems that that problem may be that the increasing
complexity of software that I've been using for years may be the
culprit. (Not that I install much software).

I do have issues with jerky video at Youtube, and even worse issues
with loading pages at Photobucket, but that may be my connection.
(Even though I'm told by Verizon that there isn't a problem). But the
biggest problem involves random freezing of my cursor, freezing with
switching between tabs, freezing when typing, etc. Every operation I
perform with the mouse or keyboard can randomly get hung up,
necessitating a waiting period. At worse I have to reboot. Sometimes
going as far as having to pull the plug out the back of the PC case
because the pc case on/off button will not work. ("Ctrl+Alt+Del"
doesn't work at all on my system).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi Darren! Well I could configure such a machine as yours to do a fine job
for those tasks. Although performance really jumps up with 1GB of memory.
And depending on what kind of memory and the max that machine can use, it
might not be too costly at all.

The second thing I would check is CPU use. The Task Manager comes with all
XP machines, so watch what percentage of use it runs at. Sure it will be
jumping around depending on what you are doing. But I mean say on average.
If it is spending most of the time at 100% or something very high, that is
a problem. And if it is, we can tackle that one if it is.

Another thing that can slow a computer like that one down a lot is high
disk activity. Yes 512MB of RAM will cause lots more disk swapping than
1GB will. But other things like AVG might be scanning the drives at boot
or something. You can stop AVG from doing this if this is the case. And I
used to use AVG in the past, but later versions slowed down my computers
and I found Avast (the free one) to be very quick, so I switched.

You also mentioned sluggish video with youtube. That uses Flash and the
newer versions of Flash requires a much more powerful machines. I would
use an older version of Flash. I usually use v9, but v8 might be ok for
most modern day websites. Older versions can be found at:

Old Version of Adobe Flash Player
http://www.oldapps.com/flash_player.php


You don't need Flash to play YouTube videos. I play them in VLC Player.

Do NOT use old versions of Flash. Doing so will have a high probability of
the computer being compromised. Either use the latest version or none at
all.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

From: "Bob Willard"

snip


One more trade-off to consider: turn off the realtime feature of your AV
app, to improve file access time. On my primary PC, I have AVG and
AdAware and SpyBot set to run every night (and I run MalWareBytes and
SuperAntiSpyware a couple of times a week); enough protection so that I
don't feel the need to run any realtime AV.

As a former Malwarebytes' employee as a Malware Researcher, I can
empatically state that advice is fool hardy.

For example, AVG will detect obfuscated JavaScript and Exploit Code (SWF,
PDF, Java Jars, HTML, JS, PHP, etc) MBAM, SAS and SpyBot S&D don't. I am
not sure about Ad-aware.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

"Searcher7" wrote in message
...

Can someone give me an idea of what the minimum hardware requirements
are for a PC that will be used mostly for internet, as well as playing
DVDs? (I have a 900Mhz, 512mb XP system).

Your cheapest option is a refurbished office machine 3 to 5
years old, e.g. IBM model M52, nowawadays widely available
for about $100, with 2.6 MHz CPU and at least 1 Gb RAM,
preferably more. These were built for only a single hard drive,
but two 2 DVD drive bays, one usually empty, so you can add
your old hard drive the and later swap it for a Terabyte size
drive if you like.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Per Bob Willard:
If your HD is more than 50% full, it may be
advisable to throw in the towel and get a modern PC.

One cause of a full C: drive that I have seen is Windows Updates.

Every update takes a little disc space for it's backup files and
after a few years, it can add up to enough to cause a problem
that was fixed by deleting all the backup folders like
C:\Windows\$NtUninstallKB971029$,
--
Pete Cresswell

From: "(PeteCresswell)"

Per Bob Willard:
If your HD is more than 50% full, it may be
advisable to throw in the towel and get a modern PC.

One cause of a full C: drive that I have seen is Windows Updates.

Every update takes a little disc space for it's backup files and
after a few years, it can add up to enough to cause a problem
that was fixed by deleting all the backup folders like
C:\Windows\$NtUninstallKB971029$,

I agree with one caveat.

Sort the folders by date. Delete all those that were installed greater than
two weeks ago. This way, just in case, you can uninstall a problematic
HotFix. Usually within two weeks you'll know if a HotFix is problematic.



--
Dave
Multi-AV Scanning Tool - http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

Searcher7 wrote:

Can someone give me an idea of what the minimum hardware requirements
are for a PC that will be used mostly for internet, as well as playing
DVDs? (I have a 900Mhz, 512mb XP system).

I ask because the system I've been using gets progressively more
sluggish after a reformat and re-install. There seems to be a lot of
background operations going on that I cannot find.

I alternate between installing Avast! and AVG after routine XP re-
installs and I usually disable as much I can in "Start Up" for all the
good it does because after a while the boxes tend to get checked again
anyway.

The sluggishness now occurs immediately after a new XP install, so it
is not malware. It seems that that problem may be that the increasing
complexity of software that I've been using for years may be the
culprit. (Not that I install much software).

I do have issues with jerky video at Youtube, and even worse issues
with loading pages at Photobucket, but that may be my connection.
(Even though I'm told by Verizon that there isn't a problem). But the
biggest problem involves random freezing of my cursor, freezing with
switching between tabs, freezing when typing, etc. Every operation I
perform with the mouse or keyboard can randomly get hung up,
necessitating a waiting period. At worse I have to reboot. Sometimes
going as far as having to pull the plug out the back of the PC case
because the pc case on/off button will not work. ("Ctrl+Alt+Del"
doesn't work at all on my system).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

The others have given good advice, but I agree with the suggestion
about Task Manager. Underneath processes tab you can see the processes
taht are running and both CPU usage and memory usage that can give you
clues. The performance tab gives more info.

Which version of XP are you using and have you installed SP3? Are you
re-installing from the XP install CD? During the install process, you
can use the advanced choices and be more selective about what software
options you install.

Is your graphics card an integrated circuit built onto the mobo or is
it a stand-alone card? If it's built in, it's more than likely using
part of your system's 512Mb memory and slowing things down somewhat.

As someone mentioned, pagefile size could also be slowing down your pc.
IIRC, you can check out how much it's allocating on your HD looking
under system, IIRC, for system environmentals and manually change it if
it seems excessive. I think the rule of thumb was a multiple of your
memory size. You'll need to check that out.

The 512Mb RAM is(was) Microsoft's recommended minimum, so more RAM can
help. Your mobo determines how much more RAM you could add if you go
that route. In any case, the max that XP (32 bit, IDK about 64 bit)
can take advantage of is 4Gb. Repeating my caveat, your mobo may not
be able to take that.

Others have mentioned AVG and Avast. I used AVG for a long time but
got fed up with it because it hogged my pc's resources. I have no
experience with Avast. I use Microsoft's Security Essentials and am
satisfied. It too is free and MS updates the definitions fairly
regularly.

WRT internet connection speed, you could try DSLReports. At one time
they could test your speed connection. Or pinging your localhost and
your ISP to look at response times might give you some idea.

For troubleshooting, if you're going to try another re-install (I
assume you do a clean re-install, btw), I would suggest not doing it
while connected to the net. Why give someone a free shot? It also
means that you want to install your AV s/w before connecting your pc to
the net.

You might also find, d/l and run a piece of software that inventories
the hardware and software on your pc. I use the freeware version of
System Information for Windows (SIW), but I'm sure there are several
other programs out there that do the same thing. That could give you a
start at answering hardware questions that were asked such as about
your CPU and mobo. Not to mention it's handy info to have for times
such as now

I noticed one other thing. You think the problem might be the
complexity of the s/w you install, but you don't say what you're
installing. It might be advisable to install your other software in
stages if you have the luxury. Your info doesn't indicate if your pc
bogs down before or after adding the other s/w. So it is not
immediately apparent (at least to me) if the problem arises after
installing WinXP and before installing the other software you're using.

And check what percentage of your hd is being used for software. My
experience is that the more that your hd is filled up, the slower
things go period. If you do a right click on the folder for your
drive, a window pops up that gives you info about how much space your
drive has and how much is being used.

John

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per Bob Willard:
If your HD is more than 50% full, it may be
advisable to throw in the towel and get a modern PC.

One cause of a full C: drive that I have seen is Windows Updates.

Every update takes a little disc space for it's backup files and
after a few years, it can add up to enough to cause a problem
that was fixed by deleting all the backup folders like
C:\Windows\$NtUninstallKB971029$,

I added together all of those folders, and got 1.24GB. I've
never touched mine, and that is how much delta there is with
respect to an SP3 CD install.

How small a drive would you need, to get it filled up that way ?

I could see that happening, if I was still using my 12 year old
4GB WD IDE drive, but 1.24GB is a drop in the bucket for anything
a bit newer.

If you want to review storage on your PC, in a visual way, you
can use SequoiaView. Instantly, you'll see the pagefile and hiberfil,
as fairly large with respect to the rest, but may also be able to spot
data files that can be moved to another partition or to another disk.

http://w3.win.tue.nl/nl/onderzoek/on.../sequoiaview//

http://w3.win.tue.nl/uploads/media/S...3.1Install.zip

Paul