NORTON'S SPEED CHECK

Has anyone used them or others, and did it speed up your computer? They charge $34.95 US. Are there better options @ Lakeside?
Thank You in advance.

JimW

I got so burned out with problems created by Norton many years ago that I will never put one of their products on any computer again! I am currently using:
http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcarepro.html
And have been very satisfied with all that it does and the price is a heck of a bunch better than $34.95 - $19.95.

IMO the best way to speed up an older computer is add more RAM. Even some new ones don't come with enough RAM and slow down pretty quick once you get a bunch of stuff loaded.

CheenaGringo wrote:I got so burned out with problems created by Norton many years ago that I will never put one of their products on any computer again! I am currently using:
http://www.iobit.com/advancedsystemcarepro.html
And have been very satisfied with all that it does and the price is a heck of a bunch better than $34.95 - $19.95.

Thanks CG, I'll give that a try.

CanuckBob wrote:IMO the best way to speed up an older computer is add more RAM. Even some new ones don't come with enough RAM and slow down pretty quick once you get a bunch of stuff loaded.

CB, I think we have similar laptops, Toshiba Satellite L655. Has 4 Gig Ram, 3.76 usable? How much RAM should be enough?

Jim W

It all depends on what you are running. That amount of RAM should be sufficient and your computer should not be slow. Our computers are the same and mine isn't slow at all. I run quite a few things. You must have something running in the background that is slowing it down. Do you run a virus scan and a spyware scan on a regular basis?

Jim:

I am guessing that this is a Windows 7 computer even though you just purchased it? If it is Windows 8, I see where most units are being assembled with 6GB and up. I have an older Toshiba with 3GB running a 2.1GHz processor and I do notice it slow down under certain circumstances, especially when accessing the huge files I have.

CanuckBob wrote:It all depends on what you are running. That amount of RAM should be sufficient and your computer should not be slow. Our computers are the same and mine isn't slow at all. I run quite a few things. You must have something running in the background that is slowing it down. Do you run a virus scan and a spyware scan on a regular basis?

When I return, probably Tuesday....we can check it out...OK? Will be leaving here for Chapala around 4 AM Monday. My Escape looks like a travel store for Cabellas.....LMAO....

The fastest way to speed up your computer is to disable many of the startup software programs that you do not need.

I dropped my # of programs from 18 to 3. What a difference. Another thing that's very important to many of us is how long it takes from startup until we can download our favorite webpage/pages. If you are using ADSL, you know, Prodigy, the most important thing is how close you are to your DSLAM card, and how fast your internet speed is. For example, I live in West Ajijic, 1,200 meters via wire from my DSLAM card. And I'm getting higher speeds than promised by Telmex. If you live farther away from your DSLAM card like you do CB, chances are your speeds will be much slower

I have the Telmex infinitum middle package, Paquete Acergues for $599
Este paquete incluye:
Infinitum hasta 5 Mbps* Up to 5 Mb/s
100 minutos a celular 044, 200 llamadas locales
LADA Nacional ilimitados, 100 minutos a Estados Unidos1 y $1.00 el minuto adicional (más impuestos)
Llama a cualquier parte del mundo2 por $1.00 el minuto (más impuestos)
Todos los Servicios Digitales, Renta mensual de la línea
Beneficios Infinitum Renta mensual $599.00

Guess what my actual speeds are? (my CPU is 2.3 Ghz, Win 7 pro, Service pack 1, & Ram, 6 GB)



That is faster than adversized,, something one does not get when they live quite far from the data center is, as some of you do.

Oh and that's WiFi. If I were to connect to the modem via cable, perhaps my speeds would be even higher.

I am pretty computer ignorant, but are we talking computer speed or internet speed here?
When I retire, I will learn to be patient with a slow machine!
What is "slow" now was blazing fast (as far as computers go) just a short time ago.

gm

I guess I was talking about how long it takes from the time I turn my computer on until I can get to my email account or favorite website.

So to me, I want a computer to start up fast, and once it has started up, to get to my favorite email account or webpage.

Sadly down here, often one of the greatest problems is getting connected to the internet at the speed promised. Speeds up north are usually much faster.

But before you can even try to connect to the internet, your computer must go through the startup process, which can take way too long if you are lacking in Ram for example, or are running too many startup programs.

And the reason why you are in such an all fired hurry when you are retired? If things are too fast, you will have to imagine something else that needs doing!

gringomojado wrote:I am pretty computer ignorant, but are we talking computer speed or internet speed here?
When I retire, I will learn to be patient with a slow machine!
What is "slow" now was blazing fast (as far as computers go) just a short time ago.

gm

The original question pertains to computer speed.

Software will NOT speed up your computer, just shrink your pocketbook.

If you will tell me what system that you have (XP, VISTA, Windows 7 or 8), I will email you a step by step sequence to do for free.

gringomojado wrote:I am pretty computer ignorant, but are we talking computer speed or internet speed here?
When I retire, I will learn to be patient with a slow machine!
What is "slow" now was blazing fast (as far as computers go) just a short time ago.

gm

Back in 2005 I had dial up thru Telmex....Slow is when you click to log on, go to the bathroom, open a beer, sit down @ your computer, and log on is still in progress

CheenaGringo wrote:And the reason why you are in such an all fired hurry when you are retired? If things are too fast, you will have to imagine something else that needs doing!

First sorry that I missunderstood the original question. In my case, my default Dell XPS laptop settings had way too many startup programs running at the same time, which greatly slowed the startup time until I got rid of many startup programs I did not need.

And in answer to your question Neil, darn, now that I'm retired, there are so many fun things to do, that I and many others don't have enough time in the day to do all of those fun things.

Jim

I've seen your computer. Made out of cog wheels, vacuum tubes and lead acid batteries. You need to run it on 240 volts.

See ya soon.

SunFan

SunFan wrote:Jim

I've seen your computer. Made out of cog wheels, vacuum tubes and lead acid batteries. You need to run it on 240 volts.

See ya soon.

SunFan

SunFan, 1st you insult my country, then my computer! What's next since I don't have a dog?

What ....no parrot?????

Jim, you and folks like Bob and Zed are the backbone of the expat community here. I'd never intentionally insult. (but you could use a new computer)

SunFan

MexicoPete wrote:So to me, I want a computer to start up fast, and once it has started up, to get to my favorite email account or webpage.

Pete,
are you using a solid state drive or a hard drive? The prices just dropped on Samsung SSDs about a month ago. I picked one up to put in my laptop but just haven't gotten around to it yet. YouTube is full of SSD vs HDD comparisons showing pretty substantial gains with a SSD.

George

jrm is correct.

Jim W wrote:

CanuckBob wrote:IMO the best way to speed up an older computer is add more RAM. Even some new ones don't come with enough RAM and slow down pretty quick once you get a bunch of stuff loaded.

CB, I think we have similar laptops, Toshiba Satellite L655. Has 4 Gig Ram, 3.76 usable? How much RAM should be enough?

Jim W

The only reason to have more would be for Photoshop or movie making. Most
normal programs we all use would work fine on 2 and you have 4. Dont waste
money. Also many older operating systems or hardware won't recognize more
than 4. You are fine.

Z

mattoleriver wrote:

MexicoPete wrote:So to me, I want a computer to start up fast, and once it has started up, to get to my favorite email account or webpage.

Pete,
are you using a solid state drive or a hard drive? The prices just dropped on Samsung SSDs about a month ago. I picked one up to put in my laptop but just haven't gotten around to it yet. YouTube is full of SSD vs HDD comparisons showing pretty substantial gains with a SSD.

George

Read about them before you buy. They do have some differences that are not talked about.
I would be careful what brand I pick also. I use Micron not the fastest but very reliable. How
fast do you need?? They also have SSD modules that you put on a SATA hard drive cable
and you add some software and the SSD module becomes a very large cashe module between
the system and your data on your harddrive. Very cool. Remember you pay much more per
storage unit with SSD versus harddrives. If my system had room I would use a SSD for my system
disk and a normal hardrive for a data disk. Oh yea just remembered don't defrag an SSD. It will
just increase the wear and tear on the memory.

Z

Jim W wrote:Has anyone used them or others, and did it speed up your computer? They charge $34.95 US. Are there better options @ Lakeside?
Thank You in advance.

JimW

Maximum PC magazine just did a review on all these speed em up programs.
I don't think they will help you as usually they don't. For you computer guys
I strongly suggest reading Maximum PC magazine if you can get hold of it.

Z

Couple of clarifications: A 32-bit installation of Windows cannot use more than 3.5 Gigs of RAM ever; a 64-bit installation can use lots. Exactly right that extra RAM (for example, in Windows 7 with 2 Gigs) will not provide a noticeable speed difference for day-to-day computer activities.

Unfortunately, Solid State Drives are far too expensive in Mexico to be economical. The best use of an SSD is installed as the boot drive; this is where the extra speed comes from. Using as storage, again, will not help most people.

How do you find out if you have a 32- or 64-bit installation? Right-click on My Computer (or Computer) and select Properties.