Author Topic: Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7  (Read 2095 times)

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Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Topic Start: January 24, 2010, 05:36:31 PM »
I will download SP2 tonight... but question: I checked my update history and found this
Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2 (KB954430)

Is this assuming I have it or what was that for?

Nah, that's something else.


Quote
Startup:

All Checked:

Windows Defender
Synaptics Pointing Device Driver
HD Audio Control Panel
NVIDIA Driver Helper Service, Version 101.19
NVIDIA Compatible Windows 2000 Display Driver
NVIDIA Media Center Library
eDataSecurity
Acer eAudio
Symantec Security Technologies
Symantec Shared Component
InstallUtil (unknown Manufacturer)
RAID Event Monitor (intel)
SetPanel (unknown)

Launch Manager
CyberLink PlayMovie
Power Reg
Acer Assist Launcher
Acer Tour Reminder
Java Platform SE 6

Adobe CS4 Service Manager
PowerISO Virtual Drive Manager
Quicktime
Itunes
avast! Antivirus
LiveUpdate Notice
Microsoft Windows OS
AOL Service Libraries
DNA (bittorrent)
Curse Client (a wow thing)
Steam
Octoshape Streamign Services
Spybot
Google Update
Video Conference Manager
Adobe Acrobat
Acer eAP Launch Tool


I've highlighted the things I think you should try disabling.  If anything you actually need stops working after a reboot, we can go

Offline The Chief

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #1: January 24, 2010, 06:03:59 PM »
In my experience, if your computer is slow, the operating system probably isn't really the culprit (unless you're running something truly old like JMad's fixer-upper).  It's more likely all the junk you've got running in the background.

That said, Vista is probably the worst choice of the three, especially for a laptop.  And XP downgrades do usually cost money these days, I believe.  Depends on your manufacturer, of course.

Are you a student?  Windows 7 upgrades are available for as little as $29.99 if you have a .edu email address- http://www.win741.com/

Offline tomterp

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #2: January 24, 2010, 06:17:08 PM »
In my experience, if your computer is slow, the operating system probably isn't really the culprit (unless you're running something truly old like JMad's fixer-upper).  It's more likely all the junk you've got running in the background.


Any advice on determining what unnecessary junk is running in the background, and getting rid or disabling it?

Offline The Chief

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #3: January 24, 2010, 06:24:50 PM »
Any advice on determining what unnecessary junk is running in the background, and getting rid or disabling it?

cmdterps, do you know how to take a screenshot?  I can help, but I don't want to give you advice that may end up disabling something you may need.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #4: January 24, 2010, 06:25:30 PM »
Try clearing some disk space - it makes Windows run happier and doesn't cost anything.

Also, if you have room to upgrade your RAM, it costs next to nothing to do so these days.

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #5: January 24, 2010, 06:28:47 PM »
In my experience, if your computer is slow, the operating system probably isn't really the culprit (unless you're running something truly old like JMad's fixer-upper).  It's more likely all the junk you've got running in the background.

That said, Vista is probably the worst choice of the three, especially for a laptop.  And XP downgrades do usually cost money these days, I believe.  Depends on your manufacturer, of course.

Are you a student?  Windows 7 upgrades are available for as little as $29.99 if you have a .edu email address- http://www.win741.com/

I am a student and may do that upgrade once I get my email address situation figured out at Maryland.

I'm not putting all the blame on the OS but I read Vista does use up a large amount. My laptop is going on to like 3 and a half years and I use it for entertainment uses even though its not primarily designed for it. I may, in the future months, buy a desktop for those purposes since I have monitors and keyboards lying around from dead cpus back in the day. I'll just refurbish this one and use for class reasons and stuff.

Anyway, I think I'll get on that Windows 7 upgrade and see how it is.

Any advice on determining what unnecessary junk is running in the background, and getting rid or disabling it?

I'd like to know this as well. I see what process' I have running and usually Firefox and Itunes take up the most, but I use them. I don't know what else could be running without my knowledge.

Offline The Chief

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #6: January 24, 2010, 06:29:29 PM »
I hate to be contrary as I feel like that's becoming my MO :lol: :-[ but...

$50-$100 isn't an insignificant amount of money for a college student.  And assuming he isn't using any unusually heavy software, 2 GB really should be sufficient, even for Vista.

@cmdterps - what else can you tell us about your laptop?  2GB RAM, 3+ years old...  is it single or dual-core CPU?  How much free hard drive space do you have?

First step I might try is downloading and running CCleaner - http://www.ccleaner.com/

After that I would probably suggest poking around in msconfig, but as I said, I don't want to risk you disabling something you may need.

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #7: January 24, 2010, 06:30:09 PM »
cmdterps, do you know how to take a screenshot?  I can help, but I don't want to give you advice that may end up disabling something you may need.

Yea I know how to. Just point me in the direction.

I'll be back in a bit to follow steps and all.. about to get some food.


Edit:

- My main reason for looking into this whole ram usage is just to see how much of a difference I'd be for running multiple browsers or games and all of that. If its nothing drastic than it really wont matter but if its an easy 1-2-3 process that could fix even a slightest bit of slow down than I'd say its worth it.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #8: January 24, 2010, 06:54:36 PM »

$50-$100 isn't an insignificant amount of money for a college student.

Where are you buying your ram? I just swapped a 500MB chip for a 1GB chip, and it ran me $20-30.

Also, you are assuming he won't ask his parents for the money :lol: But if it's for a gaming laptop, well then he shouldn't :lol:

Offline Nathan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #9: January 24, 2010, 06:54:54 PM »
What is your exact model of laptop and specs?

From what I understand, 7 does a much better job than Vista at keeping itself running well and clean.

I'm guessing you have a big brand pc.  OEM os installs are usually bloated as hell with junk apps that will run in the background bogging resources.  If you do go Windows 7 I think you'll see a difference with a clean install without all that bloat.  I think a lot of Vista's "slowness" may very well have been from the love OEM's have for installing bloat.

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #10: January 24, 2010, 06:55:38 PM »
why not just buy a new laptop? get the latest and greatest

Offline Nathan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #11: January 24, 2010, 06:56:48 PM »
why not just buy a new laptop? get the latest and greatest
Sure, why not.  He doesn't have the funds to buy a new os, the obvious answer is buying a whole new system :roll:

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #12: January 24, 2010, 06:56:49 PM »
Time of this report: 1/24/2010, 18:55:24
       Machine name: CHRIS-PC
   Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.090805-0102)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer, inc.
       System Model: Aspire 5920G   
               BIOS: ZD1 v0.3505 3E05
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T5250  @ 1.50GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.5GHz
             Memory: 2046MB RAM
          Page File: 2226MB used, 2079MB available

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce 8600M GT
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0407&SUBSYS_01211025&REV_A1
   Display Memory: 1008 MB
 Dedicated Memory: 241 MB
    Shared Memory: 767 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #13: January 24, 2010, 06:57:02 PM »
Where are you buying your ram? I just swapped a 500MB chip for a 1GB chip, and it ran me $20-30.

Also, you are assuming he won't ask his parents for the money :lol: But if it's for a gaming laptop, well then he shouldn't :lol:

I just type 2GB Ram into pricewatch and it came up around $45. I didn't look at all at what types they are.

I just typed 2G

Offline Nathan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #14: January 24, 2010, 06:59:19 PM »
That pc should not have any problems for your usage.  Those specs are respectable.

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #15: January 24, 2010, 06:59:23 PM »
Those are my specs but I also have another problem that occurs while playing games that brought me here to ask the original question:

Sometimes when I'm playing the screen will go black and the computer will have to load for a short bit. 10 seconds later it'll flash up with an error message saying 'NVLDDMKM driver has failed to respond but has recovered'

It does this every now and then and its getting really annoying especially since I can't find a fix to it.

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #16: January 24, 2010, 07:00:57 PM »
I can hook you up with a windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit key for free if you want.

I got 'em through GMU.

Offline The Chief

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #17: January 24, 2010, 07:02:50 PM »
Where are you buying your ram? I just swapped a 500MB chip for a 1GB chip, and it ran me $20-30.

Also, you are assuming he won't ask his parents for the money :lol: But if it's for a gaming laptop, well then he shouldn't :lol:

He said he's already got 2 gigs, which for an older laptop, I'd have to assume that means 2x1 GB, which means upgrading would require buying 2 sticks of RAM, and a spot check on newegg for laptop DDR2 shows ~$40 for a 2GB SODIMM.

Sure, why not.  He doesn't have the funds to buy a new os, the obvious answer is buying a whole new system :roll:

Use your credit card, it's the american way! :lol:

computer specs

That's not a bad machine at all.  Tad slow on the GHz side but nothing terrible, and it's dual core, which is good.

I'm guessing a combination of junk background software and a slow hard drive.  We can fix at least one of those for free.

Sometimes when I'm playing the screen will go black and the computer will have to load for a short bit. 10 seconds later it'll flash up with an error message saying 'NVLDDMKM driver has failed to respond but has recovered'

It does this every now and then and its getting really annoying especially since I can't find a fix to it.

That's an nvidia driver error.  Updating the video drivers would be the best thing to try, but I'm not sure if nvidia has a generic mobile driver or whether you'd need to get them directly from Acer's website.

I can hook you up with a windows 7 32 bit or 64 bit key for free if you want.

I got 'em through GMU.

Pretty sure that sharing those with him wouldn't be entirely legal.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #18: January 24, 2010, 07:05:00 PM »
He said he's already got 2 gigs, which for an older laptop, I'd have to assume that means 2x1 GB, which means upgrading would require buying 2 sticks of RAM, and a spot check on newegg for laptop DDR2 shows ~$40 for a 2GB SODIMM.

Use your credit card, it's the american way! :lol:

That's not a bad machine at all.  Tad slow on the GHz side but nothing terrible, and it's dual core, which is good.

I'm guessing a combination of junk background software and a slow hard drive.  We can fix at least one of those for free.

He could run 3GB of RAM, shocking! Also my first suggestion was to clear up his HD, which is free.

I was taxing my processors to the limit recently, and I deleted a bunch of files, upgraded the RAM, that helped.

Switching to 7 really helped, and even cleared up like 15GB of disk space :shock:

Offline The Chief

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #19: January 24, 2010, 07:06:37 PM »
He could run 3GB of RAM, shocking! Also my first suggestion was to clear up his HD, which is free.

2GB stick @ $40 + 1GB stick @ $20 = $60, which I believe falls between $50-$100 :|

Offline sportsfan882

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #20: January 24, 2010, 07:07:03 PM »


Pretty sure that sharing those with him wouldn't be entirely legal.
why not? they are brand new keys, not used on any other machines. i have no use for them.

They are for Win 7 Professional although I can't remember if it matters whether you use those keys on any other versions of 7.

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #21: January 24, 2010, 07:07:07 PM »
Oh and on the subject of a new computer. Its up in the air. I don't use the cpu enough for games to warrant a new purchase but I will down the road just to be up on times and have a better cpu. I was just looking for a simple fix if possible. An example of my problems is wow. srtest.com says I should be running the game past recommended specs which I assume would be pretty decent but when I'm in the game my frames are terrible and that dumb driver display comes up.

Same thing with some other games too.

I'm guessing a combination of junk background software and a slow hard drive.  We can fix at least one of those for free.

That's an nvidia driver error.  Updating the video drivers would be the best thing to try, but I'm not sure if nvidia has a generic mobile driver or whether you'd need to get them directly from Acer's website.

Pretty sure that sharing those with him wouldn't be entirely legal.

If its a simple fix for either of those let me know :D

Oh and I looked alot of places for driver updates but I can't find any. I've seen many forums with some topics going well past 50 pages of people having the same problems. I hear it only occurs with Vista but I may be wrong.

Offline PANatsFan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #22: January 24, 2010, 07:07:35 PM »
2GB stick @ $40 + 1GB stick @ $20 = $60, which I believe falls between $50-$100 :|

You just said you assumed he had 2 1GB sticks in :bang:

Offline Nathan

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #23: January 24, 2010, 07:08:13 PM »
Chief, doesn't the build number indicate he's still running the first vista?  Build 6000 as opposed to 6001 for sp1 and 6002 for sp2?

Offline cmdterps44

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Re: School me on Vista, XP, and 7
« Reply #24: January 24, 2010, 07:09:51 PM »
Chief, doesn't the build number indicate he's still running the first vista?  Build 6000 as opposed to 6001 for sp1 and 6002 for sp2?

I wouldn't be surprised if I am. I got this laptop in 2007