My Dell 8250 has plenty of hard drive space and ram but is still slow as molasses.?
951812
I would say that you must have have a ton of applications running at the same time. One way to tell is when you start up the computer, do you have many (>4) icons on the bottom right bar? If you don't it could mean that you have viruses/trojans/spyware on your computer. There are a few fixes for this:\n\n- You can get a virus/spyware checker to help clean out some of this stuff but they can miss things.\n- Try to close programs running in the background.\n- The best way, however, would be best to backup your files (pictures/documents etc) and reformat the computer. This will make it as clean as possible.
89358
theres trouble with the Gateways, and they're quite convinced they're right....\nthey say the dells have better bios'\nand shared memory's a fright...\n\nbuild it yourself from top-notch components or go Alienware...they compromise nothing...
161617
Dell Inspiron 2500 Memory Specs: \n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nSpeed: PC-100 \nFixed RAM: 0MB \nStandard RAM: 64MB \nBanks: 2 \nMaximum RAM: 512MB \nSockets: 2
691933
memory power?\nif you mean space then defrag your harddrive\nif you mean RAM then download Ram Idle LE\nother wise buy new componants
344191
You didn't say how old your computer is or what kind it is, or what hardware you're using, or what operating system you run, so not much to go on. Is it always slow, or at certain times, e.g. during disk access, or only on the internet, etc. Not much to go on here.\n\nIf you're on dial-up service, then DSL or cable will speed up the internet more than anything else.\n\nIf you are running Win XP, and have less than 512 MB of memory, then the quickest, easiest, and cheapest performance boost you can get for your computer is to boost the memory to 512 MB. That will cost you about $70.\n\nIf you upgrade, take the memory chip with you to buy another one of the same type, but bigger size.\n\nTo check how much memory you have in your computer, click on Start, then  open the Control Panel. Now click on  Performance & Maintenance, then click on System. That will open the System Properties window.\n\nIf the General tab is open, look toward the bottom, and it will tell you which processor (CPU) you are running, whether Intel or AMD and particularly note the "speed" of the processor (200 MHz, 500 MHz, 800 MHz, 1.5 GHz or whatever), then after that is the amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) installed on the motherboard. \n\n200 MHz = two hundred MegaHertz, measured in cycles per second. This is a really slow and old computer and not worth upgrading, and probably still running Win 98 or less. It would be too slow to install Win XP.\n\nIt usually takes a 500 MHz CPU or faster to run XP. \n\nI have a second computer that I've dedicated to the internet, that I'm typing on now, and it runs at 1 GHz with only 380 MB of memory, and does just fine. \n\nYou might want to buy just one 256 MB chip first, and install with what you are currently running, to see how it does. It may be all you need, and you can always add another 256 MB chip later.
50555
first-run disk clean up of your entire hd\nsecond-do a full (thorough)scan of your system\nthird-defrag entire system\n\nyou need to check that you have no spyware\nrepeat above......if that dont work you need to upgrade your memory or run smaller programs
1017680
Try doing a defrag on it.  Assuming you are using Windows XP,\n\nStart > All Programs > Accessories > System tools > Disk Defragmenter\n\nYou might also want to try uninstalling any programs or utilities that you don't need or use.  Also, try doing a disk cleanup.\n\nStart > All Programs > Accessories > System tools > Disk Cleanup
35334
You may also want to try opening the computer and cleaning (carefully) all the parts, cards, fans, etc. With a computer that old, it's probably collected a bunch of dust and dirt inside that could cause it to overheat and run slowly.\n\nMy Dell was about 3 years old, and I had never cleaned it out. It started acting funny, and after I cleaned it, it seemed to work fine.\n\nDefinitely try that if you have never cleaned out its insides before. If you have tried that, then it may be your hard drive like the previous answerer said.
649740
Alot of things could be wrong.  I usually spend an hour or more running virus/spyware scans on computers, installing updates, optimizing boot programs, running boot and file system defrags, etc when people are having this problem.  If you don't know someone that can do this for you, then you should take it to Best buy or a local repair shop... assuming it's out of warrenty.  \nIf it's in warrenty... call Dell.\n\n(And for the fellow who thought it would be funny to say Windoze is slow... my computer which is getting on 3 years old with XP sp2 boots from cold poweroff in 16 seconds.  It could be faster but I allow for a 5 second OS delay just incase i want to boot a diff OS.  Slow is all a matter of how you manage your startup programs.)
706717
Here are my recommendations.\n\nA major cause of slow PC's is fragmentation of the hard drive.\nYou need to defragment the HD at least once a week if not more depending on how much you use your computer, and what you do with it.  \n\nOne way is to use the defragment utility built into Windows XP.  It is slow but does the job rather well.  Go to:\nStart > Programs > Accessories > System Tools   and then click on System Defrag to run the tool.  It will take several hours so let it run overnight or simply walk away from your PC for a few hours.\n\nA great program for defragging automatically is Diskeeper. It costs $30 but is well worth it. Go to www.download.com and search for Diskeeper. Read the Publishers Description and the tech and user reviews. It can be scheduled to run automatically as the program deems necessary, and if you are using your PC and the program launches itself, it will take a backseat to whatever you are doing and give you the priority for CPU usage. I think you'll agree it's a good program to have. It precludes your needing to remember to defrag at regular intervals.\n\nAlso, another major cause of a slow PC is programs that are running in the background. Here's another really good Microsoft tool.  Go to Start > Run >   type in msconfig in the box and click OK.\nThis will bring up a window with several tabs at the top.  Click on the “Startup” tab.  It will list the programs that are running on your PC and eating up resources.  Look them over carefully and turn off any that don’t absolutely have to be running.  Simply click on the “check mark” in the little box beside the program name.  Clicking on it will remove the check mark.  Once you have edited the Startup list, click on Apply and then on OK.  Once you have exited the window, reboot your PC for the settings to take effect.\n\nAnother good thing to have is a little program called FreeRAM Pro. It is free and is available from www.download.com This program puts a little RAM meter on the System Tray and shows how much RAM you have remaining that you are not using at any given time.  I think you may be surprised at how little RAM you have to run other programs. Also, once it is installed you can right click on the little meter, then click on RESTORE and it will open the RAM display window. You can tweak the settings so it will display your CPU usage also.  Then just click “Minimize” and then “To System Tray” to return to the Task Bar.\n\n What happens when you run out of or run real low on RAM is that the OS recognizes the low or no RAM situation and starts using a section of your hard drive as memory. This is called virtual memory, or a swap file. The PC is constantly writing and reading from your HD. Comparitively, it is a very slow process. Check your motherboard manual and determine how much RAM each slot can hold. It will also tell you what type of RAM you need. You can also go to http://www.crucial.com and run their analysis utility to determine what kind and how much RAM is installed in your PC. Depend on your MoBo manual to determine the RAM limits of each slot though.\n\nHope this helps
837999
your system could be slow due to various reasons like cache memory being full, you are running many programs in one go etc. Best option is to use a prog like cclearner (http://www.ccleaner.com/) which can help clear unwanted programs and files and clean up your memory of the junk files. This should help your system respond bettem. \n\nAlso check your system for virus by scanning it with a good anti virus program and for spyware by using share ware prog like windefender or yahoo defender etc.\n\nIf this does not work, you may have to increase the ram memory in your system.
703657
Check the BIOS, maybe 128MB is used as Video RAM.  If that's the case, you are really OK.  But you might be looking at getting more RAM.   Visit http://www.coastmemory.com and look up your system. \n\nGood luck
870737
By making more partitions  it may slow down the system. I can give you a link that deals with hard drive problems. Some RAM/hard drive problems can be easily fixed yourself by using easily available tools. I found the info at http://fixit.in  useful. Try this site, if you can get what is required.
1034080
Start --> control panel --> system --> advanced tab --> performance.  Change virtual memory.\n\nBut first I would do a disk clean up and defrag (start --> all programs --> accessories --> system tools --> disk cleanup and after completed, defrag.)
569308
Put more RAM in it.\n\nBut it might not be worth upgrading your computer if it's old. It might be better to get a new faster computer. It might be cheaper, and more worthwhile in the end.
1000165
For your needs look for loadsa memory and lots of hard drives.\nLook at the DELL website, I dont use a dell, I dont work for dell I only suggest them because some of their machines are cheap and would do what you want.\nAs much RAM as you can afford.\nAs much Hard drive space as you can afford.\nIf you think about it, machines 5 years ago did what you want to do so the latest CPU is not that important.
932697
http://yanswers.blogspot.com/2006/10/pc-running-slow.html