Suggestion needed for old PC (with W2K running)

[SatStorm]

I have an old PC, ancient... XP1700, 128MB Ram... It runs W2K with SP4. I made it from old parts (the typical story...). Via mobo (the terror...)

I need a win optimiser to boost the performance a bit... Something with a wizard or good default settings...
What freeware you suggest?

Thanks in advance!!!

P.S.: I'm interest more for Multimedia, not games...

[Soopafresh]

I've tried quite a few different freeware apps to boost the performance of my PC. None made a big difference.


If you REALLY want to boost the performance of that PC, buy some RAM.

[reboot]

Buy more ram. It's about the only thing that's going to help.

[tekkieman]

Do you need W2K for a specific reason? If not, you might consider making it a linux box. More ram still wouldn't hurt, but it should have acceptable performance.

[stiltman]

If that's all the hardware you have and can't won't upgrade anything, turn off every service you don't need running. There are plenty of hack sites that will show you what services that can be turn off and what they are for.

[redwudz]

I did a Google search for 'win2k optimizers' and found a bunch. But, you may have already tried this. Sorry, only used Win2k a little and it was on a newer machine.

Maybe someone that uses it more can give you some better tips. If you can bump up your memory, can't hurt. Sometimes the older memory (sims, for example) are more expensive than the newer DDR.

I've got an older Mac II that I hope to revive mostly for nostalgia purposes. (Along with a couple of Amigas)

Just seems to me that the older machines may do the job as far as web surfing, but multimedia is stretching it.

[reboot]

The services list that I use is at www.blackviper.com
Very comprehensive, easy to understand.
I set up 2 logins, one for video work, and one for gaming, having completely different software and requirements to do one or the other well.

[lordsmurf]

You call that ancient?

I don't even call a PIII ancient, not yet.
That should have a lot of power for you still.
None of that "optimizer" software is worth anything.

[SatStorm]

Thanks!
This is my 4th PC I made from older parts... Yeah, I "upgrade" every second summer... Now, in my new home, I may not have satellite (yet... the related Courts ended, I won! Now, I just need someone to help me install my dish - a 1.80 offset one with polar mount that is - ), but I have 4 PCs in a home network! The funny thing, is that my new house has only 2 and a half rooms... (yeah more PCs than rooms!)
I always do what black viper suggest (and yes, this do help.On my duron 1200 I'm able to capture realtime mpeg 2 with mainconcept!)
Linux is not an option with this PC. Maybe next summer (I'll upgrade again..)
The other funny thing, is that my Duron 1200 feels better and faster than my Athlon 1700 XP. It must be that @#$% Via chipset that make the difference...

I HATE VIA!!!!

LS: At my office, I have a PIII @ 500Mhz and I do with it anything! Even encoding (CCE....). I calledthe XP1700 "ancient" as a joke!

SO, optimizer software still don't worth anything... That was always the problem with that kind of software! I just hoped that a miracle one appeared last months and I missed it!

I'll buy some SDram...
Thank you all for your help!

[ChrisX]

You call that ancient?

I don't even call a PIII ancient, not yet.
That should have a lot of power for you still.
None of that "optimizer" software is worth anything.

My PIII on WinMe is now gone for me and that PC I am working on now is now upgraded to P4 2.0 GHz with Win2K.

The original PC hardware was 4 years ago and upgraded 2 years ago with a bigger HDD too.

Anyway, there is an ancient Win98 PC nearby just for something. :P

[BobV]

Personally I feel ther is nothing better than a fresh install after a reformat. It's like moving into a new house and leaving all your needless junk behind.

[yoda313]

Hello,

Not to threadjack too much but:

Anyway, there is an ancient Win98 PC nearby just for something.

Bring out those DOS games for it

Kevin

SATSTORM - RAM is the way to upgrade for an "older" pc - and harddrive space if you plan to use it as a dumping ground for extra data

[bazooka]

Bring out those DOS games for it

SATSTORM - RAM is the way to upgrade for an "older" pc - and harddrive space if you plan to use it as a dumping ground for extra data [/quote]

Depending on what ram he currently has, it may not be worth the upgrade.

[ChrisX]

Bring out those DOS games for it

SATSTORM - RAM is the way to upgrade for an "older" pc - and harddrive space if you plan to use it as a dumping ground for extra data

Depending on what ram he currently has, it may not be worth the upgrade.

The RAM is low, at 64MB and pretty expensive to upgrade. The CPU speed is 380 MHz. I can do it and not worth doing it though.

It is rather slow and for this reason I recently retired it.

A nice small desktop PC and only re-formatted twice to improve performance.

It is just that the AV as slowing down the thing and getting hanged, it freezes when too much to it.

It doing something very basic like me playing Solitaire, doing word processing and some music and movie data searching.

Look up Dictionery using MS Bookshelf Basics is one task as useful.

It is no longer connecting the LAN, the Internet and printing.

ChrisX

[ViRaL1]

People still run PCs in the <2GHz range?

[bazooka]

People still run PCs in the <2GHz range?

Yes

I am still running a PC in the <1GHz range.

[ViRaL1]

Actually 1 of my servers is currently running on a P3-450, at least until I finish testing the 800 CPU and the board it was on before I started having problems with it.

[ChrisX]

I am still running a PC in the <1GHz range.

I got another PC just pass 3 years old at only 1.1 Ghz, it is a Celeron and a Compaq PC.

It can't do too much either like my 5½ year old Win98 PC still here.

It is mostly on Internet access and this is all.