Making Vista suck less (was part of the trading post feedback thread)

[TGO David]

Well, good on you, impressive!

How 'bout tweaking Windows Vista a little in your spare time so that it runs well on something less than a Cray?

- OS

4GB of memory seems to be the key there.

[Guest db99wj]

4GB of memory seems to be the key there.

Hijack Question, computer related. Will the addition of just memory make a huge difference? My desktop at home is slow, slow enough that I don't use it. I bring my laptop home with me every night and I can take it out, turn on, get onto the WIFI, and find or go to where I need to go before the home pc "wakes up" and starts moving. Also, how do I know what type memory I need. I have looked on websites where you put in your model and it will tell you, but my model is not on there. It is an HP/Compaq that I bought at Wally world, and it has a wally world specific model (which I don't know off hand) I guess I can open it up and look at the memory, or is there another way? Will this make my pc faster?

[Guest canynracer]

it will make your apps run a bit faster, so essentially yes (without getting into "geek speak") your system will load and run applications faster. BUT it will not make your internet faster.

you should prolly open it up, or bring it to someone that can tell you..your motherboard may not be suited for more memory.

[Guest db99wj]

it will make your apps run a bit faster, so essentially yes (without getting into "geek speak") your system will load and run applications faster. BUT it will not make your internet faster.

you should prolly open it up, or bring it to someone that can tell you..your motherboard may not be suited for more memory.

No geek speak please, I have done stuff in the past, but no clue anymore. The internet itself, seems to run fine and is fast. My laptop for example is very fast on the internet, I have Comunistcast cable by the way. The desktop just seems to hesitate, especially when multiple programs are open or it has been sitting for awhile, we rarely turn it off. I get pissed off at it and won't wait on it, I go do something else. It's like it has gone to sleep, and can't wake up fully...kicking it doesn't help either.

I'm sure it is expandable, I think it has one slot with memory in it, with 512mb or something awful like that. I'll open it up this weekend and see what I got.

[TGO David]

Breaking this off into it's own thread, guys.

[Guest db99wj]

:taunt:Hey, at least I put a disclaimer on it that this was a Hijack question!

[Guest jam]

it may also just be time to reload the Operating system. More RAM will only help you so much. Also, have you tried some good spy ware removing software?

For my old desktop I finally broke down and put Ubuntu Linux on it. I am by no means a Linux expert, but it was pretty easy to set up. It gave my old desktop a new lease on life.

[Guest db99wj]

it may also just be time to reload the Operating system. More RAM will only help you so much. Also, have you tried some good spy ware removing software?

For my old desktop I finally broke down and put Ubuntu Linux on it. I am by no means a Linux expert, but it was pretty easy to set up. It gave my old desktop a new lease on life.

I use adaware.

[willis68]

I have personally used every Microsoft operating system in existance, I Beta tested XP and Vista well before their public releases, the ONLY operating system that Microsoft makes that is totally hardware dependent is Vista, Vista MUST be ran with a Dual Core ( at minimum) processor and should have as much memory as your motherboard will allow, with 32bit windows versions this is 4 Gig, 64 bit systems can handle alot more. My machines run Vista Ultimate with no problems whatsoever, look on your Windows experience index, right click on your my computer Icon, select properties, and it will bring it up, if you have 3 or better, you should be good. I was always one to stand behind Windows versions, however I recently got a Mac Book Pro laptop and I will never again buy a PC, the Unix based operating system of Leopard is the very best I have ever seen, I am sold on it!

[TGO David]

FWIW... Windows 7 looks like it may take a lot of the "This really sucks" out of Vista and put the OS back on track. It borrows some of the underhood tech from Server 2008 (which is actually a very nice OS) and so far looks to be quite stable.

I love my MacBook and love OS-X but I hate how bloated the apps are. I did surgery on the machine about two weeks ago and pulled the 80GB HDD out and installed a 350GB HDD. I can't believe Apple puts such a low capacity drive in their flagship notebooks.

[creeky]

I was always one to stand behind Windows versions, however I recently got a Mac Book Pro laptop and I will never again buy a PC, the Unix based operating system of Leopard is the very best I have ever seen, I am sold on it!

Reading things like this warms my heart. It it seems like I am reading things like this more :Dand more.

[molonlabetn]

Ubuntu is perfect for what I do with my home desktop, wouldn't trade it for anything. I will never own Vista.

[Guest cgs2326]

32bit windows vista will not see all of your 4gb of ram it can only address 3.5 of it. If you want to take full advantage of 4gb you have to go to 64bit.

[TGO David]

True. I stopped running 32bit when I switched to Vista so I rarely think about that limitation. Of course, OS-X is 64bit also.

[willis68]

FWIW... Windows 7 looks like it may take a lot of the "This really sucks" out of Vista and put the OS back on track. It borrows some of the underhood tech from Server 2008 (which is actually a very nice OS) and so far looks to be quite stable.

I love my MacBook and love OS-X but I hate how bloated the apps are. I did surgery on the machine about two weeks ago and pulled the 80GB HDD out and installed a 350GB HDD. I can't believe Apple puts such a low capacity drive in their flagship notebooks.

Do you have the Mac Book Pro? that is what I have mine came with a 250 Gig hard drive, I bought a 2.5 Firewire 800, 320Gig external hard drive for it and I love it, Mine came with 2 gigs of ram, I bought 4 gigs from Crucial for like $89.00 man it really makes a difference, I have tried everything to lock it up and it will not, I love that machine!!

My neice has a Mac Book, with I believe an 80 gig hard drive, I installed the 2 gigs that I removed from my laptop into hers and it runs great, the Macs are awesome, the Mac Book Pro is very expensive, but I love the thing and can quite honestly say that it is worth every cent.

Edited October 9, 2008 by willis68

[Metalhead]

I'm still running XP, and have zero plans to change until I'm forced to do so. I've tinkered around with Vista, and I think it looks good, but thats about it.

[Guest db99wj]

Wow, let the geek speak games begin!

Well I"m running Windows 98 and Pentium I processor.......

Ok, really XP, with a AMD 64 Athlon.

What are the online companies that have good prices on memory?

[willis68]

www.crucial.com I have been building PC's for over ten years and always use them, they sell Micron memory guaranteed for life and have a program on their site that ensures that you order the correct memory, they are the best in my opinion, Memory is dirt cheap these days

[Guest db99wj]

Crucial rocks, I couldn't find my model number, went to chat, within a minute or so, he had a link, here is my set up

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*

Looks as if I have 2 slots.

Maximum Memory: 2048MB Standard Memory: 512MB removable Slots: 2 (2 banks of 1)Graphics Support: PCI Express x16 USB Support: 2.x Compliant

This is the options I have:

Module Size: 1GB

Package: 240-pin DIMM

Feature: DDR2 PC2-5300 for 16.99

or

Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)

Package: 240-pin DIMM

Feature: DDR2 PC2-4200 for 33.99

What is the difference in the 5300 and the 4200?

[Guest canynracer]

yep...get yerself some memory....or, just stick with XP PRO like I did

[TGO David]

Bah, I misread the post. The #s after DDR are the transfer rate. Go with the cheaper of the two for this machine.

[Guest db99wj]

I'm ordering one at this time. the 1gb one. I will go from there.

[Angus]

I hate my computer....not really, but DUDE! I got a dell

I want a new mobo, and was gonna look into vista....some say they love it, some hate it. I just want to play counter strike is all

[Guest c.a.s.]

I have personally used every Microsoft operating system in existance, I Beta tested XP and Vista well before their public releases, the ONLY operating system that Microsoft makes that is totally hardware dependent is Vista, Vista MUST be ran with a Dual Core ( at minimum) processor and should have as much memory as your motherboard will allow, with 32bit windows versions this is 4 Gig, 64 bit systems can handle alot more. My machines run Vista Ultimate with no problems whatsoever, look on your Windows experience index, right click on your my computer Icon, select properties, and it will bring it up, if you have 3 or better, you should be good. I was always one to stand behind Windows versions, however I recently got a Mac Book Pro laptop and I will never again buy a PC, the Unix based operating system of Leopard is the very best I have ever seen, I am sold on it!

I'm running 64bit Vista on 3GB of RAM. It's fast enough, it beats the crap out of my old XP (even if it only has 512MB)

[Guest c.a.s.]

Crucial rocks, I couldn't find my model number, went to chat, within a minute or so, he had a link, here is my set up

Each memory slot can hold DDR2 PC2-4200,DDR2 PC2-5300 with a maximum of 1GB per slot.*

Looks as if I have 2 slots.

Maximum Memory: 2048MB Standard Memory: 512MB removable Slots: 2 (2 banks of 1)Graphics Support: PCI Express x16 USB Support: 2.x Compliant

This is the options I have:

Module Size: 1GB

Package: 240-pin DIMM

Feature: DDR2 PC2-5300 for 16.99

or

Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)

Package: 240-pin DIMM

Feature: DDR2 PC2-4200 for 33.99

What is the difference in the 5300 and the 4200?

With what you described, I'd just stick to the 5300, because it's faster RAM, and you won't need TWO sticks. You only need one more, right? It's also cheaper.

Funny, Walmart is selling RAM now. They're charging $89 for the $16.99 RAM. Ridiculous.