Computers

[ukracer]

I have entitled it that as it will cover a few issues I have.

First of all I am not a novice but not a tech (self taught) used to build PC back in 87 to around 2000. I still added my own parts and reinstalled windows for friends and family but lately an abundance of kids who needs experience appeared along with facebook and over time I have been made redundant. AS I never got paid for this I am not upset but it does mean I am not up withthe latest specs and how much spped has actually increased etc etc.

I have never been one for free programs that find faults and say they can clean speed up your pc if yu buy the program. I have malware bytes installed and NOD 32 and a fairly fresh install (From hidden partition on hard disk HP laptop. BUT laptop is very very sluggish.

SO I am wondering what the latest thinking is with so much garbage and virus going round. In terms of software whats the best to clean up a PC/Laptop .

Second whats your thoughts on this


Third have any of you PC experts got a half decent tower you are upgrading from and wish to sell on.

I will tell you what I am currently running when I get back to my PC.

 

[Robotstar5]

...Third have any of you PC experts got a half decent tower you are upgrading from and wish to sell on.

When you say tower, do you mean just the case?

 

[gaz1]

ive always used ccleaner but check your laptops hard drive space if seems empty then run a defrag

lol @robo he means the whole pc unit as mainboard and the rest of it

as a mention a new unit is upwards from 200.00

 

[ukracer]

When you say tower, do you mean just the case?

Not just the case mate. Mobo, Ram Graphics card. With or without a Hard drive would be fine. Dont need CD reader either but often people upgrading get shut of those as well.

I dont think a normal user upgrading will be o much use as they are likely to have old kit like me but the guys who like to be cutting edge do shift some decent boxes from time to time.

 

[pedrobedro]

I built a budget one this year for a friend of mine. MSI motherboard with onboard graphics and sound, AMD FM2+ processor and decent memory cost about £140. His motherboard had broken (actually cracked round the processor) and he wanted it the same day so we did it and reinstalled Windows and his CAD program so he could finish a job. I use Glary utilities and Ccleaner as well as Malwarebytes but not too often.

 

[Shedendman]

Use Linux and you dont get the agro

 

[pedrobedro]

Use Linux and you dont get the agro

I run Mint on an old laptop but if you want to run something like an industry standard cad program you have to have Windows I'm afraid.

 

[Wozzaaah]

I'm seriously thinking about building myself a new one soon so may have something of use to you.
Core2Quad Q6600 based (I think).

 

[Robotstar5]

I'm seriously thinking about building myself a new one soon so may have something of use to you.
Core2Quad Q6600 based (I think).

I used to build PC's for people in the 90's when I could make a few bob from it, but would only build one for myself these days as the likes of PC world etc. have the market sewn up.

 

[gaz1]

I used to build PC's for people in the 90's when I could make a few bob from it, but would only build one for myself these days as the likes of PC world etc. have the market sewn up.

no there still crap for building ones up as i nip in there often there parts are also dear to buy as well compared to the main place near me

cash convertors or generators are a rip off on most of there pcs expect high money for a piece of crap

 

[Robotstar5]

no there still crap for building ones up as i nip in there often there parts are also dear to buy as well compared to the main place near me

No, I meant you can't compete with PC world for ready built systems, I'd never buy components from them

 

[Wozzaaah]

I've always built my own, I like to pick and choose what goes into them.
Used to build them for others and my "fee" was always an upgrade part for mine so I used to keep it pretty current but I built the one I've got now in 2009 and have never felt the need to upgrade it until recently as it's still pretty damned quick and has done everything I ever needed it to without faltering.

 

[Omniata]

Auslogics free disk defrag is pretty good if you set it up properly...
You can get it to wipe free space multiple times too to clear any junk off the disks permanently and refresh them.

 

[tflnemesis]

I scored a hp server tower from a place I was working at last week, 4 yrs old with a xeon in it. haven't got a clue whether its any good yet as I haven't got a hdd to put in it.
Bloke said I could have it so long as I took hdd out and destroyed it, 5 mins with the recip saw and I gave him the hdd back in 4 pieces

 

[Mee]

Use Linux and you dont get the agro

many people have suggested switching to Firefox.

 

[mpats]

many people have suggested switching to Firefox.

Hmm, but firefox is a web browser, whereas linux is an OS, really not the same thing.

 

[Mee]

Hmm, but firefox is a web browser, whereas linux is an OS, really not the same thing.

What I know about computers you could write in the genitals of a flea and still have room to sign it. I am a committed user and proud of it.

 

[reb78]

I wouldnt bother with any of the 'clean up, speed up' junk out there. Just save the files you need and do a reformat and fresh install - that seems to be the best way to speed up.

I run linux mint on an old laptop, dual boot alongside windows 7 in case i need windows. I newrly always use linux now and its completely revived my old laptop (bought in 2005!)

 

[rtbcomp]

I used to build PC's for people in the 90's when I could make a few bob from it, but would only build one for myself these days as the likes of PC world etc. have the market sewn up.

Same here, I could make £100 on a 286 system. The last two were built by my local computer shop to my spec.

 

[GW8IZR]

I wouldnt bother with any of the 'clean up, speed up' junk out there. Just save the files you need and do a reformat and fresh install - that seems to be the best way to speed up.

This is a very good strategy, 9 times out of 10 it will return you to a very usable state, often no need to upgrade after this is done.

I run linux mint on an old laptop, dual boot alongside windows 7 in case i need windows. I newrly always use linux now and its completely revived my old laptop (bought in 2005!)

Agreed, unless you have some killer app that requires an MS product you will be far better off.

Sadly for the time being I need to maintain some MS capable machines here and only stopped using Mint as the main OS when I had to put win10 on this laptop for a particular job. To be fair Win 10 is pretty good and stable and I've not felt the need to go back.. yet.

Days gone by Linux was a bit of a geeky way of working and most 'pc users' struggled with it, today its an easy install and after an hour or so most wouldn't know the difference - apart from reliability and speed ;-)