How to make Windows 7 faster on a older PC

[pcslookout]

you'll have even less luck with the gpu in W8..trust me :thumbsdown:

Yeah I may still try it for fun though. So why is this ? Does Windows 8 like not support onboard video cards at all ? I would have a difficult time believing that sense all Windows 8 tablets seem to have onboard video so far.

 

[tiro_uspsss]

Yeah I may still try it for fun though. So why is this ? Does Windows 8 like not support onboard video cards at all ? I would have a difficult time believing that sense all Windows 8 tablets seem to have onboard video so far.

don't worry about the video card for now... just google how to install on your ancient rig - its the actual installation of the OS itself that will need mad voodoo skills :twisted:

 

[pcslookout]

don't worry about the video card for now... just google how to install on your ancient rig - its the actual installation of the OS itself that will need mad voodoo skills :twisted:

Looks like your half right. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/system-requirements The video card is what would cause me all the problems just like you were saying. Though the P4 processor too maybe! Ram as well!


Windows 8 system requirements

If you want to run Windows 8 on your PC, here's what it takes:

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Additional requirements to use certain features:

To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch (more info)

To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768

To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768

Internet access (ISP fees might apply)

Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database

Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance

Microsoft account required for some features

Watching DVDs requires separate playback software (more info)

Windows Media Center license sold separately (more info)

BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)

BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)

Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 8 Pro only)

A TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)

Free Internet TV content varies by geography, some content might require additional fees (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)

To check if your PC meets these requirements, you can run the Upgrade Assistant.

 

[tiro_uspsss]

Looks like your half right. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/system-requirements The video card is what would cause me all the problems just like you were saying. Though the P4 processor too maybe! Ram as well!


Windows 8 system requirements

If you want to run Windows 8 on your PC, here's what it takes:

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2 (more info)

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)

Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

Additional requirements to use certain features:

To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multitouch (more info)

To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768

To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768

Internet access (ISP fees might apply)

Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database

Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance

Microsoft account required for some features

Watching DVDs requires separate playback software (more info)

Windows Media Center license sold separately (more info)

BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)

BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 or a USB flash drive (Windows 8 Pro only)

Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 8 Pro only)

A TV tuner is required to play and record live TV in Windows Media Center (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)

Free Internet TV content varies by geography, some content might require additional fees (Windows 8 Pro Pack and Windows 8 Media Center Pack only)

To check if your PC meets these requirements, you can run the Upgrade Assistant.

requirements..pfft. You don't know the half of it

 

[tiro_uspsss]

here are some reads (& hints to guide you along your way):

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-preview/a2c11f2c-d43b-44fc-9bc0-61805a2d95ef

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010064/upgrading-an-impossibly-old-system-to-windows-8.html

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912923

it would appear as if there is no way to install it.. but ppl have done it.. google around :thumbsup:

 

[Matt1970]

Ok everyone thanks for all the same but just to let you know this is not my main PC at all.

It is just a fun project.

BTW the best free thing that worked that I got suggested from another forum and this forum is using readyBoost. It made a huge difference!

ReadyBoost can work wonders but even better would be 2GB of actual physical memory.

 

[pcslookout]

ReadyBoost can work wonders but even better would be 2GB of actual physical memory.

Where cam I find two 1 GB DIMMs of SDRAM ?

 

[Ketchup]

Where cam I find two 1 GB DIMMs of SDRAM ?

Ebay!

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/pc3200-ddr-sdram-1gb

JK

I couldn't find any. It seems they stop at 512, at least for anything new.

Edit: found a good deal if you are feeling lucky:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mixed-memor...1071780?pt=US_Memory_RAM_&hash=item3a847fcf24

 

[pcslookout]

Ebay!

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/pc3200-ddr-sdram-1gb

JK

I couldn't find any. It seems they stop at 512, at least for anything new.

Ok still no thanks.

 

[Ketchup]

Ok still no thanks.

I wouldn't either, lol. I had an old Dell I was using as a server for a little while. It had 512 MB of RDRAM. Crawled at times, but there was no way I was putting memory out for that stuff.

 

[pcslookout]

I would do it for free but don't have anymore sdram laying around.

 

[lxskllr]

Since this is just for playing around, why not GNU/Linux? After you get Win7 setup and running(for the lulz), you could put Crunchbang, Bodhi, or Lubuntu on it, and have something usable. Bonus is it gives you a whole new world to play with, and new things to learn.

 

[pcslookout]

Since this is just for playing around, why not GNU/Linux? After you get Win7 setup and running(for the lulz), you could put Crunchbang, Bodhi, or Lubuntu on it, and have something usable. Bonus is it gives you a whole new world to play with, and new things to learn.

True. I could never figure out linux though

Do those linux versions support WPA2 wireless ?

 

[lxskllr]

Do those linux versions support WPA2 wireless ?

Depends on your wireless adapter. That could be a bug in the ointment. What adapter are you using? A specific model and revision number would be ideal, since they like changing chipsets, but keep the same model number :bangs head:

Edit:
You could also just boot to a live CD/USB, and see what happens. That saves the hassle of looking for specific compatibility. If you run into an issue with part of it, you can search that out. For starting, I'd recommend Lubuntu. It's pretty well documented, and probably the easiest for someone new. There's lighter distros, but they can take more experience to get going on.

 

[pcslookout]

Depends on your wireless adapter. That could be a bug in the ointment. What adapter are you using? A specific model and revision number would be ideal, since they like changing chipsets, but keep the same model number :bangs head:

Edit:
You could also just boot to a live CD/USB, and see what happens. That saves the hassle of looking for specific compatibility. If you run into an issue with part of it, you can search that out. For starting, I'd recommend Lubuntu. It's pretty well documented, and probably the easiest for someone new. There's lighter distros, but they can take more experience to get going on.

Ok thanks.

I have tried Linux on here before but didn't like it. Will most likely try again for fun!

 

[escrow4]

Don't bother with Windows. That PC is just too poor. Install a netinst of Debian and use Xfce for the environment.

 

[agentbad]

Puppy Linux.

 

[ZZZero]

Here is what I do when running VMs. I think at least some of these would apply.

1. From Control Panel\System, Go to Advanced system settings\Advanced\Performance\Settings\Visual Effects - Adjust for best performance.
2. While you are there, go to the System Protection tab and turn off System Restore.
3. Services.msc. Pull up the following services, Click on Stop, and change to Disabled:

a. Windows Search
b. Wireless Zero Configuration (only if you aren't running wireless of course)

1. Go to Programs and Features in the Control Panel, Select Turn Windows Features on or off, Uncheck Windows Gadget Platform and the Indexing Service (if it is checked).
2. Pull up msconfig, go to the startup tab, and uncheck anything you don't need. Up to you if you want to remove the registry entries instead.
3. Use a light AV like MSE. It will automatically stop the default Windows Defender service. In using another AV, you may want to check and make sure Windows Defender is not running, as you don't need both.

You would do very well to upgrade the RAM, if it is feasible to do so.

I know it's from 6 years ago, but this post saved my dumb garbage work computer from the bog. I can't get over how much smoother it's running now. Signed up just to tell you, so I hope you see this! Have an amazing day/month/life!

 

[Ketchup]

Hi, thanks for posting. Glad that this post is still helpful!

 

[Amol S.]

It is a P4 1.6 Ghz

512 MB of ram

Onboard Video card

40 GB 5400 rpm IDE Hard Drive.

Up to the point where you said 512MB of RAM... this almost looked like the specs of the eMachines computer my parents got when I was in 4th grade, it had Windows XP SP2. Had 1GB RAM (2 sticks) (could actually support 4), Pentium 4 (dont remember clock rate though), 144GB Hard drive (I dont under stand how one day a 1 or 2GB recovery partition was created), had a ethernet port as well as a RJ11 jack. The best it could run RuneScape HD in the browser as I could remember, was at medium graphics settings. Even at that too the Java Applet would crash if the lag was long enough.

By the time I was in 10th grade (yes it was still alive), was when it was experiencing problems. It would sometimes ask to compress ram, would sometimes hang, but there was no virus. Eventually power pack died . Thats when we got a PowerSpec B672 which had Windows 7. It worked fine till the end of 2016. Dont know what went worng with powerspec though, it turned on but no boot. The metal corpse was there for 2 years and we used laptops mean while. Only in April/May we bought a PowerSpec B674 that came with Windows 10.

Do yourself a favor, if you want to use that hardware, your better of installing Windows 98SE or Windows ME. not even sure if Windows 2000 would even work well. But for Windows 7, your better of with a new device.


Here is something for $545.40 with a current sale going (otherwise price would be $766), you could get a ThinkCentre M720 Tiny , with
*Intel Pentium Gold G5400T (3.10GHz, 4MB Cache)
*Windows 10 Home
*8GB (4GB + 4GB) DDR4 2666MHz
*500GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm, 2.5", SATA3
*256GB Solid State Drive, PCIe-NVME Opal, M.2
*Integrated Gigabit Ethernet Port
*Intel 8265 802.11AC (2 x 2) & Bluetooth 4.2
*Black USB Traditional Keyboard - English
*USB Black Mouse
*Optional HDMI port
*Tiny 65W adapter
*Internal Speaker for Tiny
*Vertical Stand for Tiny
*1 Year On-site warranty
*Integrated Graphic Card

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Just buy a new PC.

 

[Ketchup]

To be fair, the thread itself is six years old. It was just bumped recently by someone who found it helpful. I would be surprised if the computer the original poster mentioned is still in operation, but i suppose its possible (it would be about 19 years old by now).

 

[mindless1]

[removed] necro topic