What would you do.?

I was hoping to get some advice and/or opinions on whether or not to replace my computer. I have a computer that works real well for me for the most part but am interested in increasing its speed and maybe its capabilities. I am somewhat of a computer novice and don't know a whole lot about the hardware itself.





I have 2.13GHz, 480MB of RAM and am running Windows XP Professional 2002 with Service Pack 2. The only real problems I have, on occasion, is when I have a few different media programs running simultaneously which I need to do on occasion....usually when creating and editing videos.





I use my computer mostly for surfing the web, chatting on Yahoo Messenger, email, creating and editing videos, collecting and playing music.





My question is this. Should I just invest in extra memory or should I just replace the entire system? Like I said, I really am one of those people who knows very little about computers compared to many but I have been able to teach myself quite a bit over the few years I've been using a computer. Any help, advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated.





Also, it's time to renew my Norton and was wondering if it's worth the $50.00 per year or if there is something that is as good or better for less.





Again, thanks for any and all comments.
What would you do.?
I would suggest checking the specifications for your motherboard and increase your memory (RAM) to at least 2 GB if it will support that. Also check the size of your Hard Drive. If you are creating and editing video you will need a larger drive and lots of memory.
What would you do.?
I recommend buying a new computer and replacing the one you have entirely.





I would also recommend buying from dell seeing as your not really a tech guru.





http://www.dell.com/content/products/pro...





That model I think would be perfect for you, bump the graphics card up and move your memory upgrade up to 2 gb, you already have a monitor to, so it shouldn't be to cost excessive.





Once you have a low cost computer like this based on your activities you shouldn't have to upgrade for a long period of time. There tech support is also pretty good.





On your anti virus, Norton 360 is a perfect anti virus for the average user
Reply:First thing I would do is completely wipe the drive and reinstall Windows XP Pro fresh. (Be aware this will take half a day, and will be a pain trying to find all the necessary drivers and applications (i.e. MS-Office) and registration keys, etc; it'll be much easier if you have the XP installation CD and the drivers CD. You may have a System Restore CD that'll restore the system to like-new status, but that'll have all the extra garbage that the store installed; you'd rather do a clean install of XP only.)





The reason I would do this is to clear out all the crud that builds up in Windows over time. A fresh install of Windows may run very well, but over the months and years, cruft builds up within the registry, etc, that slows down the machine. This will also automatically defrag the drive, if you choose to format the drive during the install process (recommended). Be aware you'll lose all your data/apps doing this; make a good backup (or several!) if you want to keep your data.





480MB is a low amount of RAM (and an odd amount) for a modern machine. I'd suggest spending the $50 bucks to upgrade the RAM to at least a GB, maybe 2GB.





It sounds like you have a pretty good machine. If you buy a new one, you'll almost certainly get Vista on it, and it tends to "make up" for the beefier hardware you'll be buying. In other words, you may get a faster PC, but Vista may slow it down to your current speed levels.





If you've got the extra money burning a hole in your pocket, sure, go get the new machine and run the two side-by-side for a couple of days. Then, whichever one you least prefer, hand down to your kids/cousin/local charity/etc.





I myself don't like Norton. I think it's part of what is slowing you down. But my opinion is based on experience from years ago, not recent experience. I'd google for opinions on Norton.





A good free anti-virus program is Avast. Google is your friend.





Lastly, you might want to consider Linux for your current computer, and you might want to consider Macintosh for your next computer. Linux is free (see http://www.ubuntu.com for a starter and a "won't make permanent changes to your PC" demo LiveCD), and will do fine for many people; I'm not especially confident it'll be right for you, but you might at least want to check it out. It'll almost certainly run faster on your computer than XP does. Macintosh tends to be more expensive up front (unless you're comparing similarly equipped PCs), but they tend to hold their value longer, and they tend to "just work", which is very important for a lot of people. Both of these options (Linux %26amp; Mac) have pros and cons, and may not be right for you, but they also might be worth investigating (particularly the Linux, since it's free and won't cost you anything to see how it does on your PC (although the demo will run a bit slower from the LiveCD than if it were installed natively)).
Reply:Well if it's running ok (except for when youre running several multimedia programs) It sounds like you could really benefit from investing on the maximum amount of RAM (memory) for your system. Especially for video work.





Now I dont know everything about your hardware so Its difficult to tell you whether you should upgrade more than your "MEMORY" or get a whole new system...I guess it depends on your needs but...





Before any upgrades:


Besides a firewall and an Antivirus program...


If you run the least amount of programs that start up automatically when you boot your pc (see all those icons next to your clock?) it would save on resourses and help your media run smoother.





I also recommend keeping your hard drive(s) clean of temporary files and junk files that bog them down.





Personally...Ccleaner works great for my XP and its free.





http://www.ccleaner.com/





There are way more things besides this that you can do before you spend a dime but its a great start.





Remember to always make a "RESTORE POINT" with Windows "SYSTEM RESTORE" before you make any changes or installations to your pc....just in case ;)





Ive been using a FREE Antivirus program called AntiVir from Avira and its done its job well and would also recommend AVG Anti-Virus Free both have free updates and virus definition downloads as well.





Avira................http://www.free-av.com/


AVG.................http://free.grisoft.com/





Did I mention all the programs I recommended are free? lol





Happy computing!





POTE