What is you operating system?
What processor - CPU - is on your motherboard.
How much RAM do you have now?

I think leave it as it mechanically.

Use a defragger esp for the register
Also run Ccleaner
Sort of like a service for a car.

Better to buy a whole new computer than replace bits on your 5 year old one

4Gig of RAM.

Install kingsoft pc doctor (free) and give it a good going over.

Sprintcyclist wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2018 at 7:53am:


I roll them over every 3 years .... get better returns on ebay on the old stuff and the technology cycle is getting shorter.

With Laptops I would recommend buying one with an SSD regardless of brand or OS, OS slowness especially on startup is the HDD.

My personal choice is Lenovo Yoga line but the modern laptop is getting lighter and better. There are many good options out there.

My computer has been quite lazy recently. But the performance is alright for a computer that does not get a lot of maintenance. I am going to get my computer upgraded to 8Gb of RAM on Tuesday. The memory on the dashboard is reading around 80 to 90%. I would assume that the computer is overworked with programs. Perhaps a complete restore would undo all the problems (bloatware, etc.) I have had for the last year.

Still, the computer is running reasonably well. Just that I hate waiting for the computer to load things.

Sam Morris wrote on Mar 9^th, 2018 at 7:29pm:


I use Steam to play games.

RightSaidFred wrote on Feb 13^th, 2018 at 8:25am:


Computers are so bloody cheap now.

I have 3 desktop computers. One is a speed machine, I can't remember the specs but I got a techy mate to pick the parts from MSY Ultimo which is one of the best shops in Sydney. $3k and it's lightning fast and I only use it for graphics and rendering. It never ever ever gets connect it to the internet so it never slows down or gets clogged up.

PC2 is my previous demoted graphics computer, about 5 years old. Still rock solid and I only use it for doing my business accounts and share trading.

PC3 I call the slut machine. It does all the net browsing etc so don't care what happens to it.

I picked it up refurbish from a guy who gets ex lease machines from Dell and HP and flips them. $150 for 8gig RAM i5. Plenty fast enough for media and browsing.



I just picked up before Xmas when

The guy I am bringing the machine in to do the upgrade is charging me $200 for another 4Gb RAM stick. Am I getting ripped off? Seems that I could get another stick for $130.

UnSubRocky wrote on Mar 10^th, 2018 at 3:39pm:


Pull out the one you have, read what it is, put it back. Let us know what it is and we can go from there to find the best price.

For how to remove and install there are videos on YT. Go to Youtube and type in, installing ram.

$130 is way too much for the part. I'd suspect you have ddr3 ram so check this out.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AU-8GB-2x4GB-PC3-12800-DDR3-1600Mhz-240PIN-DIMM-AMD-...

I bought my computer over 4 years ago already installed with 16 gig of RAM.

I never run out of RAM even when doing complex programs like Photoshop.
The most I ever used was about 12 G  when I was doing 5 complicated programs at once.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 10^th, 2018 at 5:44pm:


I am sure 16Gb would be overkill for what I use my computer. 8GB is going to be enough for now. If I have enough space, I might go up to 12GB later this year. It would be a waste to have a computer replaced for $600 (minimum) when an extra RAM chip is all that is needed.

RightSaidFred wrote on Mar 11^th, 2018 at 6:20pm:


The bloke I bought the ex lease Dell box from was hilarious.

No legs, wheeling around a dingy garage stuffed full of computers you can hardly see because the air was so thick from his chain smoking 

He said he flew to china and stitched up a deal to buy container loads of old boxes and he 'sorts them'.

Gordon wrote on Mar 11^th, 2018 at 6:24pm:


Sounds like my perfect retirement except prefer legs and I am not into smoking.

I ended up being a defacto IT manager for many local businesses most I do it for free (they are mates).
One actually asked me to send him an invoice. One just gave me $500 which I gave to charity.
One guy sent me a brand new 42 Inch plasma I helped him out with some tender evaluations and some project management ...... came home and there was a big box with Samsung written all over it at the front door. I was surprised it was still there.

Ex-lease stuff is very cheap and legally in the grey area. If you buy a a computer you generally depreciate it over 3 years after that its worthless as you have written it off.
In the old days they use to put them in the bin, after that the employees use to fish them out of the bin and take them home..... once written of under tax law they can not sell them legally. Some use to have cash only auctions (unofficial). Some used to destroy them to ensure they don't get in trouble from the tax office.

These days many groups like Grays realise there is a buck to be made out of it.
These days its a bit tough as guys like you know you can get good stuff for very cheap on the ex-lease market. I still do it with Laptops I sell about 5-10 per year making $50-100 per unit. I call it my beer money fund

Upgraded to 12Gig of RAM. The difference in price between another 4Gig and 8Gig was $40. So, I paid the $140 to have an 8Gig put in. Took it home to fire it up. The computer seemed to work a little faster. But my mouse was not displaying. Took me an hour to figure that I needed to change mouse to the older one I had. Works now. I guess my newer wireless mouse just was not up to scrap.

It is down to 37% since I had another 8Gig installed.

mozzaok wrote on Mar 16^th, 2018 at 12:31pm:


Prefer UBUNTU runs like a dream even on a basic Pentium Duo

12 Gig of RAM is just having my computer fly along now. No lagging or anything. Programs open up quicker. The computer starts up faster. Just no problems compared to my last year beforehand.

I have Windows 10, and I am happier with this O/S than any other.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 17^th, 2018 at 5:04pm:


Provided that you do the disk cleanup and defragging of drives frequently. That was one of the things that helped me get by whenever trouble emerged. Only noticed this before. If I go 2 weeks without a cleanup and defrag, the computer lags.

Recently, some Avast antivirus program was installed somehow on my computer. However, it seems to have improved my system somewhat. I was having trouble trying to update CCleaner. The free version wanted me to pay for an updated version of CCleaner. But Avast did the updates on my behalf.

Spending $140 on an extra 8Gig of RAM certainly is saving me a lot of headaches from frustration.

While it is running at 100%, find the application consuming it all and determine the next step because the answer is, 'it depends"

Setanta wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2018 at 11:16pm:


Yeah, I know. As soon as Super Nova wrote that response, I was thinking "Duuuh". Obviously. I shut down Origin, since I was not using it. Now the main program is the Trend Micro running in the background. I'm probably running too many browser tabs at the same time too to explain the high cpu.