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Geek Culture / Taking care of your computer?

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Megaton Cat
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Joined: 24th Aug 2003
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 27th Dec 2003 16:27
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Well...it's happening again.
My *new* computer is starting to wither out just like my old one. When I just got it, it was a:

2.4 GHZ Pentium 4
Radeon 9200 128 MB
256 RAM
80 GB hdd

it ran like magic. I could finally burn my old P2 and run Unreal 2 demo with all settings maxed perfectly. But now it's so sluggish. I had been taking bad care of it. It's very cluttered. Windows and apps that once poped up instantly now load for ages. DB games get a horrible slowdown every 10 sec, and other games just run like handicap. Even if you go File>open in an app it takes a while for the window to pop up. I don't have any computer games since I mostly use my pc for work but I'm soon getting Enter The Matrix and I want my pc in good shape to run it. Please, is there any sites out there guide you how to take proper care of your pc? Or do anyof you have any suggestions?

I would really appriciate it, as I can barely work in 3ds max now because it runs just too horible. Not like it used to.

thanks.


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Arrow
21
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 16:29
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Sounds like you need to defrag it.


I've lost 25lb playing Dance Dance Revolution, no really!
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 16:32
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Defrag? What does that mean?


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Arrow
21
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 16:40 Edited at: 27th Dec 2003 16:41
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eh heh heh, tell me your kidding.

Ok this is for XP, but I think it works the same with 98 too.

1) Right Click Start and select Explore
2) Right click C Drive (or whatever your main HDD is called) and select properties.
3) Click tools on the top tab and you should see something that sayes Defragmentaion, click Defragment Now.
4) The Disk Defragmenter should open up, click Analyze or if you've haven't Defraged in a long time (like never) just click Defragment.

This will take a while, the longer between Defrags, the longer it'll take. You should Defrag about once a week. It'll speed up you're computer and may even give you back a little bit of hard disk space. You should run as few programs a possible when defraging.


I've lost 25lb playing Dance Dance Revolution, no really!
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OSX Using Happy Dude
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 16:46 Edited at: 27th Dec 2003 16:47
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Do a scan disk and make sure your antivirus program is up to date and do a full scan with that. If you get Norton 2004 it will also look for Spyware - if not, you'll have to get an extra program to make sure you dont have any. Also get a registry cleaner too.

Enter The Matrix plays very slowly anyway, so you wont notice any speedups with that once you've sorted out your problems...


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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 16:47
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Thank you, I'll try it now.


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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 18:06 Edited at: 27th Dec 2003 18:07
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Nope still nothing
Don't tell me I am going to have to reformat again.


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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 18:18
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Quote: "Defrag? What does that mean?
"


LMFAO!

Computers probably slow down because Windows stores lots of information about window sizes, how they are sorted, and where they are positioned. It would probably be like an ever increasing array. Each window has three buttons to click on, each program has a new window, and a new folder. This probably makes Windows check for an increasing amount of on screen collision zones. Anyway it causes fragmentation of the Hard Drive. It causes the files to be spaced apart with gaps, and the Hard Drive head has to jump around to find things. Defrag puts everything together in a nice neat line. I wouldn't format the Hard Drive just because of some slowdown. You may as well have an 8 gig Hard Drive if you are going to do that. You are never going to fill your current Hard Drive, Because you are going to Format it everytime it starts to fill up. So what's the point of having it so large.

Pincho.
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 18:35
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It's not filling up. I have an 80 gig hard drive and I only use 10 gb. And yea i just forgot wat defrag is as i never bothered to do it

I just get stupid annoying slowdowns that make everything so much harder.


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Pricey
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Posted: 27th Dec 2003 19:34
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turn off the eye candy (window shadows, sliding menus)
if you have a full screen desktop scale it down to a smaller picture

this is what i do regularly and it keeps my 1.08ghz running VERY fast!

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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 28th Dec 2003 03:31
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@Divide By Zero: thank you, I'll consider everything you said.
Quote: "Have fun "

oh it sounds like I will

Quote: "turn off the eye candy (window shadows, sliding menus)
if you have a full screen desktop scale it down to a smaller picture
"


I am running win xp pro, wich is set to Windows Classic style, along with a black background. Doesn't help much.


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Pricey
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Posted: 29th Dec 2003 10:49
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lagmaster
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Posted: 29th Dec 2003 13:44
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bah last time i touched defrag was several years ago.

best advice is to not clog up your registry, deleted unwanted programs, backup anything you download on cd and delete them from the hard drive, try to only have aout 5 games in your comp (or more if you have a really big drive), dont have too many hidden programs in the task list, reduce the number of programs in the system tray, unclutter the desktop, tidy the start menu.

little things can go a long way

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
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mm0zct
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Location: scotland-uk
Posted: 29th Dec 2003 20:57
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Quote: "If the worst comes to the worst you could always go linux.... "

i got fed up with microsofr having to keep re-activating just cause i upgraded a few buts of hardware so i put together a few old pc bits and installed linux:
750mhz amd duron
1.6gb hdd
cd drive
floppy drive
voodoo3 2000
old realtek 10mb network card
128mb dimm sdram
(onboard sound)
free copy of mandrake linux7.1 off a magazine
not got any software installed yet tho

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon thoroughbred 2200, 512Mb ram, 40Gb HD, ati saphire radeon 9600 atlantis w/128mb ddr ram, good creative-labs soundcard, cd-rw + dvd drives.
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lcfcfan
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Posted: 29th Dec 2003 21:21
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run msconfig and untick all the programs you don't want running at startup, that will speed things up, you can also change some of the other settings in the menu but if you don't know what your doing you can mess your computer up.

Also download ad aware and scan for spyware and get rid of it cos it slows your computer and net connection down.

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Fallout
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Posted: 29th Dec 2003 21:32
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I hate to say it, and I know you don't wanna do it, but a reformat is the only true way! ... then just watch what you install.

Insiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!
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lagmaster
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Posted: 29th Dec 2003 22:23
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yeah instead of defragging the hard drive just wipe the hard drive clean and have a nice fresh hard drive again

i format twice yearly

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
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ReD_eYe
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 29th Dec 2003 23:19
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i completely disagree! just take a hammer to your comp and buy a new one, i hear they only cost about £1200 for a good'un now peanuts really...


GO TO THE ETERNAL DESTINY FORUMS!!! http://forums.eternaldestinyonline.com
Do it now!!!
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Ian T
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Posted: 29th Dec 2003 23:35
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Don't clutter up your desktop. For every icon on your desktop, you loose approximatly 1/5 of a FPS in DirectX games, because Windows is still running its collision routines for the icons. Instead organize them in the start menu!

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

I am the chainsaw paladin.
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Megaton Cat
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Location: Toronto, Canada
Posted: 30th Dec 2003 00:14
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Well...everyone says different things and I don't know what to do...no my desktop isn't very cluttered. But I don't want to reformat. I got some big files I don't want to lose...


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JoelJ
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 00:43
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i just defragmented my hardrive for the first time EVER!
you guys should all be proud of me that i took time to do something like that...

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mm0zct
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 00:57
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Quote: "Don't clutter up your desktop. For every icon on your desktop, you loose approximatly 1/5 of a FPS in DirectX games, because Windows is still running its collision routines for the icons. Instead organize them in the start menu!"


i have a very cluttered desktop and can run halo @1024x748 full settings without even a single stutter or pause and it looks spectacular, halo is the most challanging game for my pc that i have found.

http://www.larinar.tk
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lagmaster
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 00:59
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the desktop wallpaper clogs up a few mb in memory

and active desktop

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 01:00
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Holy sweet mercible cr*p!


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Ian T
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 01:41
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Errr... I was joking. I thought it'd be rather obvious

Nevertheless having a cluttered desktop is not good in any fashion. Be neat and orderly. Getting in the habit of organizing things will be good for your PC overall.

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

I am the chainsaw paladin.
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 02:22 Edited at: 30th Dec 2003 02:29
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oh...and there are some stuff running in task manager that is taking up CPU usage. What can I close? Last time I medled here I blew my pc up.


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Wik
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 02:30
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everything


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lagmaster
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 03:14
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dont kill svchost.exe in task manager it restarts the comp after 1 minute (2k/xp)

lagmasteruk - http://www.lagmaster.net is alive! http://www.dbforums.co.uk/ - another db forum!

Dark Snippet Pro V9 is out!!
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Ian T
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 03:57
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Dont kill Systray and Explorer everything else gets the axe my precious the axe

--Mouse: Famous (Avatarless) Fighting Furball

I am the chainsaw paladin.
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JoelJ
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 04:32
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i just figured out what the NVIDIA settings are in my system tray (is that what its called? the thing by the clock) its pretty cool, if i do say so meself, dont know if ill ever use it tho...

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Fallout
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 04:59 Edited at: 30th Dec 2003 05:03
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Darwin, I hate your signiture GIF. No matter how long I look at it, it still messes with my head. It's one of those things that's so obvious how it's done, yet your brain still tells you it's like the French breeding (very very very wrong indeed). I bet you have that never ending staircase wall paper, and you wash your hands before you go to the toilet. Only someone like that could handle a GIF like that.





Insiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!
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JoelJ
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 05:03
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Quote: " I hate your signiture GIF"

when i first read that, i thought you meant my avatar...it was confusing...

Quote: "I bet you have that never ending staircase wall paper,"

no, where can i get it, i would really like it...

Quote: " and you wash your hands before you go to the toilet."

yeah, so?

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Fallout
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 05:05
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Just editted my original post btw, to make it more abbusive. Just playing though.

Insiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide!
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 30th Dec 2003 16:56
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ehh...I think 'll just reformat


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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 00:00
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um...
yea.


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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 00:31
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um...
yea.
I'm sick of religion now. Damn forum.


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JoelJ
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 02:03
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Quote: " Just editted my original post btw, to make it more abbusive"


okey then, here we go:
Quote: "Darwin, I hate your signiture GIF."

im sure you'll get over it

Quote: "No matter how long I look at it, it still messes with my head. "

not like anything can mess your head up anymore than what it is...

Quote: "It's one of those things that's so obvious how it's done"

no it isnt, its just telling your brain that

Quote: "French breeding (very very very wrong indeed)"

hey, you're just jealous that french women can grow facial hair and you cant (no offence to anyone who is french)

Quote: "I bet you have that never ending staircase wall paper"

again, where can i get that? i would really like it (seriously)

Quote: "and you wash your hands before you go to the toilet."

yeah, so?

Quote: "Only someone like that could handle a GIF like that."

well...i guess your right

now back on topic...wait what is the topic?
Quote: "Taking care of your computer?"

oh, ok. i take the best care of little Darwin (my computer), i give him a bath EVERY day, no matter how hard he bytes (he can byte hard! sometimes, it feels like electricity running thru your body!) and after his bath, i pollish him up REAL good. then i give his face a litt'l scrub, and i make it squeeky clean.......

penguins are cute

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JoelJ
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 03:37
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Quote: " I see darwin has forgot to take his medication today"

so, whats your point?

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las6
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 12:33
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I think it is stupid that people try to tweak their comps to run faster by disabling the windows gfx stuff. If it has ran well before, it should run well now, With the gfx settings on.

I've recently bumped into two similar cases, especially with laptops. My friends 2Ghz Celeron laptop is much much slower than my old 500Mhz K6-2. Same thing with another P4 laptop. Both running XP and some other programs. (anti-virus, firewall & such)

I myself never really had this problem, because I like to keep it neat and working. I always pay attention to where I install programs, and remove all unnecessary stuff.
Running Anti-virus, Ad-Aware and Defrag are good (and easy!) ways of maintaining some sort of order on your comp. Some constant antivirus programs can be heavy on your comp, so I don't like em. It's better to have a good firewall and some common sense than a good antivirus.

Also, it's not always very wise to keep the preview/thumbnails on for folders with large photos or worse yet, movies. I managed to get my comp crash everytime I open a folder because of incompatible settings on one videoformatdecoder. One of the files used that codec and surprise surprise, as soon as I entered the folder, it decodes a frame of the movie to show as a thumbnail. But as the settings were wrong, it crashed. Besides, movies usually have black frames at start, so it isn't all that great help to use the thumbnail anyway.

Big wallpapers and desktop clutteryness does affect. But only if your comp is on a heavy load already. My wallpaper probably takes couple mb's of video memory too. 1600x1200, you know.

Try checking out every single program that goes to tray or loads up when you start the comp. (shutting them off from tray doesn't always remove them from memory) If the app feels even a bit useless, remove it. Those can sneak up on you and eat a hefty portion of your cpu time.

Winamp and such aren't generally heavy programs, but to speed them up a bit more, you can send them to tray, it's actually much faster that way.

Keyboard not detected. Press F1 to continue.
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Megaton Cat
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 15:14
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Well I am an hour away from reformating. I am backing a few files up onto a server for sake keepin'

I also just got Enter The Matrix (yay! my first computer game in 2 years!) and it ran like an old sick dog, so I definatly have to reformat. Thanks for the help.


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mm0zct
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Posted: 31st Dec 2003 19:46
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Quote: "Like your sig las6, reminds of the windows one too... 'Mouse is not detected, click ok to continue'"

lol, between me and a few friends we have had:
"error, mouse has moved, windows must restart"...is the mouse not suposed to move?
"keyboard not detected, press f1 for help"

http://www.larinar.tk
AMD athlon thoroughbred 2200, 512Mb ram, 40Gb HD, ati saphire radeon 9600 atlantis w/128mb ddr ram, good creative-labs soundcard, cd-rw + dvd drives.
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