faster computer, how to Options

[Celicaca]

anyone have any ideas on how to make my computer any faster. I have a Dell Dimension 4400. its pretty old. i dont want anything to big, but stuff that will give it that extra oomph.

1.8Ghz
512 MB DDR SDRAM
Nvidia GeForce3 Ti 200
80 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA Hard Drive
Microsoft Windows XP Home

Thankey

[mr_dude]

Well if you don't already, definitely get FireFox to replace IE. It will solve your spyware problems, unless you download everything porn sites tell you to.

I never leave a Windows install on for more than six months.
1. Windows is bad at memory management and gets laggy after a while.
2. Spyware and unused programs can collect and slow performance.
3. It forces me to back up my hard drive fairly often so if I ever have a hdd crash I'm in good shape.

Back your files up. Pop in the Dell Recovery CD. Reinstall Windows. It's painless and takes maybe a couple hours to reinstall what you need.

If you're going to college get a nice sound setup for your computer. SoundBlaster and 7.1 surround speakers will make games and music way better. Plus dorm chicks dig it. Not really. They get annoyed when your music is too loud for them to hear Trading Spaces.

Running spybot or spysweeper will remove some spyware, but will never get all of them and will slow your computer down (if they're always running).