Can anyone tell me what I can do to speed up a computer with windows 98 and one with windows ME? I did a scan disk I did a defrag and I even formatted it. Can anyone tell me what are some of the things I can do to make it run like the first day I bought it.

The best and cheapest way will be to upgrade your RAM.Go for a higher RAM than you have now.

Yeah I can do that but this person just wants the computer to run like it did when he first bought it what can I do about that without adding anything.

Here's a start.

You FORMATTED the hard disk and it's still not running right?! Are you sure that's not just a perception thing? A Pentium II (for example) seems much slower than the day that it was bought. But that's only because we've all got used to Pentium IVs. If you format a PC and install just the original software on it, it will be exactly as fast as it used to be.

What commonly slows down older PCs these days, even after formatting, is:

- Installing new versions of anti-virus software (Norton Anti-Virus 2004 is much more demanding than Norton Anti-Virus 2000, for example);
- Installing anti-spyware software;
- Installing newer versions of office suites, e.g. older PCs will run Office 97 faster than Office XP;
- Installing Windows Updates and new versions of Internet Explorer, Media Player, etc.

Increasing the RAM is likely to help, depending on how much is already fitted. Windows 98 runs optimally at 128Mb. You should only need more than that for particularly demanding applications - AutoCAD, photo/video-editing, 3D simulation games, etc. Some people actually report that Windows 98 can run SLOWER with 256Mb RAM fitted. Windows ME is built on the same technology so a similar principle applies.

Do you know the specs of the PC? There's a link in my signature to the D-A-L.com Online Hardware Scan if you aren't really sure what's inside the PC.

Hope that helps

This advice is, of course, assuming that there isn't actually a hardware problem such as a defective graphics card or a hard disk that's starting to mess about.

Originally Posted by Dan Penny

Here's a start.

Good article Dan - I didn't know about number 7 and 8 ... and I always forget about number 9 !