How to Test and Buy a Used Laptop

Not everyone can afford a Brand New Laptop.

There are numerous articles about choosing a laptop to suit your needs; most of them apply to new Laptops. There is significant market in second-hand laptops, as people upgrade, older models are sold on to recoup some money.

Buying a used laptop has its pros and cons, one hand, its cheaper; on the other hand, there maybe no warranty in case something goes wrong, repairs can be expensive. Here are 3 common types of used laptops:

• Buy Refurbished with warranty/returns period (£££)

• Buy Used with remaining warranty (££)

• Buy Used without Warranty (£)

Options 1 and 2 leave you with some recourse so that if you find anything wrong within the warranty or return periods, you can get problems fixed without spending more cash. If you are considering a used laptop without warranty, option 3, you definitely don’t want to end up with a dud, which needs costly parts replacement or upgrade.

For example, if you are buying online on ebay, you will not get to test the laptop before buying it, but you can ask the seller some basic questions to help you decide whether the laptop is worth bidding for or not. If your seller offers a week warranty you might want to do all these test as a soon as you get it so that you can return it or get a refund to fix any problems that was missed in testing.

Alternatively, if you are buying it from a newspaper without warranty, you will have to test it at the sellers house before paying for it, because once you walk out the door, that is it.

Here are a few easy tests to make sure the laptop is in working condition before handing over your cash or before any warranty or returns period expires.

WinXP requires: 300 mhz processor, 128MB RAM, 1.5 GB Hardrive, Super VGA (800 x 600), CD or DVD ROM. Vista Requires: 1 GB Processor, 1 GB RAM, 128MB Graphics Memory (DirectX 9, Pixel Shader), 40 GB Harddrive (15GB free), DVD ROM.

Homework: Search for make and model online and get the technical specs and print it out to double check that it’s the right laptop for you, this is to avoid errors in the advert and listing. Know exactly what you are paying for.

How upgradeable is it? Do you need higher performance and capacity?

• What OS does it have? Remember that Microsoft has discontinued support has been discontinued for Win98, ME in 2006, you might not be able to get security patches etc.

• What type of RAM does it have? What’s the maximum RAM it can take? Are there any free RAM slots? For example, if you have 1 slot with 512MB, another empty slot and a max. RAM capacity of 1GB, you can add another 256 or 512 depending on what you need. However if both RAM slots are full with 256MB each, you will need to replace both with 2 x 512 RAM modules to have 1GB in total.

•      Can you upgrade the OS in future? Win XP and Vista have minimum hardware specifications: 

• What Hard drive does it have? What’s the maximum HD capacity supported by the mother board? For example, if the Laptop has 40 GB Hard drive, and the motherboard can support up to 80 GB, then you know that you can upgrade to 80 GB, as needed in the future.

Legal Issues:

•      Does it have the original System Recovery CDS, Application CDs? This is important in the event that you need to re-format your laptop as it can be time consuming to obtain a replacement when you need it. The System Recovery CD is more important as applications drivers can be downloaded from the Laptop manufacturer’s website.

•      Is the OS genuine? Look for the holographic sticker on the base, if you end up with non-genuine OS, you may not be able to upgrade security patches. If in doubt, make a note of the number and call the OS company, to verify that its genuine.

•      Dodgy Property? Are any serial numbers altered or scratched out, this can indicate theft, something to avoid.

•      Does it have an original box? Original boxing has proper foam supports to make you your laptop is transported safely, if there is no original boxing, consider collecting in person or taking out insurance for any damages in transit.

Functionality tests:

• Does it have a power cable and transformer? Is the Transformer working? To test this, plug in and see if charging or AC lights come on.

• Does the battery store charge? For how long? To test for this, use it in battery mode and go to power management to see how much charge it carries and how long that’s supposed to last. If the battery does not work, ask for a discount so you can replace it.

• Does the CD/DVD drive work? To Test, insert a DVD or VCD to play. This also tests the Speakers.

• Does the floppy read and write? To Test, insert a floppy and see if you can read and write to it.

• Do the USB ports works? To Test, plug in a flash drive and read and write test on every USB port.

• Hard drive condition? Does it grind a loudly when in use, like an angry rumbling stomach? To test for bad sectors, for Win 9x, ME, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Scandisk. For WinXP, go to My Computer > Right click on disk and select properties > Tools > Check Now.

• LCD Screen Condition? Can you see any dead pixels, flicker or lines?

• Wifi adaptor, if you turn it on, can you view other networks?

• PCMCIA slot/s, does it work when you insert a PCMCIA card? This is important if you don’t have built-in WiFi so you can use a PCMCIA WiFi adaptor.

Tips: 

• Once you buy a used laptop, you may want to wipe it clean from previous data so you can use up all free space and get rid of any lurking spy ware or virus or set own partition. With XP it’s easy to format, just insert the recovery CD and it does it automatically. That’s why it’s important to have originals as it have be hard to get a replacement.

• If you are nor confident about going to view a Laptop, bring someone who is tech savvy with you, or even if it just for moral support, whatever helps you to focus on making sure you are not buying a lemon.

Note: While these tests indicates the current state of the laptop, its does not mean that nothing will go wrong in the future.

By Hussain Akhtar

Source: www.ebay.co.uk

Silicon Edinburgh: Scotland's Biggest Independent Computer Retailer & Repair
Specialising in Custom PCs / System Builds, Computer Repairs, Iphone Repairs, Ipad Repairs, and other Tablet and Smartphone Repairs.
Selling New and Refurbished Computers, including Laptops, Tablets PCs, AMD gaming machines, and Intel Gaming Machines.

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Phone: 0131 337 5177
Email: info@silicon-edinburgh.co.uk

Silicon EDINBURGH: Second hand laptops, refurbished, second user or budget buying advice.

Second hand laptop, refurbished, second user or budget buying advice. 

How to get a great deal on a cheap laptop in 2014

What you should look out for in a budget laptop

We explain how to buy a cheap laptop when you are on a budget. Grab a bargain with our budget laptops buying advice. See our Group test: what's the best budget laptop? story for an up-to-date list of the best cheap laptops.

Buying a budget laptop inevitably means compromising somewhere. But if you must go cheap, just make sure the compromises won't make you rue your choice too soon after purchase.

Compromises can be the looks, the feel, the attention to detail that makes you want to connect on a more emotional level. Or it could be in the build quality, the choice of internal components or the available options for connecting the laptop to all manner of peripherals – and don't forget for connecting to the world at large through wired or wireless networking.

Unless you go for real bottom-dollar shelf fillers, the one area where you're less likely to feel the pinch is, perhaps surprisingly, in program performance. The Wintel world was built through the 1990s on a cycle of upgrades, new versions of Microsoft Windows and Office treacling a PC and forcing people to chase hardware upgrades.

That gravy train ground to a halt first with the Windows Vista debacle in 2007, which over-reached the cyclic software bloat too far even to captive Windows users; followed by the universal mass migration to mobile computing started by the iPhone in the same year, and hammered home by the introduction of the iPad in 2010. Mobile computing demanded leaner software. Even Microsoft got the memo, so that now, Windows 7 and Windows 8 can run on some 10-year old PCs without such issues.

There are many other ways you can be sold short though when buying a cheap laptop. Here are the key areas to look at. (See all our laptops buying advice.)

Budget laptops buying advice: Design

Laptops are much more personal than desktops, and typically owned and used by one person. They cannot avoid becoming as much a statement about you as the clothes you wear.

We can't tell you what fashion to follow, but be aware that cheap laptops are rarely catwalk models. They may use cheaper, lumpier plastic components, or simply be designed by people with no aesthetic sense, so be prepared to deal with something that's been not so much hit as battered into submission by the all-powerful ugly stick. It's not just about thicker-than-hoped chassis either – high-gloss black plastic has been de rigeur in some consumer electronics lately, a facile attempt at emulating piano black lacquer, and good only for preserving greasy fingerprints for posterity.

Design considerations also span into the engineering, so pay attention to points like the hinges, keyboard, access hatches and ask yourself if they look like they'll survive continued use or abuse.

Budget laptops buying advice: Materials

Premium-grade materials often serve a purpose. Take aluminium alloy, chosen for its strength, lustre, resistance to corrosion and malleability. Cheap laptops are nearly universally plastic constructs, and while that's not in iteslf a bad thing, it usually signals fatter and heavier designs than notebooks fashioned from metals like magnesium, titanium and aluminium.

Be aware that cheap laptop makes often disguise their use of inferior materials by spraying plastic to look like metal. Not only is it pretentious, it will look even worse after some gentle wear removes the faux-metal paint to expose dark plastic below.

Budget laptops buying advice: Build quality

Look how well the chassis has been put together. Check along the seams for air gaps, and see how well joined is the lid to the deck, for instance. Keyboards and trackpads are common cut-back components, leaving you with soggy typing or skittish mice pointers from low-grade capacitive touchpads.

Budget laptops buying advice: Components

The Windows PC sales machine was built on promoting internal components above less tangible aspects like battery life and build quality. So laptops would be sold on the strength of namechecking an Intel processor, the number of gigs of RAM or hard disk, and the size of graphics card inside.

At the budget end, you may see huge hard disks included as they're now so cheap. Solid-state storage makes life-changing improvements to your computing experience, but don't expect to see any in the cheap category, or rarely a small amount bolted on to speed up booting and program launching.

Displays are nearly always gloss finished, as they look more impressive in showrooms against matt screens. It's true they can have rich colour and even useful contrast ratio – but only in a pitch-black room. Unless they have an expensive anti-reflective optical coating – unheard of at the budget end – expect to see distracting reflections, and to have to reposition yourself, your laptop or your curtains for proper viewing of what's on screen, rather than what's behind your head.

Budget laptops buying advice: Performance

Don't be fooled by processor clock speed. AMD dropped out of this race years ago and rarely lists the gigahertz figure in its marketing. The fact is, a speed rating like ‘2.5 GHz' gives only the most rudimentary guide to performance, unless given the context of the type and generation of processor, and how many cores it includes, and any other go-faster tricks added by Intel and AMD to keep the aged x86 architecture in business.

A laptop review should include a performance score, but unless you follow the tech, a single number of, say, 3500 points in PCMark 7 is also worthless. Look out for comparison tables in reviews that may let you gauge the current possibilities together.

Graphics performance is never great on cheap laptops – a decent graphics processor to enable fast-running shoot 'em up Windows games is an expensive part of the parts budget. Instead expect to find an integrated graphics processing unit (GPU) inside the main chip. And these are getting faster every year. But cheap laptops don't usually have this season's Intel chip, so will be behind the current-best anyway. For the most part, expect to do little more than play basic undemanding games; or to drop quality settings to their minimum to keep action reasonably fluid.

Performance is about much more than how quickly your spreadsheet or DVD rip is rendered though. Thanks to the iPad, people now rightly demand longevity too, and the days of the four-hour laptop are now behind us.

Except in the budget category, that is, where batteries are always scrimped. So look out for tiny, inadequate battery packs. Batteries are still relatively expensive so a manufacturer will do its best to give you as little capacity as possible (and thereby aiding the laptop's ‘weight' spec too).

‘Performance' also stretches to connectivity. Specifically, Wi-Fi wireless performance. Budget laptops are shackled with the most basic of 802.11n capabilities – the IEEE spec allows for three antennae to provide half-decent indoor range and throughput enough to meet last century's ethernet connections. But budget laptops may only have one aerial (sometimes rarely dubbed ‘half-n'), which limits wireless performance further.

Budget laptops buying advice: Connections

Modern laptops now sport usefully fast USB 3.0 ports for getting data in and out quickly. But budget laptops may still have part- or total complement of slow USB 2.0 to save on the parts bill.

HDMI is now ubiquitous for video output, but gigabit ethernet is far from a given – it's a way a manufacturer can save a few cents out of view of the buyer.

Budget laptops buying advice: Software

Windows is no longer a given, and the consumer is finally seeing more choice on the high street and its online equivalents. Google is edging into the budget space with its cheap-to-buy Chromebooks, although these come at the high cost of personal privacy.  

Macs are now more popular than ever before, albeit at the more premium end of the price scale, leaving Windows as still the incumbent offering on budget laptops. If you look around you may find Ubuntu laptops ready to buy, skipping the Windows tax and providing a more secure computing option; but for the most part expect to find unloved Windows 8 as your only choice, unless you can track down older end-of-line Windows 7 machines.

Beware that Windows laptops may have their low price subsidised in part by an obscene amount of pre-installed software from companies who pay to be put there. Also known as crapware, this includes software that pays kickbacks to the laptop maker when you sign up for expensive anti-virus or backup yearly subscriptions. Cheap laptops may make you pay with your time, as you spend hours trying to remove all the unwanted and obstructive software dross. See our Group test: what's the best budget laptop?

By Hussain Akhtar
Source: www.pcadvisor.co.uk

Silicon Edinburgh: Scotland's Biggest Independent Computer Retailer & Repair
Specialising in Custom PCs / System Builds, Computer Repairs, Iphone Repairs, Ipad Repairs, and other Tablet and Smartphone Repairs.
Selling New and Refurbished Computers, including Laptops, Tablets PCs, AMD gaming machines, and Intel Gaming Machines.

Find us:                                                                                  Like us:

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159 Dalry Road Edinburgh EH112EB

Phone: 0131 337 5177
Email: info@silicon-edinburgh.co.uk

Microsoft Buys out Nokia and is arranging to introduce a new batch of contemporary Android Smartphone with a distinctive contrast

Built on the open source version of the Android operating system, none of Google's(GOOG, Fortune 500) services -- including its Play app store -- are included.

Android apps can be added, but much of the OS has been customized to highlight Nokia and Microsoft's own services, including Here Maps, and the Bing search engine.

Nokia has also included its own apps for things such as email and camera.

The hardware for each device is nothing special. The phones are thicker, heavier, and less powerful than many mid-range Android devices, but Nokia maintains that affordability is its main goal.

Elop said Nokia's entire line of devices will be under Microsoft's control once the acquisition is finalized, so even these non-Windows Phone handsets will tag along.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech 30 index

So what's the significance of the Android launch?

For now, it seems like an experiment. Microsoft and Nokia have done OK with the Windows Phone considering their late entry into the market, but still only have a fraction of the market share that Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Google have with their operating systems. A recent slump in Nokia smartphone sales hasn't helped.

The move may seem to run counter to Microsoft and Nokia's desire to grow the number of Windows Phone users. But the Nokia X phones are aimed at people currently not served by the Lumia range: the 100 euro crowd.

By targeting emerging markets initially, Microsoft is trying to make itself recognizable in areas where people wouldn't buy a Windows Phone right now, but might in the future as the cost of smartphones falls.

If the X turns out to be a modest success, Microsoft could give it a bigger push as it develops services across multiple platforms. And if it doesn't pan out, chances are this was a low-risk endeavor, so not much will be lost along the way. 

By Hussain Akhtar

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/24/technology/mobile/nokia-x-android/index.html

Silicon Edinburgh: Scotland's Biggest Independent Computer Retailer & Repair
Specialising in Custom PCs / System Builds, Computer Repairs, Iphone Repairs, Ipad Repairs, and other Tablet and Smartphone Repairs.
Selling New and Refurbished Computers, including Laptops, Tablets PCs, AMD gaming machines, and Intel Gaming Machines.

Find us:                                                                                  Like us:

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Phone: 0131 337 5177

How you can remove your Facebook search history

Facebook keeps a record of everything you search for on its Web site. Check out this How To do guide for cleaning up the list, or just restrict what information Facebook is gathering about you.

Every time you look for a friend, business, or personality on Facebook, Facebook saves it to your search history. This makes it straightforward for you to discover what you were looking for afterwards without much effort. Unfortunately, the search history might be cluttered with queries that don't require quick access -- like someone you've already become friends with, a brand you're already following.

If you want to restrict some of the data Facebook is holding about you, or just tidy up the list, it's just a few clicks away. Here's what to do step by step:

 1: Click on the Settings log in the top-right corner. Choose the Activity Log option from the menu.

 2: You will see all of your recent Facebook activity. Under Photos, Likes, and Comments in the left side menu bar, click More, then choose Search.

3: All of your search history, provided you haven't deleted it before, will appear. Individual searches can be removed by clicking the block icon and then Remove. If you want to clear all of it, click on the Clear Searches link at the top.

What are your thoughts about the Search history feature? Do you think Facebook should be allowed to save all of your search queries? Do you ever find the search history beneficial to revisit something you were searching for in the past? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Source: Hussain Akhtar 

at Silicon Edinburgh, Scotland's biggest computer Retailer

specialising in system builds, repair, sales, laptops, new and refurbished computers, AMD gaming machines, Intel gaming machines, tablets

 159 Dalry Road Edinburgh EH112EB Tele: 01313375177

New AMD APU A10-7850K Review

By Dave James 

AMD’s latest processor design is probably the most interesting new chip from the Texan silicon giant since they released their Bulldozer FX chips on the world. And, on first glance at the performance metrics, it would be just as easy to dismiss the new APU as a bit of a failure.

But there is more to the A10-7850K - the APU formerly known as Kaveri - than meets the eye, though it might be a while before its promise is completely realised. Let’s talk about the actual processor performance first though. It’s pretty unspectacular.

I was hoping for a bit more of a boost over their current top APU, the A10-6800K. That’s mainly because AMD are using the latest update to the Bulldozer CPU architecture, code-named Steamroller.

The way the original Bulldozer design worked out meant each dual-core module shared a lot of resources. That gave it great multi-threaded performance because it could have a whole bunch of cores in the CPU package. Unfortunately each of those cores actually performed worse on their own than the AMD processors they were replacing.

The top-end AMD APU. Not a particularly great CPU...

Steamroller then was cooked up to give each core in a module more individual resources to help it perform better in single-threaded use. Sadly when it comes to the A10-7850K, with a pair of Steamroller modules and four cores, the lower clock speed compared with the A10-6800K (3.7GHz plays 4.1GHz) seems to have robbed it almost entirely of any performance benefits.

Thankfully that doesn’t ring true when it comes to graphics performance. One of the biggest selling points about the Kaveri APUs is their use of the same Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture as the top graphics cards from AMD. Push the GPU portion of the A10-7850K with a little light overclocking and you’ll get a 36% boost in gaming frame rates over the previous chip. It’s realistically the only chip around today you could use without a discrete card and still be able to game on it at decent speeds. I’m not talking about the highest resolutions or at the highest settings, but it’s still possible.

The future though is potentially more exciting. This is the first ever processor that is completely compatible with the twin tech of the heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) and Mantle. That means when the software is utilising those two technologies we ought to see AMD APUs doing some genuinely impressive things.

AMD's Mantle/HSA package could make the APUs much more desirable

Right now the A10-7850K is still a long way behind the Intel chips in terms of gaming performance with a discrete card in place. The benefit of the recently-released Mantle beta though shows that gap closing. Using the Mantle-enabled Battlefield 4 the performance difference, between the A10-7850K with an R9 290 and an i5 4570 with the same card, is actually halved. In standard DirectX mode there is a 44% difference in average frame rates - that drops to 20% when you switch to the Mantle API.

The A10-7850K is also a fair bit behind AMD’s FX line of straight CPUs too, despite being only marginally cheaper, but again Mantle will halve the deficit. The difference is smaller, but it’s most definitely still there. And on those terms, the A10-7850K is simply not a worthy basis for a full gaming rig with a decent discrete GPU. The price difference between it and an i5 4570 isn’t that great, and even less between it and an eight-core FX-8350. For a small form factor, low-cost PC though, running in integrated graphics alone, it will give you impressive gaming performance without the need for a full GPU.

Source: http://www.pcgamer.com/uk/review/amd-a10-7850k-kaveri-processor-review/

Reasons Why Your Desktop or Laptop Runs Slow

Computer Repair Edinburgh: silicon-edinburgh.co.uk

Beside buying computer's components, some of our customers come to us with various computer problems. Most of them want to get their laptops run as fast as the first time when they bought their desktops or laptops. In this article, I would like to share some information about the reasons why pc or laptop runs slow. The root causes of computer slowdowns can be categorised into two groups. The first group is hardware problems related, and the second group is software problems related.

A. Hardware Issues

Some people assume that slow computer is caused by a natural “aging process” of computers. This assumption is not entirely correct because computer doesn’t get slower due to aging of its components; rather, the root causes of performance degradation are almost always tied to a key set of common problems that can easily be remedied with the right tools [1]. However, some components (e.g. graphics card, processor, HDD, etc.) might be too old for new programs or new operating system, so they don't fully support the required features. Here are some reasons why your computer runs slow related to hardware.

A.1 Dusty Components

The Symptoms: Computer becomes very hot easily and creates loud fan noise, screen crashes, system freezes, malfunctioning hardware devices.

Picture: Fan place without fan (dirty Acer TravelMate 5520)

An overheating can be caused by a lot of dust inside your computer. It means you need to clean the components of your computer. If you think that your computer is slowing down because of this issue, but you are not adept with computer, simply pop in our shop, we will do the "cleaning" job for you.

Warning:  If you want to clean it yourself, please make sure that you turn off your PC and unplug it from the mains. Static electricity kills chips, so you should wear an ESD (electrostatic discharge) strap. If not, make sure you ground yourself to make sure you are not carrying a static charge. Either way, keep your fingers well away from the motherboard.

When we fix or repair a slow laptop or pc, the first thing we do is checking the physical conditions of the computer. Most of the time, we have to clean all the components to make sure that the computer is in the good and clean conditions before undertaking further diagnosis or repairs.

A.2  Obsolete Hardware Drivers

The Symptoms: Similar to dusty components problem, blue screen crashes, system freezes, malfunctioning hardware devices.

As time goes by, the drivers of your hardware components need to be updated. Device drivers are small programs that act as translators between the Windows operating system and your hardware components such as printers, cameras, or scanners. When your hardware drivers fall out of date, they pose system-wide stability and performance risks [1]. Hence, they slow down the performance of your computer.

You can update the obsolete hardware drivers by visiting the company's website. We have several links for finding the drivers for your computer here. If you can't find any of the drivers that you after, simply come to our shop, we will install the drivers for you.

A.3 Insufficient RAM (Random Access Memory )

The Symptoms: Processing or loading time is longer than usually.

Picture: Adding RAM to Your Desktop

If your current RAM is less than 1GB, adding more RAM will definitely increase computer speed. However, if you want to upgrade it to more than 2GB, it is not guaranteed and often depends on other factors. If a lack of RAM is the only reason for the slowness in an otherwise fast system, then adding more memory will typically improve the operating speed. When there are other problems aside from a shortage of RAM, adding more memory might help, but those secondary factors need to be addressed for the best possible performance. In some cases, a computer might simply be too old to run newer applications efficiently [2].

Here are some informations related to RAM issues from wisegeek.com

A.3.1 Checking RAM

RAM usage on a computer can be checked in different ways, depending on the operating system (OS). On a machine running some version of Windows™, the easiest way to see how much memory the computer has is to view the System screen in the Control Panel. The Task Manager shows how this memory is being used; pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys brings up this program or the option to open it. In this tool, the Performance tab shows a graph of memory resources, and how the RAM is being used may be listed as "physical memory." The Activity Monitor on systems running the Mac™ OS displays similar information on the System Memory tab.

Third-party software can also be used to monitor memory and even free up RAM when necessary, though this is not always the best way to boost computer speed. Freeing up RAM means closing programs that aren't being used, but which are using memory. If a system is low on memory or often requires freeing up RAM, installing more of it can usually improve computer speed.

A.3.2 Adding RAM

Before purchasing additional RAM, it is important to check the motherboard. The motherboard is the circuit board where most of the computer's crucial components are found, and it has a limited amount of space for new memory. The board might be maxed out for the amount of RAM it will support, either in terms of physical sticks of RAM or the combined values of them. For example, a motherboard might only have three slots for RAM and a maximum allowance of 12 GB. If all three slots are filled with 4 GB sticks, then no more can be added; if the motherboard has three 2 GB sticks, then one or more could be replaced by 4 GB sticks to increase the RAM within the space available.

There are several different types of RAM, so it's important for the person who wants to add more to check the computer's user manual or online to find out what kind is needed. The wrong type of memory typically won't fit into the slots in the motherboard, and if it does, the computer usually will not boot up.

Adding RAM to a desktop computer is typically easier than a laptop. Desktops with towers or similar cases can usually be opened and RAM can be installed directly onto the motherboard. Laptop computers have much less room and use smaller sticks of memory that can be more difficult to properly install. Prebuilt computers may also have warranties that are voided by the addition of new components, so this should be considered prior to any hardware changes.

A.3.3 The Purpose of RAM

Within a computer system, the RAM effectively acts as part of the "brain." There are two types of storage used in a computer — long-term and short-term memory — just like a human brain. A hard drive acts as long-term memory, storing data for later use. RAM behaves like short-term memory and is used to actually process information while running a program.

The numerical value of RAM is typically represented in terms of storage quantity, such as one gigabyte. The size of the RAM indicates how much memory is available to run programs and processes at any given time. With more memory to run programs, multiple pieces of software can be used at the same time without slowing the computer too much.

A.4 Other Hardware Causes of Slow Computers

For gamers and people who work with video applications, a slow graphics card might be a contributor to poor performance. A good graphics card should have its own on-board RAM and Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), otherwise it will use system RAM and Central Processing Unit (CPU) resources. The motherboard manual typically indicates what types of hardware can be used to improve performance by upgrading to a better card. If the graphics card in a computer is top notch and the RAM seems fine, then the CPU may need to be upgraded, which can drastically improve computer speed.

Picture: Upgrading your CPU, RAM, and Motherboard

Maintenance issues also affect computer speed. A lack of sufficient hard disk space will slow performance, as will a fragmented drive. Upgrading to a larger disk drive can relieve that part of the issue, and hard drives should be defragmented regularly. Spyware, keyloggers, and other malicious software, also known as malware, can also slow a computer by taking up system resources. Malware can also be used to steal or damage data and personal information, so an antivirus program and/or firewall should be used to help protect the system.

In some cases, a computer functions fine except for one specific application. Most software has minimum system requirements that must be met for it to work correctly, but more memory and processing speed is often needed for exceptional performance. If a system can only meet the minimal requirements, then it is likely to have problems running the program. Twice the recommended RAM and processing power are typically needed to ensure fast and reliable performance with a program.

If you are sure that you need to upgrade your RAM or GPU or CPU, why don't you just come to our shop for upgrading your computer? We are the biggest independent computer retailer in Scotland for computer components and peripherals. We offer free upgrade service if you buy component from us.

B. Software Issues

There are various motives for your slowdown computer and any one of them could result in a crash and an up close and personal viewing of the BSOD, (Blue Screen of Death). A reduced speed occurs over a period of time due to software related issues.

Silicon Edinburgh's Hint: Although some software related issues can be solved without reinstalling Windows, we offer Windows re-installation service for you to save your time. You will have a fresh windows without any cluttered files.

B.1 Start up overload

The Symptoms: Slow Windows start up

As you add additional programs, they claim start-up status quickly and quietly. The more programs you have that are loading at start-up, the slower the start-up.

Tips: Go to start, all programs, scroll to Startup and see how many programs are lurking there. The decision is yours. Remove the programs you do not want, or are not necessary, to be starting at boot-up [3].

B. 2 Redundant or Unnecessary Installed Programs

The Symptoms: PC speed and responsiveness have slowed over time, particularly when running more than one program.

The more programs you have installed in your computer, the more work your PC has to do—and installing multiple programs that run the same functions needlessly adds to this burden. But with certain redundant programs, the problem goes beyond just wasted storage space and a larger processing load; for these applications, having multiple ones installed is actively harmful because it overloads background functioning and leads to system conflicts that slow everything down.

Silicon Edinburgh's Hint: Having more than two Anti Virus programs will slow down your computer!

Tips from wiki How: When applications and games are installed to a Windows PC, some files are written in the Windows directory structure and dozens (or more) changes are made to the Windows Registry file. Most of these changes are not readily apparent to the user, so proper removal requires uninstalling the application through the Control Panel's "Add or Remove Program" or "Programs and Features" icon. There are 3rd party applications that can assist removing applications that do not have uninstall routines - or do not fully remove themselves. Revo Uninstaller Pro and CCleaner are two such popular uninstall applications.

Picture: How to uninstall unneeded program

• If the program is not listed in the Control Panel use the "uninstall" command provided by the application.
• Simply deleting the entire application directory is not the same as uninstalling, as all the files written to the Windows directory and changes to the Windows Registry file will remain and may be reloaded when the system is rebooted.
• Make sure that you do not uninstall any programs that are required by others. e.g. iTunes® will not work if Quicktime® is uninstalled, and many programs rely on other Microsoft programs [4].

B.3 Unneeded Desktop Features that try to make things look better.

The Symptoms: Slow Windows start up, PC speed and responsiveness have slowed over time, particularly when running more than one program.

The fancy rounded window corners, the way the menus fade in and out, and the 3-D button styles on modern Desktops all require some computing power and can overwhelm older machines.

Picture: How to adjust for best performance

Tips from wiki How: Turning off these appearance will enhance your computer performance. Simply by adjusting your visual effects for best performance.

B.4 Fragmented Files on Hard Drive

The Symptoms: Overall PC speed and responsiveness have slowed over time. Files and programs take longer to open.

When you create and delete files, your computer can’t store a single file as one unit and instead will split it up and store portions of it across different locations on the hard drive. Over time, this fragmented data builds up and your PC’s resources become overburdened: gathering the scattered pieces takes more time and the physical wear on the mechanical parts of the drive increases.

Picture: How to defrag your hard disk drive

Tips from wiki How: Right-click a drive icon in "My Computer" and select "Properties" followed by "Tools". Choose "De-fragment" to let the utility clean up fragmented files and consolidate free space on the drive. Note: this is not needed on an SSD drive. Defragmentation should be done at least once per week, or more often if the PC is used heavily.

B.5 Accumulated Junk File Clutter

The Symptoms: You experience slower responsiveness, particularly during intensive operations like media streaming and game play. Your available disk space has noticeably decreased.

With regular usage, junk files quickly accumulate on your PC: unneeded debris can come from internet browsing, programs that don’t clean up after themselves, unexpected computer restarts, and more. And while the source of the clutter varies, the result is the same: gigabytes of drive space wasted and your PC’s processing load needlessly overtaxed.

Tips from wiki How: Temporary Files are used for supporting some applications for a limited period of time and left unused for later. Go to "C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp" (Windows XP), "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp" (Windows Vista), or "%TEMP%" (any version of Windows) and delete all the files from this folder. If there is a problem deleting one or more files, skip those files and remove the rest. This will free a lot of space on the drive. The Temporary Internet Files directory can also be emptied.

Warnings: Be aware that some of these steps are specific to a specific version of Windows; not all are cross-compatible.

Finally, here are several tips from wiki How, when your computer runs very slow.

• Consider re-installing Windows. It may be easier to format the hard drive and re-install Windows on the computer. Be sure to back up important data first and have all program installation disks ready for re-installation. Be aware that the format process will delete all files on the disk. This means that you will need to reinstall all software and restore all documents from a backup.

• Keep malware in check. If running utilities mentioned in this article gives you an "Access Denied", "You don't have rights to run this", or the program will not run, you probably have a malware infection. Symptoms other than these are frequent phony, but realistic-appearing, anti-virus warnings that your system is infected, or your web browser sending you to pornographic websites or search sites you have not configured it to send you to.

• Keeping Windows Up-to-date, especially with Security Updates, is very important and can prevent BADWARE infections which slow computer.

• Keep your PC cool. When a computer gets too hot, the CPU fan will speed up. If the CPU is still too hot, the CPU will enter something called "thermal throttling" which slows down processing speed in order to prevent the CPU from breaking down. Turning off or hibernating your PC when not using it, increasing airflow, and keeping the room which your PC is located in cool will help keep your computer cool -- and fast.

• Add memory. While not free, adding memory is a very effective way of boosting performance, especially if your system has 1 GB of memory or less. Increasing the amount of memory installed reduces the need for the computer to write to and read from the hard drive. Check the motherboard or system documentation to determine size, type, speed and permissible configurations of memory before purchasing and installing additional memory. If unavailable or you're unable to obtain it, you may wish to download and run the Crucial System Scanner to detect this info and provided suggestions for upgrades. Systems with lower amounts of memory (256 MB to 1 GB) installed receive the greatest boost when increased to 2 GB or more (as this represents a 100-400% or more increase in system memory). Systems that have 2 GB or more memory installed also receive a boost - but it is less noticeable.

• Consider using a different operating system. If you have a slow or old computer consider switching to Linux. This has its own set of issues such as needing to learn a new Operating System, and much more. This is a significant step, and as such; is not covered in this Wiki. Please refer to the WikiHow article: Learning How To Use Linux for more information.

References:
[1] http://www.iolo.com/resources/articles/the-12-root-causes-of-pc-slowdowns/
[2] http://www.wisegeek.com/does-adding-ram-improve-computer-speed.htm
[3] http://www.bestsecuritytips.com/xfsection+article.articleid+43+page+0.htm
[4] http://www.wikihow.com/Speed-Up-a-Slow-Windows-Computer-for-Free