XP performance issues?

Question

Is 256MB or RAM enough for XP?  I have been working to resolve some performance issues on my in laws Dimension.   2.8Ghz Celeron 256MB RAM 40GB drive DSL connection. XP Home SP2   I know a Celeron will open apps slow, but there is definitely something wrong with this system since they first received it.  I know it's the OS chewing up a ton of memory, but it's abnormally slow and 80% memory utilization with one app open is common on their system now.  Don't know what it was before, but it's definitely slower.  System idle is constantly running too.  I'm thinking about reloading the OS, but would like to avoid it.  My old P3 with the same amount of memory was much faster than this system.     By the way...it's not a virus.  I've gone to the Hijack this thread here at dell.com.  It's clean now.    Any suggestions other than defrag or clearing the temp internet files?

networkassociat · Answer

Do all the usual house keeping, clean up , defrag, scan disk, run anti spyware progs like adaware, spybot or what ever takes your fancy. Check swap file/ virtual settings which take the load off the physical memory.alt ctrl del during system idle check on the processes, see if anything is using up system resources in the back ground. Process of elimination I'm afraid. XP will run on 256, but really 512 is as low as you want to go if you want any kind of performance.

NemesisDB · Answer

a 4200 rpm drive (if you have one) and 256 mb ram can slow XP to a crawl -- especially if you're doing something demanding

JDHorns77 · Answer

thanks all

Windows General

XP performance issues?

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