Making it go faster. Dell Inspiron 8100

[Dragonegger2]

I got a Dell Inspiron 8100. It's already got the max RAM at 512mb. A nvidia gforce 2 go, and a 40gig harddrive. Anything I can do to make it run smoother? I already got the updates to the BIOS and the Driver update. I just want start up to move a little quicker.

[aaronkupen]

There's not much you can do with hardware, but you can use some programs to clean it up and make it run better.

For a defragger you can try O&O Defrag or Diskeeper.

Also check out tune-up utilities 2007, CCleaner, and some spyware removing software like Spybot or Ad-Aware.

[jbvertexpc]

Have you tried disabling some of your unneeded services under Windows? It should help some as well. Also try tweaking the BIOS to disable any unnecessary features.

[Dragonegger2]

How do you tweak your BIOS? What are some of those "unneeded services" you are mentioning?

[ShackledPhoenix]

Open the run window, type in MSCONFIG, select the services tab and check the "Hide all Microsoft services" box. Then go through the list and figure out which you need and which you don't. Then select the Startup tab and do the same thing.

Also there's a program available online called Nlite. It's really cool, basically it takes your windows install disc and allows you to remove features and such from it, and makes a new windows install disc so you can install windows without all the extra stuff. It allows you to remove alot of features you couldn't otherwise remove like internet explorer, and Media player.

I have my PIII 1 ghz 256 MB laptop running windows XP quicker than my 3800+ 1.5GB Desktop by removing audio file support, media player, internet explorer, unused network features and a few other things I don't remember.

You can also try an overclock using this guide here Laptop Overclocking - LaptopLogic.com
but be veeeerrry careful since laptops tend to have very poor cooling systems. I know my old dell's is horrid.