[oxymore]

I know this is a pretty old computer, but it still works for all the general emailing/surfing and odd iplayering! Starting to get a little slow. May be related to XP but already has 1GB memory in it but was wondering if doubling it to 2GB is really going to make much noticeable difference? As I hear the main difference is really just going from 512 to 1GB. The other option I was thinking was upgrading from XP to Windows 7. Thought it may make startup quicker but not sure how much faster it will be in general?

this is the memory I think crucial points me to:
http://www.ebuyer.com/106133-crucial...2kit12864aa667

would be about £27 with P&P

[alan1302]

For what you use it for I don't think you would notice a difference going to 2GB and Windows 7 may slow the computer down if it's an older one

[barky99]

It may well depend on configuration but the jump from 1gig to 2gig did make a noticeable difference for me with an xp laptop which I upgraded with crucial ram modules

[max99]

You need to look at the cause of the slowdown. If it's purely memory related, then yes, adding an extra 1GB will solve it. However, it's usually a mixture of reasons: too many programs running at start-up, resource heavy AV, scheduled tasks like defrags, etc. running in the background, one particular program using too many resources.

Doubling the RAM will definitely give a benefit, but may not actually cure the slowdown you are experiencing. Describe exactly what you are finding slow and people can advise further. A good cleanup can sometimes make all the difference.

[oxymore]

I think it's outlook express that is causing some slowage esp as the culprit using it has 3,000+ emails in it. Unfortunately as the computer is mainly used by my elderly parents it's hard getting them to delete them all or convert to web based email. Apart from that there isn't really anything scheduled to run in the background, only nod32 antivirus, msn, skype. I think maybe a re-install would help but again with the emails and settings it might be a bit of a hassle. There is still quite a lot of HDD space left though maybe 50%, about 100gb+ left or so.

[max99]

I've seen this numerous times with Outlook Express. When the mail boxes go above a certain size, it will suck up huge amounts of RAM and cripple the system. Deleting emails won't be enough on it's own, as the .dbx files they are stored in will remain huge.

Does the computer run okay until you start OE?

[Orbitalzone]

Outlook Express .dbx files size maximum is 2GB apparently.

There's also this info for slow Outlook Express

[oxymore]

Thanks for the link I'll give it a go. To be honest I'm not sure if that's the only thing slowing it down. Using outlook express is not too bad but noticed it crashes on opening emails with big pictures sometimes when I was trying to delete the big emails. My personal impression is it gets slow when outlook express and Internet explorer are open together. There seems to be a lot of waiting round in start up of browsers as well and loading more than one tab