Curtis Stevens — Mon, 23 Aug 1999 16:56:00 +0000

In my opinion, I wouldn't buy anything to upgrade your computer. Your computer is a 166 MHZ and that is a very big difference between that and a Pentium II processor. You can get a tower for only a couple hundred bucks. Computers are getting really cheap and I would suggest just buying a 300 MHZ or higher computer. That will make such a big difference compared to your 166MHZ. You can buy a new hard drive and ram, but it will never perform like a Pentium II or III will. I would invest a few hundred dollars and buy you a new tower, and a monitor if you don't want the one you have now. There is a brand called E-machines, really cheap, but that is a way you can go if you have to, but not recommened. I recommend a HP, Sony or Dell computer. Dell and Sony are going to be higher, but all three are very good computers.

HTH
Curtis

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GodSend — Sun, 22 Aug 1999 01:21:00 +0000

a quick method to free up a little disk space is to run CHKDSK /F from your dosprompt... any lost clusters will be saved in the root dir (C:\) in garbage file names (cant remember the extention on the files. but it will be obvious.. i think its FILECHK*.*)... anyhoots... try it.. you will be surprized how much lost dispace is laying around.

Try defragging your harddrive too.. this usually frees up a little space by filling each cluster of disk to the maximum (some are only partially used but inexcessible to your computer).

When you do get a large drive, partition it into smaller drives. I have a 3.6 gig that is partitioned into 6 drives. The smaller the drive the smaller the cluster size.. the smaller the cluster size the less space is lost to files which only use up part of a cluster.

anti — Thu, 19 Aug 1999 18:12:00 +0000

Hi Tim,

I would go for a new harddrive.
A 20gig IBM will kost less than 200$ and you can be happy with it for quite q while.

The second thing I would upgrade is the ram, especially if you run memory-hogs like windos.
(If you can't use dimms in your old system, go for a new one.)
It's a simple fact that you have to invest about 500$ a year to keep your workstation up-to-date,
but you can use your old parts for test-systems and servers.

(red, my main-server, is a 486-133 with 48mb-ram and 4gb-hd and is sooo bored ...)

just my 2 cents

ciao
Anti
ps:
zip-disks make a great data-shuttle. but not more.
a cdwriter is a much cheaper backup-solution in the long run.

ReVigo — Thu, 19 Aug 1999 02:46:00 +0000

Hey!
A few days ago i had only 50 Megs free on drive C (1300 MG), so i decided to delete all things i don't need, and i was able to clean up 400 MGs!
Delete all setup files for programs you already have installed and go to the start menu and move with the mouse on every program... i'm sure you'll find some progs you can throw...

Good luck..

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Photog — Thu, 19 Aug 1999 02:32:00 +0000

Thanks folks. In the interim...is a zip drive the best thing I should do for a short term solution until I'm ready to break down for a new computer? In terms of graphics and entire programs...how much will a small zip handle? Can I transfer a lot of programs to the zip to free up space?
Again...thanks in advance.

Tim R

Carolyn Jones — Wed, 18 Aug 1999 22:00:00 +0000

about 6 months ago I had a bad crash and had to reformat my hard drive. After reinstalling all of my softeware I had about a gigibyte (sp?) of "extra" space left -- a whole gigibyte of useless garbage that was never missed . Might be a quick solution while your deciding what to do next.

take care,
Carolyn

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cj — Wed, 18 Aug 1999 18:56:00 +0000

If you cannot save anymore files to your hard drive then you need a new one. You can also purchase a zip or jaz drive. If your applications are running very slowly, then you need more ram. Judging by your computer, it might be time to look for a new one if you are using it a lot.