How can I make an old computer work more efficiently?

you can reinstall windows xp

Uninstall Windows XP, and install Linux. Linux is free and is a lot more efficient if you need it for basic computing.

1) The current version of Ubuntu isn't going to run much faster on a computer that's so old that you don't know how old it is. 2) You can browse the web on Windows 3.1, you don't need a modern operating system to do it. (You do if you want to watch streaming videos, but the web started as plain text, and Lynx, a text browser, still works.) 3) Skype needs a minimum of Windows 2000 - which will run on a 10 year old computer. (We still have web servers and database servers running 2000. If it's not broke, we don't fix it.) 4) Emails? Email is a text medium. You could do emails in DOS. Bottom line? Use the operating system the computer was designed for or one earlier. (An early WinXP box will run nicely - and pretty quickly - on Win2k.) Make sure you have about 2GB of RAM (if the motherboard can handle it - otherwise just put in as much as it can handle). Run one program at a time. Don't run a browser with 10 tabs all streaming video.

Since you have a Laptop, remove hard ware that are known to suck up a lot of resource like optical drives, floppy drives. Disable on-board components you don't use like "COMP" ports. The goal is to just have a bare bone system. Just the mainboard and just the interfaces you use like USB ports, ethernet port, display ports and sound port. Doing this will make your Desktop blazing fast. By having the USB port functional, you can have files transfer from your laptop on to your desktop. This is the best advise to make older systems run faster.

Well you can stay with Windows XP, but if this is going this slow and you're running Windows XP Professional, then you should seriously think about another desktop, or OS... Yes, Ubuntu will make it run pretty good, but for your Windows XP, keep it. There's a program that can easily help you. 1) Go to CCleaner.com and download CCleaner from FileHippo. Install it, and close your browser, then run the cleaner. It'll clear lots of unwanted garbage from your computer, that is cookies, unneeded registry. The registry tab will completely fix any registry files from your computer. Then under Tools you can use like a basic msconfig there, and you can uninstall programs. You can go to the System Restore tab and delete some of the REALLY old restore points you'll never really need. 2) Go to defraggler.com. Also download Defraggler from FileHippo. Install it, now you don't need to close your browser, run Defraggler, it'll organize your computer more, without messing up your desktop or anything. These two programs should help make your computer start going a bit faster. Make sure though that you shut your computer down at night... DON'T FORGET ANTI-VIRUS AND ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE!!! Here's a tip: McAfee Antivirus/Anti-spyware will make your computer run A TON slower. If you want good Anti-Virus, download spybot search and destroy, OR Avast. They'll find any viruses or spyware and they'll destroy them, as you wish. Malware will SERIOUSLY make your computer go slow, trust me. McAfee will just keep your computer going slow though. REMEMBER: NEVER have more than 1 Antivirus/antispyware program at a time, they'll destroy each other and they'll like make your computer go like crazy in the case of errors and slowness. Then for faster internet browsing, get the LATEST firefox at http://mozilla.com/firefox . It's way more secure, and it blocks attack sites. Also, you can reset your internet connection to make it a bit faster. Go to Start, Run, type CMD, then type in ipconfig /release and press enter. Then type ipconfig /renew and press enter. Then when you're done reboot your computer, and let it stay off for the night, when you come back the speed should dramatically increase... or at least a little bit...

ubuntu would be a good choice depending on your pc's spec's go th there site.http://www.ubuntu.com/ and see what the system requirements are. go to your pc's web site and find your pc spec's (dell,hp,etc)

Heat is was the issue with my desktop before you can get extra fan or find other ways of cooling it the cooler its CPU the better performance not how much but i think it would work for you. try keep it clean as you can dust and crap in there is like heat sponges :D hope it help mate

you could reformat it. thats if you still havent got enough money to buy the extras like newer bigger rams. and then you can also partition your hdd to put less stress on the hdd in term of the actuator movements.

UPGRADE THE DESK TOP PC TO THE LATEST VERSION. YOU CAN GET IT DONE ECONOMICALLY.