Gonna replace my XP

[Suprat]

Hey guys,

I have a Windows XP SP3 on Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz, 768 MB og RAM, and its beginning to be really slow, so some guy told me to switch to Linux faster, safer, and doesn't require registry cleaning and stuff?

Anyway, whats your advice on which Linux to use, depending on me having Windows experience and old hardware specifications.
Thank you

[Kardosh]

I was having similar problem with an old nettop with 1GB RAM. You seem to have even less. I solved my problem using Linux Mint 17 Xfce. You could try it, too. Download the file from here: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=169, burn it to CD, place the CD in the drive and start computer. You will see how it works and the attempt will only cost you 1 blank CD. Your XP will remain as it was before. You do not install or change anything on your computer by doing this. If you like what you see, you can then install the program to your hard drive (and keep XP as a backup option, too, if you have a few GB of free disk space).

[Xanadu]

You can speed up XP by simply reinstalling it like you did when it was new. Back-up all the files you want to keep to dvd,usb,external hard drive or whatever you like to use.

I like to use "Darik's Boot and Nuke" to overwrite the entire hard drive first, (80gb hard drive takes 2½ hours to wipe). Then decide if you you want to make a dual-boot system so you can run XP and Mint side-by-side. Linux can be a pain in the backside sometimes, so I think dual booting is a good idea untill you're ready to ditch XP for good.

My PC is ten years old and I run XP and Mint 17 Xfce on it. You might like to "test drive" Xfce first using the "live dvd".

[octathlon]

I was having similar problem with an old nettop with 1GB RAM. You seem to have even less. I solved my problem using Linux Mint 17 Xfce. You could try it, too. Download the file from here: http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=169, burn it to CD, place the CD in the drive and start computer. You will see how it works and the attempt will only cost you 1 blank CD. Your XP will remain as it was before. You do not install or change anything on your computer by doing this. If you like what you see, you can then install the program to your hard drive (and keep XP as a backup option, too, if you have a few GB of free disk space).

Just one comment--it won't fit on a CD, so you'll need to use a DVD or a USB.

[I2k4]

Your RAM is at the very low end of what any current software will run on. Mint 17 XFCE will "idle" at under 200mb but so will a fresh install of Win XP. To me, the question of which OS to use is more about what third party software you need on that machine to deal with coworkers or family members - there are lots of fine Linux alternatives to Windows software, but not if you really need to share MS Office documents or whatnot for personal or professional reasons. You can install XFCE or a non-Mint LXDE like Xubuntu, but 750mb of RAM will still be a serious problem. The standard recommendation is to buy some more RAM, but ...

I personally had a very old Dell with 866MHz / 512RAM running XP itself quite well but there was too little RAM to even run a current internet browser effectively. Browsers like Firefox and Google use more RAM than the operating system does. I broke down and bought a new W7 Lenovo for $250: 2.4GHz and 4gb RAM with a 7200rpm 1TB hard drive. It runs Windows 7 like stink and I'm going to dual boot Mint 17 after deciding between XFCE and Cinnamon. There's only so much pride and pain to take in running a machine that's past its best before date.

[Spearmint2]

slow XP? It wasn't slow when you got it? You need to clean it up.

open control panel and go to Add/Remove programs and remove all programs you no longer use.

download EasyCleaner2 from http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm
http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniar ... lea2_0.exe

It is a long used and proven trustworthy program. Has various tweaks and can remove defunct entries in the registry safely.

Limit your page file to about 1000 MB in size.

Turn off any special effects, control panel>system>Advanced>visual effects>adjust for best performance.

control panel>administrative tools>Event Viewer and check for anything that shouldn't be happening and track it down and fix it. Also check the Power viewer there too.

Run "msconfig" and uncheck anything you don't need at startup. A lot of useless stuff can pile up there. Some of it you can track down and kill permanently. uncertain of something, google it.

do ctrl-alt-del to open task manager and check all running processes, google if uncertain of something there, this will often reveal anything that's not supposed to be running.

Install and run MalwareBytes to check for trojans which might be slowing things down.

check for remaining disc space. XP needs at least 10% of drive room left or it slows down considerably. I think some of the meta files aren't counted in the space used which is what causes that, or maybe that's for running defrag, which is the last thing you should do.

Remember, Linux deliberately fragments the hard drive to avoid fragmenting files as much and to use the entire drive, whereas windows defragments files so it can when freshly installed keep most of them at the front of the drive all crammed together, but that begins to make it drag a lot as the drive gets fuller. It also wears out that part of the drive faster instead of the drive wear leveling which Linux system accomplishes.