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Follow-up to computer making noises Nov. 9

11 years ago

My Compaq Presario XP, 2004 computer had been making groaning noises and was VERY slow. Also had been getting messages that the computer needed to be updated as far as the browser (IE) was concerned. I downloaded Firefox and am very satisfied with it. My computer is MUCH faster and has quit groaning so it seems happy, too. Maybe it will last a couple more years.

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Comments (4)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
11 years ago
what version of IE do you have because if it's older you definitely need to do the updates because there's a serious vulnerability right now that Microsoft has recommended to update immediately with the security patches.
You need to be doing all windows critical updates each month these will include IE updates. Simply having a program on the PC means you need to keep it updated even if you don't use it.
you should have version 8 of IE on your computer computer, is this computer xp sp3?
Elmer J Fudd
11 years ago
Have you ever cleared cookies/cache/etc from Internet Explorer? If not, or not recently, those many years of clutter may be the problem.

If you're getting the improvement you want by using Firefox, I'd continue to use it and leave everything else as is.
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Two steps backwards, one step forward. While dealing with the impending death of my own pc's hard drive, I had plenty of time to work on her computer. I opened the case. Cleaned out the dust bunnies much more thoroughly than I had in October. I found the fan - and actually took it out and cleaned it thoroughly (mostly compressed air, and a little damp cloth). I did remove the label and add a drop of WD 40. (While I was at it, I searched for replacement fans in case this didn't work - and bookmarked some - it would be so simple to replace if needed.) Put the pieces back together and started it up. Still noisy. I started organizing her files, deleting duplicates and ridiculous things she didn't even know she had on there. I put everything in logical folders - then copied her 16GB of video (Ipod videos and flip share) onto a 32mb flash drive. Deleted 8gb of that video bc. it's also on her ipod. Then I ran auslogics defrag. Defrag was 100% successful - and she now has about 15GB free on a 40GB drive. Now the noise is less. I hear the fan a little - but you have to stop to listen. Not sure if it just took running a little for the oil to do it's thing. From what folks said earlier, it's unlikely that freeing up space and defragging reduced the noise. So far, so good. (I even think I could have turned it on with the case open - but i didn't have to.) Thanks. Lynn.
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gmom74
Original Author
11 years ago
Ravencajun, my computer has IE 7 and yes, it's xp sp3. I always do the updates when a notice appears that one is ready.
Snidely, I haven't deleted cookies- I'm afraid something would be gone that I need. But I'll look into doing it. I am just so pleased that with changing to Firefox the computer speeded up so dramatically. Thanks to you both.
Elmer J Fudd
11 years ago
Using a new browser (Firefox) is a similar experience to clearing cookies and cache in the old browser, to the extent that your history, sign-ons, site preferences, are gone and some things need to be re-entered. Other than cached pages that could speed up your experience with a slow internet connection, I'm aware of nothing else of "value" that's there to save.

You can clean up in Internet Explorer by clicking on Tools, Clear Browsing History. If it hasn't been done in some time, get it started and give it some number of minutes to finish. You'll see ongoing disk activity, that's normal.

Or, you can just leave it as is and use Firefox. If your hard drive has plenty of space, there's perhaps nothing gained from cleaning up browser debris you no longer use.

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