Please fellas, i rhink iove got the slowest computer in the world. can anyone help me on what to the to enhance its speed? it is always crashing. do i need to buy any new hard ware? its a desk top ,pentium(2 or three i am not sure but i suspect 2) i need help, desperately

You should probably get a new system -- if you're running Windows XP on pentium II I pity you.

Listen to Zahy, and get urself a new computer,
Upgrading a computer can be just as expensive if not done right,
from what you have typed ic u lack the technical no how to distinguish the problem so dont try upgrading ur computer urself
if you can find a reliable source go for it

but i say get urself a new computer bro

you don't have to get new system just back up your important files and reinstall windows XP, if you can't do it just meet some proffesional it shouldnt be expensive to do that. if the speed is still slow then i go with the other guys, get yourself a new system.

Thanks badman for ur answer. these guys dont just know about how expensive a new pc costs. i think i can install xp on my pc. thanks

I know how expensive a computer i. If you're a developer like me [or run tough software] I'd suggest you get a new one -- or at least a new motherboard.

Probably install win 2000 rather than XP? Its leaner and faster than XP which comes with a lot of bloatware

I have a branded pentium 2 system that works faster than some P3s. All i did was to add about 512MB of Ram,It uses XP,and runs huge programs effectively.

A Pentium II is dated, but should run XP just fine.  RAM is cheap now ($20 for 256 MB @ http://www.pcsurplusonline.com/viewprod.cfm?ID=7118), so put at least 512MB in there.

Also, get Belarc advisor from belarc.com.  It'll give you detailed specs of your computer.  Once you know the chipset on your motherboard, find out if you can upgrade the cpu.  A cpu shouldn't cost too much, especially a P3.  I found a Pentium III 733MHz here for $15 http://www.pcsurplusonline.com/viewprod.cfm?ID=5337

One last thing you can try is overclocking your current cpu, if you know about overclocking.

Spyware programs can slow down your computer.  So, make sure you do a clean install of XP.  Install security programs like spybot, zonealarm, avg, adaware.  And keep the Spybot Resident Shield running always to keep rogue programs from changing your registry settings.

With a little effort, you should have a zippy system.

try this. Click start, click run and type msconfig. click services and disable some application that are not started by microsoft corporation or some programs that you might have uninstalled but are still trying to boot when you are working on your computer.

men that must be really annoying, try norton disk because it slows and crashes cos it has a computer virus or error.

In case you didnt know, Norton Disk and most other Norton utilities always install all sorts of stuff on your computer. I dont advise anybody using their products.

otegah:

I have a branded pentium 2 system that works faster than some P3s. All i did was to add about 512MB of Ram,It uses XP,and runs huge programs effectively.

If your system board can recognise more RAM then fine, but most motherboards have a maximum that will be recognised. My IBM 600E claims a maximum of 288 RAM but I have used more than that and it was recognised.

First, i guess your PC has a full memory.I think your RAM is 256mb i guess, changing it to 512mb will enhance the speed.Try and run an antivirus software on it,there are prob some things like spyware files(if connected to the internet),for the crashing, i think you should talk to a computer vendor cos there may be a lot of reasons for it.

For the OP(original poster) for how long have you been running XP on this machine-assuming u are running XP?

I know for a fact that installing/removing programs plays havoc with your registry on a wondows PC, trojans, viruses etc can also make your system run slowly though running XP on a pentium 2 is really asking for it, but when I was doing the same, what I did was to have my work files on a separate disk and to have windows installed on a different disk and whenever I noticed any bloatware, I just re-installed XP but to be honest, you might be better off running Win 2000 on that machine.

The OP should pls tell us the config of her machine. This will really give a lil bit of insight into what best advice we should give.
Without much ado, go to Start -> Run, then type msinfo32.exe. This should display all the info about your computer which you can humbly post 4 our perusal.
Then we should be in a better position to advice. Until then, dont format or increase RAM or purge spyware, adwares and for the recent one which i knew thru this forum "BLOATWARE"((blōt´wãr) (n.) jargon, Software that has lots of features and requires considerable disk space and RAM. As the cost of RAM and disk storage has decreased, there has been a growing trend among software developers to disregard the size of applications. Some people refer to this trend as creeping featuritis. If creeping featuritis is the symptom, bloatware is the disease.)

Usually after a long period of use, and depends on how you use it, your computer can become "clogged" of viruses, spywares, malware, and all those wares that love to bog and slow down your computer and promote system instabilities. Other possibility would be simply because something happened unexpectedly, like occasional crash that can produce even more frequent crashes. It can also be any hardware problem also; over time, your harddrive motor or head may have problems operating, or the Electrolyte Condensators on your motherboard start leaking and create slowdowns and crashes.

First thing should be reinstalling operating system (I suppose its Windows?). If after reinstalling operating system, your computer still have problems, then it may be hardware problem. The easier way would be to buy a brand new system. Otherwise you have to troubleshoot.

This makes sense only if your computer was previously well. But if your computer is slow and crashes all the time from the beginning, return it or replace with a new one. Slow and crash can also be caused by a certain software that you install and run on the computer.

Ccleaner is the application I use to clean up my system when my pc slows down because of viruses, trojans or malwares. Free Download here
http://registry-cleaner.comodo.com/
One of the best and most trustworthy free reg. cleaners
Do all these and Perform speed here http://www.scanmyspeed.com/ once it will sounds better ...