
Reply To: Professional Services Assistance
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sorry for the late reply.. didn’t get email notification of the post. Information overload on the way.. this got unintentionally long.
Windows 8.. ugh. that was the one they built to be compatible with mobile devices and forgot that it still had to be desktop functional too. I remember most of the bitching was about how much time it was taking to “update” the system, when it was really to fix what they forgot.
I must have a few years on you. We had a pc in the house in the late 80s – windows 3.1 I think, with floppy discs out the wazoo. Dad worked for Honeywell in the computer engineering dept.
I assume yours is all updated and they’ve quit supporting it now, which for microsoft is a good thing.
I think for now, you’re going to want to just clean up the system.
I like external programs to clean with rather than the built in windows stuff. I’d start with malwarebytes.. safe download from major geeks with video tutorial.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/adwcleaner.html
After using that one, go ahead an uninstall it, it tends to bog things down if used as a preventative.
That one generally makes a big difference in response time.
There are quite a few games that don’t work in Linux… I’m not a gamer so all that is greek to me.
My “games” are like bejeweled. Simple match 3 games with pretty colors.
Nobody wants sulky kids because the computer doesn’t play their games.
I’m trying to remember how, in windows, to find the RAM (memory) information. It has to be in the control panel somewhere.. system info maybe… oooo Device Manager.. (scurries off to get directions)
ok.. right click on “my computer” and at the bottom of the drop down click properties. The page that opens is the basic info page.. under “system” it says installed memory (RAM)
for windows 8, I’d expect to see maybe 2 GB..though it could be as low as 500 MB. Memory doesn’t always age well either.
It is entirely possible that the games the kids are playing need more memory than the machine has and animation software really needs robust memory.
I wish I could take a peak at your motherboard and it’s stats. Some are built with expansion in mind so extra memory can be added.
By memory, I mean a piece of hardware that goes in a slot on the board.. sometimes there are two slots.
To find motherboard information, Start menu> windows tools > system information.
On the page that comes up you’ll find the manufacturer of the board and it’s model number sometimes called baseboard product. If you post that info, I’ll find a pic of the motherboard and see if it’s got expansion slots for more memory.. and if that’s not confusing enough, memory comes in different formats too DDR3..DDR4 etc.
I think I was using DDR3 in my windows 7 machine, pretty sure that variety is still available.. they didn’t dinosaur it yet.
A bootable USB is like a rescue disc.. if the computer just won’t fire up correctly, plug in the USB and boot from there instead of inside the machine. In windows I think you have to have the boot order set up in the bios to go to the USB second if normal start doesn’t work.. I know, more Greek.
External hard drives.. hmm. I have maybe 8 of them from backing up systems since the early 2000s. I don’t think any two are the same brand. Western Digital is the brand I go to for internal hard drives and I’m pretty sure they make external drives too. Prices *eye roll* I don’t even know since the supply chain and inflation went out of control.
I think my 1TB drive was around 80 bucks but it’s been a while and that might be internal drive I got last’s price.
Are your pics and vids in the same folder? If so, right click on the folder, under properties, find the size of the folder(s). You’re going to want a drive that’s at least 20% more storage space than what you want to save. If you fill much more than that the drive can become unstable.
that was a lot, right?