Upgraded my RAM, but computer doesn't seem any faster

[alchemy]

I recently had the RAM in my PC upgraded from 512MB to 2GB but it doesn't seem to process things any faster  . In fact, in a lot of ways it seems slower, especially when it's saving large(ish) Excel files.

Does anyone have any ideas why??

I have Windows XP and mainly use Excel, MYOB and Word. The AV is Spyware Doctor & Spybot (both updated and run regularly), I run a disc defrag regularly and I clean out the temporary internet files every couple of weeks.

[rogerzilla]

Unless RAM was the limiting factor, it won't speed it up at all.  Try also turning off the pagefile for all drives.  Do you have a 5400rpm (or worse) hard disk?

[alchemy]

Unless RAM was the limiting factor, it won't speed it up at all.  Try also turning off the pagefile for all drives.  Do you have a 5400rpm (or worse) hard disk?

How do I do that? All I know about the hard disk is that it's 80GB, about 3 years old and only has about 15GB of used space.

Sorry, I don't know much about computers

[rogerzilla]

Right click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance, Advanced and Change.  Click the radio button to switch off paging and it will ask you to reboot.  You don't need a pagefile with 2GB of RAM.

[alchemy]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

When I save an Excel file, it takes about 20 - 30 seconds to save it (and it shows the little progress bar at the bottom of the sheet), then the little hourglass turns over and over for about another 20 - 30 seconds. I can't do anything until the hourglass disappears.

Something doesn't seem right - could having the pagefile on be causing this?

[Zipperhead]

Try working through the things on this page - Optimizing Windows XP

I've found it to be very good, and whenever any friends or family complain of poor performance I run through it on their machine. I did one on Sunday and the owner was very pleased with the performance boost.

It's also the first thing I do on my own machines when they get XP loaded.