I'm SOOO mixed up! Please help

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping that some kind soul will help me. I am STRUGGLING! I have a 4 year old HP computer, and a 3 year old 40D. I'm starting to feel the need for some upgrades. So a couple of months ago I decided to upgrade to windows 7, (from Vista) and for a couple of weeks it was really fast (running actions, importing pictures, and flipping through them in lightroom2) and now it is really sluggish again. Is it weird that that would happen so quickly? My dream camera is the 5D markii and I have been saving pennies for a really long time, and I'm finally close! I have $2,500 saved. But lately I've been second guessing myself. If I'm struggling now with the speed of my computer, am I going to crash if I try adding 21 mp shots? I just don't know what to do! I'm going to make the switch to an imac when I upgrade the computer. (excited about the new line) but it will have to be one this year, and one next year. I can't afford 5D & imac at the same time. Does anyone have any insight for me? Which do you see as a higher priority? I want them both so badly. Help me please.....???
This is my blog if you want to see the results I'm getting with my 40D www.federkeil.blogspot​.com

Since the camera has a direct impact on image quality, and the computer secondary at best my upgrade path would be the camera first. It seems to me you might have issues beyond simple age if your current computer slowed down within two weeks of the upgrade.

I thought the same thing, but I'm not computer savy enough to know what problems I'm up against. I just wasn't sure I wanted to put more money into trying to fix this one, when I really want a new one. The guy that helped me with the windows 7 upgrade put a couple of clean up programs that run on a regular basis. One is called one click clean up, and one is perfect disc 11.

Not a fan of Vista or Win7, but spyware might be an issue for you. That stuff can clog up the workings of computers really easily. Ad Aware by Lavasoft is decent and free. Also, be sure to regularly run housekeeping on your harddrive--defragment, clean up old files so it will run faster, etc. I've got a Dell Dimension 4600 running XP--obviously not state of the art--and it takes some vigilance to keep it clean of internet barnacles and flotsam.

my desktop is also over 4 years old, it is a core 2 duo 2.4ghz with 5GB ram and 2TB storage. currently i am running win 7 64bit, and it has no problem working with my 18mp raw file in LR3 or PS. as the previous poster has mentioned, keeping your pc clean is more important than having a faster processor. keep your windows update running, and regularly install the security updates released by Microsoft. you can use one of the Free Antivirus programs, i am using Avira, Malwarbytes Anti Malware is another good program to check your pc for spywares and malwares.

What's the spec of the computer? That's more important than the age.

paulkaye wrote in post #12348429
What's the spec of the computer? That's more important than the age.

Agreed, pls post computer specs. A computer upgrade is always nice, but I'm still able to use a 10yr old Dell. You may need some fine tuning or minimal hardware upgrades.

Windows 7 is generally lighter on resources than Vista.. gotta be virus/spyware/adware.

Here's a few programs you may want to download and install. Update before you use them.

Avira Anti-Virus

Spybot- Search & Destroy

If anyone even suggests Norton/Symantec software..run for the hills! Don't use it! If you think your PC runs slow now, Norton will bring it to it's knees.

Buy the 5D II, you can always make slow upgrades to your PC over time.. ie: More RAM, SSD (Solid-State hard drive).

1Tanker wrote in post #12349818
Windows 7 is generally lighter on resources than Vista.. gotta be virus/spyware/adware.

Here's a few programs you may want to download and install. Update before you use them.

Avira Anti-Virus

Spybot- Search & Destroy

If anyone even suggests Norton/Symantec software..run for the hills! Don't use it! If you think your PC runs slow now, Norton will bring it to it's knees.

Buy the 5D II, you can always make slow upgrades to your PC over time.. ie: More RAM, SSD (Solid-State hard drive).

I totally agree!

Malwarebytes is another good solution for removing malware.

Here's a few programs you may want to download and install. Update before you use them.

Avira Anti-Virus

Spybot- Search & Destroy

Funny, Since I switched to my 24" imac three years; i spend all of my extra money extra camera equipment.

make the leap of faith; buy a mac and leave the problematic of world pc computing!

camarillo wrote in post #12350307
Here's a few programs you may want to download and install. Update before you use them.

Avira Anti-Virus

Spybot- Search & Destroy

Funny, Since I switched to my 24" imac three years; i spend all of my extra money extra camera equipment.

make the leap of faith; buy a mac and leave the problematic of world pc computing!

Macs are also PCs, and windows isn't virus prone because it is insecure, it is virus prone because people download stupid stuff.

An uninformed person could download and install a virus on a mac too...

I am a mac user.

The first thing to check when a computer gets slow is, which program starts automatically. Almost every application puts something to autostart - so i recommend you get the little application 'autoruns' - you'll get it direct from Microsoft. And then you check/decide, what you need to start automatically and what not.
Very often the computer is slow because of the masses of programs working in the background. Except from services and drivers, the only application which starts automatically on my computer is the anti-virus.

Cheers
flop

As a sysadmin, I can tell you that is pure nonsense. Back in the day it might be true, but it is not and has not been the case for many years.


To the OP:

1. Upgrades can be ok, but your best bet is to backup all your data and format the drive. Then install Win7 (this really should have been done in the first place)

2. EDIT: I read the specs from another person, sorry. What are YOUR specs? How much RAM? What CPU?

You can get away with 2GB of RAM for Win7 32bit and 4GB of RAM for 64bit. If you are running a 32bit OS, you are limited to ~3GB of RAM. If you have a 64bit OS, you are not limited and 4GB is not expensive. (I am assuming you have a 64bit processor as most are 64bit despite the 32bit OS)

3. ++ to Malwarebytes

4. If you're the type of person that installs a ton of crap (i.e. screen savers or all the small bundled crap-ware that comes with other programs, etc...) it could be running in the background.

Go to Start
Go to the Run/search box
type in msconfig (hit enter)
go to the startup tab
Un-check all the crap that is starting up (note: this only prevents it from starting. If you need something back, just go back and check it)
Reboot

This will also give you some what of an idea if you have strange programs launching and possible malware or a virus.

It might be hard to make sense of what to uncheck. Just look at the name and manufacturer. If it is associated with your sound card as an example, leave it. Uncheck the rest of the crap you never use.

5. I saved the best for last. The single most noticeable upgrade you can do would be to buy a SSD. Preferably one with a Sandforce controller like in the OCZ models. The new Vertex 3 SSD will do 550MB/s (read) and 315MB/s (write). This will blow away ANY rotational hard drive away by a HUGE factor. (think 300% performance increase)

This insane performance comes at a price (as it always does). The Vertex 3 is $249 for 120GB and $499 for 240GB.

You would want to run your OS off the drive and your critical programs like LR and PS, but storage and most other programs should be run from another drive.

lostpacket wrote in post #12350850
As a sysadmin, I can tell you that is pure nonsense. Back in the day it might be true, but it is not and has not been the case for many years.

As someone who did local computer repairs up til just under 2 years ago, it was the case..i've had to remove it off many machines. Have they got their act together in the past year??

Yes, there are many unnecessary start-up apps that can be stopped, and also many, many unnecessary services that can be stopped... but you have to know what you're doing, and/or have someone walk you through it. Even turning off a lot of 7's eye-candy, etc... these can all turn a Windows 7/Vista slug, into a decent performing machine.