I got a vista 32bit laptop with 53gb on the C drive and 111gb on the D drive and 3 gb of ram. Lately it's been slower so I ran CCleaner and defragger and it freed up 30 gb, i wouldn't say its slow still but whenever i use firefox it sometimes freezes for like 30secs to about 1min anyone know whats wrong? The screen started flashing yesterday so I turned it off and havent used it since, anyone know why it did that.
Its 3 years old I got another that's a windows 7, do you any thoughts as to why the screen was flashing?
What you need to do is put Windows XP on your computer, possibly 7. I'm assuming it coming with Vista was a selling point at the time of your purchase. 'Conscious' PC users know how awfully slow Vista is, especially for older laptops. Problem is you need an XP disc, and I would suggest going to manufacturers websites for your individual hardware components to get XP drivers ahead of time. Also back up your files... I'm 99% sure your computer will be fast after though. I've done this for many people, turning their computer from 'too slow to use' to running great by formatting their vista drive and installing XP or 7. Since you have 2 drives, if one isn't a factory restoration drive (or even if it is).. You can install XP on the other drive, and have a dual boot option. (When you start your computer it will ask you to select and hit enter for the operating system you want to use). Good luck.
I like the way macs look but I don't like the way they feel, haha do you know what I'm saying or am I confusing you?
Most of the time, the screen flashing (or flickering like a bad fluorescent bulb) is caused by either a bad backlight (bulb inside your screen) or a bad FL inverter (converts the low voltage dc that runs your computer to high voltage ac to power the bulb). There is always the chance it is a cable issue, or motherboard problem although those are less likely. The backlights can be changed, but it is a job for someone that knows what they are doing. If you arent carefull when disassembling the layers of the lcd, your picture will be crap when you put it back together, or it wont work at all. The inverter is easy to change, but you run the risk of breaking plastics when taking the front bezel off the screen. Find you a copy of 7 if you want to upgrade the operating system. Xp is just too outdated, and wont really be supported much longer. It's like putting the engine from a 73 pinto into a new ford fusion. Sure you can do it, but why the hell would you want to. Xp was great for a long time, but at some point it's just time to move on. Linux is free, but if you arent a "computer person" I would advise against it. Yes it runs great. Sure there are a ton of open source apps out there for free. While it has come a long way in being user friendly, it still has a long way to go as well. The mainstream application support just isnt where it needs to be in my opinion.
No I don't use linux as a user... Only for machines hosting web servers, although one day I plan to learn ASP.NET so I can use my VBScriptz and be done with linux for good!
In that case you may like it, just try it first. Download the latest ISO for Ubuntu, and boot your laptop from the live cd. If it is more practical for you, take the ISO and a flash drive and use a program called unetbootin and it will make a bootable linux live flash drive for you. You can also use either method, and do a full install to a flash drive to get a more full expierience. You can also install linux on your d drive, while keeping windows on the cd drive and dual boot. Ive done this several times for the heck of it. One time I had an issue with the MBR because the linux install overwrote my MBR on the c: drive, but it was easily remedied by removing the d: drive and running the fix mbr command from a prompt. Then again, since you have another laptop it never hurts to experiment. You can always install it to your primary hard drive and see how you like it, as long as you have a windows cd to re-install with if you are not happy. Sometimes drivers can be touchy, or hard to find for linux since some hardware manufacturers dont like to release source code. Its just hard to explain the little quirks until you try it.
Ok thanks for the help and advice you really helped out a lot, I'll plus rep you when I get on my laptop