[mv84167]

We have a Dell Mini 1010 with Win7 that has always been slow. We have three other Dells and non of them are as slow as this one. From online activities to word processing to caming, everything runs slow. In three years, nobody uses except me as i try to speed it up.

I have rebuilt the machine, removed everything i could from startup and just user the machine for webbing. I bought a software to clean, defrag and speed everything up, nada.

Yesturday i heard that Dell nvr got the Dell mini to work well with Win7. Not sure if that incluides my 1010. I tried, at one tme, the updates at Dell and my whole Mini system stopped working.

Is there an update or a partch availible that would get my M,ini running normal. My 8yo Dell 12.1 XP is way faster than my Mini.

thx

Lorena

[largeelvis]

There is not a whole lot you can do. I use my desktop for the bulk of my work and use the netbook for a couple of emergency posts and or photo/editing on the road. Microsoft initially hamstrung win7 starter netbooks with the 3 application limit (since recinded), but also briefly imposed a 1GB ram limit as well (most win7 starter netbooks have either a 2gb of ram or are upgradeable).

Limiting yourself to one app or program at a time helps. Tried several flavors of sd cards and enabled readyboost. Benefits were minimal and errors were regular. According to Microsoft, usb sticks are better suited for readyboost. I am going to try a high speed 2gb or 4gb one.

Slimming down or disabling unneccessary visual elements does help, albeit slightly. A few good tweaks are available here, but set a restore point before tweaking.

Tips for improving Windows 7 performance on a netbook - Super User

Uninstalling unneccessary programs, programs that run in the start menu, and programs that phone home will also help, albeit slightly. Using Microsoft Security Essentials with the windows firewall (not my first choice on a normal desktop or laptop) might also reduce the drag on a system. Disable bluetooth if you don't use it.

You mentioned purchasing a cookie cleaner. Not really neccessary for a netbook like this. You can try CC Cleaner for free (uncheck MS Antimalware and MS Management Console under Applications > Windows if you use Microsoft Security Essentials and don't want an nag message), also google CC Cleaner enhancer if you want it to clean more programs. You can also do more than enough tweaks with the free trial version of Advanced System Care 4 or 5. The paid version does not do too much more for a netbook. I would recommend everything but the registry cleaner in ASC, it is very powerful and can cause problems.

That is about it for tips I have found. Not really sure if it is worth taking one of these apart to get it to 2GB of ram. You can go to my computer, right click on C and run a checkdsk at next boot (enable check for disk errors). You could also defrag the disk, but it is not recommended to run that repeatedly on this netbook. Heat can also cause hangups and slow down a machine.

Probably the best tip is to back-up and remove as much data off of the netbook as possible. Removed a large email and photo archive off my netbook and the MS performance score went from a 2.1 to a 2.3. You can go into Control Panel > Performance and Information and check your current score, then re-run the assessment after tweaking. You can also generate a system health report from there.

In Internet Explorer, under manage add-ons you can show (all add-ons) and sort them by the column load time (if it is not there, right click on title bar and add it). Uninstall add-ons you don't need or that you didn't know were there, and you can also check under view > toolbars to see if any toolbars were installed. Uninstall those in control panel > programs.

If you are not using IE9, use it. Lots of ways you can streamline that (and also re-enable some of the nerfed features of Win7 starter like group policy edits and background). Make sure the latest versions of flash, java and adobe acrobat reader are all updated (flash 10.1 might work better with some videos on the Dell Mini 1010, but I like to keep it updated). If online video streaming is your problem, download Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, and try those. Chrome seems to be the best.

That is all I can remember on tweaking my netbook. Even with that, mine is still sluggish at times. Tried watching a pair of 720p sports vidoes last night, and both were extremely choppy and unwatchable. The latest VLC 2.0 media player came out this week, but I also have Media Player Home Cinema on mine (I also paid for the CoreAVC video decoder for MPHC, but rarely use it).

Anyone have any other tips?

[largeelvis]

Read up a little on readyboost for Windows 7 and it appears that for systems with 1-2gb of ram this can actually help a little. Here is a thread with a lot of information (they note that most internal sd card readers are usually wired to an internal usb port, slowing them down). There is also a question of whether readyboost data persists from one session to another.

Best Windows 7 Readyboost USB Flash Drive

I think all of the USB ports on the 1010 are 2.0, here is the USB stick I am going to try for readyboost: http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Flash-...9765111&sr=1-3

[rrfranczak3]

I popped in the 2gb daughter board and let me tell ya, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE, my Mini is actually a REAL computer now

[largeelvis]

Is there a current location/price to buy the daughterboard and RAM? Last time I read a thread on it awhile back you had to haggle with the parts guys at Dell.

[largeelvis]

If you put a high-speed USB stick on the 1010, I didn't really notice a difference in a few videos I tested, but opening and closing programs and performing operations there was a huge difference. About a 30-40% improvement for Photoshop CS2.

[rrfranczak3]

Originally Posted by largeelvis

Is there a current location/price to buy the daughterboard and RAM? Last time I read a thread on it awhile back you had to haggle with the parts guys at Dell.

well I paid like $160 for the daughterboard which most will not, if you are interested PM me, otherwise maybe search

PS. the daughterboard includes the RAM & z530 Processor

[cct1]

The first thing I would try is to restore the computer to its' new configuration from the restore partition on the hard drive. This will require taking any data off the machine and also all the Windows updates being installed afterwards, but worth a shot. Since this is fairly easy and free, I would try it before spending any money...then spend money later if needed.

[largeelvis]

Just an FYI, I am using this USB stick on my 1010 with very good results:
Amazon.com: SanDisk Cruzer 4 GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ36-004G: Electronics

If anyone can find a readyboost usb drive available in the micro form factor, post a link. Example of a non-readyboost usb micro drive: Amazon.com: Verbatim Store 'n' Stay 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 97462 (Black): Electronics

[largeelvis]

This is another collection of settings and registry tweaks to speed up WIN7:
Speed Up Windows 7 – Master Tutorial to Make Windows 7 Super Fast - Tweaking with Vishal