New T400 - very slow...

Hi All,

I just receivedmy new T400 with Vista Basic and it runs really slow. I have 1 gb memory (I will add 2gb next week). In the meanwhile, I need help with the following:

1. I am using AVG as AntiVirus and tried to install ZoneAlarm/Comodo firewall with little success - it slowed the system. Can someone recommend a firewall which is compatible?

2. I saw the processs in the task manager shows 100 - how do I lower that? I want to uninstall the things I do not need which came with the computer, but I do not know what is important anad what not. Can someone guide me through this?

For example what is the Lenovo welcome? the Message Center?

Thanks!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532
There you go.

 

Good call.

May even want to do a clean install.

 

Without the additional 2GBs Vista will run slow even with the best tweaks. I made a clean install on a Dell E6400 with Vista Home Basic and 1GB and it still ran very slow. Upgrading to 3GBs gave a huge performance boost! Go for it!

 

I agree...vista on 1gig is a bare min.

 

Thanks! very good guide!!

Do you have tips regarding a firewall?

 

The windows firewall is fine for most users, unless you have a specific need for more advanced firewall features (in which case you'd know).

 

Vista with only 1GB is too slow. Vista is a ram-hog and loves lots of memory. It runs decent with at least 2GB of memory.

 

comodo and zonealarm are decent free firewalls although I am using NIS2009. I liked the detection rate of KIS2009 too.

Look for DDR3 RAM on Newegg for good deals mate.

 

Yeah, I like Comodo. But, if things are really slow, you may just leave the Vista firewall on.

 

A suggestion for you on the RAM upgrade...
If you upgrade in matched pairs (e.g., 2 1G sticks) your performance will be much better than singles or mismatched; the nature of DDR is to allow running the memory channels in parallel so it functionally "doubles" bandwidth (Hence "D" DR). You can run unmatched pairs, but it won't double the rate, just run each channel "singly".
This is the downside to starting w/ only 1 Gig... for the $$ you might as well just get 1 more 1 Gig (2 total) unless you want to eat the cost of 2 2 Gigs.

I'm doing 2 Gigs matched and it's smokin'... but also XP Pro ;-)

 

My T400 has 2GB RAM and 2GB Turbo Memory and is fine with Vista Ultimate. I did do a clean install, but I did not 'tweak' any services and left most processes for the Thinkpad software/tools running, as I prefer not to change anything unless I know there's a problem that can be solved by 'tweaking'.

Good luck with your system.

 

Thanks for the post! I thought of adding 2gb, however based on your reply I will add only 1gb.

 

Just a clarifying question:

If I add 2x1gb, hence having total 3gb of memory, it will boost my performance over adding 2gb stick or adding only 1 gb?

Thanks.

 

3 gb should be faster than 2 gb no matter what.

 

Yes, but not really. Vista appears to require 2GB minimum to achieve adequate headroom/expected performance. While 3GB will provide even more headroom, most of Vista’s needs are already satisfied with 2GB. While the extra 1GB will be leveraged, with some performance benefit, you will more readily notice the extra 1GB performance advantage when running many or “large” applications.

 

You only have 2 total slots for ram. It wouldn't be possible to add 2x1gb more =P

You will either have to get a single 2gb module, or install the 2x1gb kit for a total of 2gb.

2gb is the minimum to run Vista without headaches from my experience. 1gb is sufficient for XP.

If funds permit, I'd try and get a 4gb kit (2x2gb). Even if you're running 32-bit, it'll still be fine (only about 3.2gb will show available). Otherwise, just add the 2gb single module and run in single channel mode.

 

While you are correct there are only two slots for RAM, the rest of this is false. 3GB will work fine.

 

I may have mistyped:

He can add an addition 2gb module (total of 3gb) or remove the current 1gb module and add a 2x1gb pair.