Is my computer too old?

[Disco Stu Lives]

Toshiba Satellite C655D, AMD E-240 Processor 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM, 64 bit Windows 7

Been using old version of Firefox (15) and Flash(10.3). Videos (youtube mostly) play fine. Still do. But it's getting to be like 50% of the sites I visit now say my browser is too old and some sites will not even display. I bit the bullet and upgraded to Chrome--latest version. Youtube is now choppy. I compared CPU utilization in firefox setup and it's 30-50% but in chrome setup it's solid 100%. I've tried forcing youtube to use flash instead of HTML5 in Chrome but it's just as bad. I'm not playing HD just 360p videos.

My feeling at this point is my computer is too old to run the newer versions of browsers and flash. Am I correct? I'm not in touch with what is considered normal stats for computers now.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

All current browsers should support Win7 just fine. And your hardware shouldn't impact what browsers you can run, though it will likely be slow for video.

Have you run all the Windows updates, including the optional ones?

What's your main browser & version?

Antivirus installed and up to date?

 

[jaguarskx]

Yeah, Chrome is more CPU intensive than FireFox, but FireFox generally uses more RAM than Chrome. Have you given Internet Explorer a shot?

The AMD-240 is a rather weak processor, but assume it should still be okay for browsing the internet. As suggested above by Someone Somewhere, try updating all your drivers and scan your laptop for any potential viruses. I also recommend downloading the following program (CCleaner) which can be used to clean up your Windows Registry. Over time the Window Registry file can become bloated which can cause a slowdown.

http/www.piriform.com/CCLEANER


The last resort is to reinstall Windows. You will need to backup any important data on your C: drive though, because doing so will delete all the data on that drive. This is a sure fire way of deleting any crap that may be causing your laptop to be slower than it should be.

 

[3ogdy]

Wait - when you were told your browser (Firefox is the browser in question) was too old, did you try to update Firefox to its latest version? Firefox 15 is indeed old - I think the latest one is Firefox 36 or so. You need to open the browser, open the menu from the Menu button on the right side of the window next to the search bar, then you will have a question mark at the bottom - click that and you should find the About button - open it and you'll be presented with a new window where you'll be able to check for updates.

Check this out: http/goo.gl/y98UTt

If you're still having issues, don't hesitate to post here or get in touch at m3technologies@yahoo.com

 

[Construkt]

As previously mentioned, Chrome can be CPU intensive for lower end machines. Go with Internet Explorer. It's not as nice in my experience, but it's considerably more lightweight.

Also, do a detailed cleanup of your machine. I like to run Spybot and Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware every once in awhile to clean anything I may have picked up. Some of the advanced options are nice for registry cleaning as well, but CCleaner tends to be better for that.

Also make sure you aren't running a really overbearing anti-virus or anything. I don't even run one anymore on my desktop, but AVG Free is the best option in my experience. Others have more "features" but that just adds to resource consumption, and when you don't have much to begin with, it can be too much.