Do I have too much on my laptop? Please Help Me!!! About to give up on Sims2!!

[SweetChoc]

Ok, so after I DL'd AL my laptop started to go really slowly, I DL'd the patch for it, I also did a defrag, disk-cleanup and anything I could think of on the maintenance of my laptop, not sure what else to do?? Please help.. I have all EPs and SP's except Mansion&Garden and Teen Style Stuff... Perhaps I have too much on my laptop?

(by DL I mean download.. this is incase noone understands me). Also please can someone help with my bro's problem, which I have also posted in this section?!! Anyone who can help me I can't thank enugh!

[caffeinated.joy]

It's hard to say without knowing your computer specs. Can you list them please?

[SimGirl20]

Hello

AL is a very laggy slow game anyway I only have I would think 'just enough' RAM or harddrive memory to run the 4 EP's and 2 SP's and 2 GB of CC I have now and especially when you go into BellaDonna Cove it seems to really lagg I would persume because of all the available lots for your apartment loving sims to rent or demolish but for me in any other neighborhood its relativley fast hope this helps a little. . .

[SweetChoc]

I actually am not sure what I have, left my laptop at home, am on a desktop computer at the moment, will check it up when I get back. But thanks SimGirl I think that may possibly be the reason, because before that it worked fine and all my other games (freecell, sollitaire etc. are relatively fast).

[alesukm]

Laptops are notorious for having 'just enough' RAM, my p.c. is slow with AL and i have 2 gb. It probably wouldn't hurt to try to install more ram, if it will take it, especially if you want to game on it.

[SweetChoc]

Alesukm - How do I instal more RAM? I know.. I know ----> lol.

[VampyrMuffinMan]

There are a number of things that can help you out without throwing money at the problem.  If your computer ran fine with Sims before AL, then you probably already have sufficient RAM.  If you are using Windows XP, then there are MANY things that I can suggest, but i would need to know more about your computer to begin suggesting anything.  How much free space do you have on your hard drive?  I run XP Pro with 2 GB of ram and all eps and 4 GB of cc and it runs fine 90% of the time.  One thing you might want to try is getting the no-CD hack and obliterating Securom from your computer.  There are several services that you can turn off to free up RAM and speed things up.  One site that you can check out is www.blackviper.com.  Very good site for finding ways to optimize windows.  If you are running out of room on your hard drive, you can check out my HubPages site for freeing up a good chunk of your hard drive.  Good luck

[alesukm]

I've never opened up a laptop, some of the time it breaks a warranty seal on the bottom. other than that it's almost like a desktop. but find out what the specs are and ask a genuine computer expert for further assistance, i'm sure there's one around here somewhere.


and vamp... come on only 4 gig in your cc folder? 

[VampyrMuffinMan]

I've never opened up a laptop, some of the time it breaks a warranty seal on the bottom. other than that it's almost like a desktop. but find out what the specs are and ask a genuine computer expert for further assistance, i'm sure there's one around here somewhere.


and vamp... come on only 4 gig in your cc folder? 

It got trimmed down not too long ago and I haven't really been downloading anything of late.  Believe it or not, 6 months ago I had over 600 GB worth of stuff on 5 hard drives.  Now I'm down to three hard drives and I am down to about 165 GB.  The rest is now on about 150 DVDs...

[SweetChoc]

Thanks for all your help... right the information I know about my laptop is that its Aspire3694WLMi, Intel CeleronM Processor 440 (1.86GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache) 15.4" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite LCD (16ms) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, 80GB HDD, 512MB DDR2, 802.11b/g wireless Lan... If that makes any sense to you guys. 

I also have 2 drives Drive C: is the one I use for all my games etc.  with only 1.4GB free of 32.5GB and the other drive is 26.8GB is free of 32.2GB.   

Dont know if any of this information helps at all?   Thanks for helping me thus far.

[VampyrMuffinMan]

Thanks for all your help... right the information I know about my laptop is that its Aspire3694WLMi, Intel CeleronM Processor 440 (1.86GHz, 533MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache) 15.4" WXGA Acer CrystalBrite LCD (16ms) Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, 80GB HDD, 512MB DDR2, 802.11b/g wireless Lan... If that makes any sense to you guys. 

I also have 2 drives Drive C: is the one I use for all my games etc.  with only 1.4GB free of 32.5GB and the other drive is 26.8GB is free of 32.2GB.  

Dont know if any of this information helps at all?   Thanks for helping me thus far.

There are a couple of things that you can do.  First, 512 MB is not much RAM.  Fortunately, DDR2 for laptops is pretty cheap right now.  If your computer can handle it, I would suggest upgrading to 2 GB.  http://tinyurl.com/c8ymro <== Here are some nice cheap sets with free shipping from Newegg...  To Free up some room, you could move your My Documents folder to the other partition (my My Documents folder is around 6 GB) which is not too difficult.  Another option would be to make the C: partition larger.  Moving the partitions around is a not so keen an idea, though if you back up your second drive (looks like it would fit on 1 DVD), then it should be no problem as the drive in danger would be the one that you are shrinking.  In any case, you should move your My Documents Folder, I think.

This will take some time to complete once you finish the last step, but here is how to move your My Documents folder...

Click on the Start button and then right-click on My Documents.
Select Properties from the pop up menu.
In the My Documents Properties window, select "Move".
In the Select a Destination window, find your other hard drive partition (probably D:) and click on it to highlight it.
Now click on the Make New Folder button at the bottom left of the Select a Destination Window.
In place of New Folder type My Documents.
Now hit enter (or click the OK button in the Select a Destination Window).
Click on the OK button in the My Documents Properties window.
Windows will ask if you want to move your documents; click Yes.
Now wait as it moves all of your stuff...

After it has finished, let your computer cool/settle down for a while (not necessary with a desktop).  Now it would probably be a good time to defragment your C: drive.

If this isn't straight forward enough, I can have a little more detailed tutorial up on my HubPages complete with pictures in a day or two.

I never did get to ask you...  Have you set your System Restore to a resonable size?  On a 40 GB HD, the default 12% takes up almost 5 GB.  Set it to 2% or turn it off if you back up your system regularly.

[Madison-Simple-As-That]

Just to add a bit of info, I use a laptop for sims 2, and I've found that Sims 2 runs MUCH better on a desktop than a laptop.

But don't flip out, I'm using a laptop and it works fine, just wanted to say that a desktop would be better. 

[SweetChoc]

Thanks for the help, I am moving my my documents folder atm, fingers crossed.

I did ask my boyf if he wanted to swap computers but he wouldnt and we dont have enuf space for two desktops.