caffrey Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 Do you all refresh your Windows 7 PC's after a set amount of time ? Seem to be getting a lot of rot here and PC's are slowing down a lot (coupled with the fact they are ancient). OS on the majority was installed over a year ago.
3s-gtech Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 No preset time, but I do an annual spec review and anything that doesn't come up to scratch is put in for the next planned batch of replacements. That spec hanges depending on our requirements - for example we're finding that 4GB+ of RAM is desirable for Photoshop to work nicely, but Core 2 stuff still works fine. No HDDs anywhere. It means that when I can't upgrade existing machines to the spec required, I then look at replacing the units.
rad Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 I rebuilt 95% of the school over the Summer. It was due to a RM update that was just as easy to rebuild. We are also renumbering at the same time so it has also given us an opportunity to clear up the AD.
googlemad Posted September 29, 2015 Posted September 29, 2015 You need SSDs. Nice and cheap now and a huge performance boost I know you're referring to older machines but our most recent summer machines (i3/8gb/128gb SSD) boot Windows 7 up in <5 seconds. Windows 10 from a quick test was even faster!
caffrey Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 These are pentium 4s with 2 gig of ram.. Windows 7 barely goes on them (no official graphics drivers) with original 80 gig(!) harddrives although they are SATA , I doubt SSDs would make a huge difference on them
Arthur Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 I doubt SSDs would make a huge difference on them We have some Dell OptiPlex GX280s that are a very similar spec. SSDs do make a noticeable difference, although the PCs are way overdue for replacement so it's probably not worth spending any additional money on them.
3s-gtech Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 I'll agree, our last P4s went a couple of years ago, they really are too long in the tooth to bother. If they're 945G based, no problem with graphics drivers. If they're 915G based though, you're right - no Aero, just an old Vista driver and it ain't pretty. On the plus side - you've got great value out of some 10+ year old hardware!
Oaktech Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 I'd be looking to get some new machines... If that really isn't an option, I build a new image roughly every 6 months to include all the OS and Office updates, latest flash player and reader updates. I usually apply that image to the IT suite once it's built if nothing else. The system runs a script once a month that clears all profiles except admin from the machines and defrag runs as a scheduled task every saturday morning when the machines aren't in use. It keeps our core2duo/120gb machines fresh enough to be always usable
caffrey Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 The rate we're going, these will be still in service for a few more years Just gets a little long in the tooth being constantly asked if there is anything I can do to speed them up!
3s-gtech Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Yes, a tall building and Newton's most famous theory. 1
caffrey Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 To be fair, that's probably the best thing for them!
VeryPC_Anthony_L Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Hi @caffrey It sounds like you could do with some new machines. The issue often is unless there is a rigid renewal/ upgrade plan in place then it gets difficult as everything gets old. In reality the PCs are actually not that slow. What makes them slow is the requirements of the software that needs to be running on them. As people have said you could upgrade parts like the harddrives to SSD which will make abit of a difference. I guess till you have the funds its a keep going job - not fun.
caffrey Posted September 30, 2015 Author Posted September 30, 2015 Oh they are slow believe me - if you've not used a p4 in a while! For instance my base image I push out will take about half a day inc. updates per machine... newer machines take 20 mins or so.
southhamster Posted September 30, 2015 Posted September 30, 2015 Half a DAY. That's truly impressive! One of my schools still has some Dell optiplex 170L which were donated about 3 years ago. Damn things will not die but they are still just about usable with 2gb RAM.
caffrey Posted October 26, 2015 Author Posted October 26, 2015 Just tried a SSD in one of the old P4's .... I may as well not have bothered!
claireadams Posted October 27, 2015 Posted October 27, 2015 I usually ask for software requirements for our main suites and create a new image every summer. Clears out all the stuff they don't use anymore, generally speeds them up and I tend to go round and clean them out (literally clean them, get rid of all the dust ect in the fans) during the half term before.
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