Hello. I have Logos 3 Silver and did the minimal crossgrade to 4. I honestly haven't been able to use Logos extensively for a while. Part of the reason is my four kids (5 and under) keep me busy. Another reason is the fact that the laptop I have Logos installed on is VERY slow. I'm not sure if it's VISTA, Norton 360, Logos (taking up lots of hard drive space) or some other factor. The PC is 4-5 years old, has an INTEL 1.6ghz processor (I think, I'm not at home at the moment) and 1GB RAM. I've never liked VISTA, and was wondering if upgrading to Windows 7 would make the computer faster, or if a clean wipe and install of Vista night help. Let me know your thoughts and thanks!
Nick, Gratz on a quiver full of 5 & unders!
I'll give you my opinions (I'm sure you'll get plenty of others [;)]) based on >25 years in Information Technology support and management. First the MINIMUM requirements for Logos 4 are:
A: The minimum requirements for running Logos 4 on a PC are: Pentium 4 1 GHz (or AMD equivalent- 1.3 GHz or higher) 1 GB RAM (2GB for Windows 7 & Vista) Windows XP SP3 DVD drive 12 GB hard drive space on local drive (May require additional space depending on your library). 1024X600 Display 256 MB DirectX 9 graphics device Internet connection required for activation & updates
A: The minimum requirements for running Logos 4 on a PC are:
So, you meet the system requirements (barely) for running it under Vista, but not under Win7 (you need 2GB RAM vs. your 1GB). So that limits your options just a tad. Also with a laptop of that age, you most likely have a 5,400RPM hard drive which by comparison with a faster 7,800/10,000/15,000RPM drive is dramatically slower (most new laptops come standard with a 7,800RPM drive and at least 2GB RAM).
My long love/hate relationship with Vista indicates that a couple of things will help you, if a new laptop isn't on the horizon:
One last thing. I see that you're also using Norton 360. Its my personal opinion that this product eats an inordinate amount of CPU cycles, and thereby slows systems down dramatically. There are outstanding Antivirius applications that are free and are much more efficient; for example, AVG Free Edition 2011 or another called Avast! Again, if I were you, I'd remove Norton 360 and install AVG Free.
So! Things you can do that are instant and free: Remove Norton 360, install AVG Free, defrag the hard drive. All of these will help, but the cure is a faster machine with as much RAM as you can afford and the fastest HD you can afford.
you're also using Norton 360. Its my personal opinion that this product eats an inordinate amount of CPU cycles
I watch a number of tech forums... When I see posts about Norton, it's usually in this vein: slow response... eats cpu.
I affirm Bro Mark's recommendation of AVG Free for non-business use. And if you want a firewall, Microsoft's is more than adequate if you add the free (non-business) Windows Firewall Control from Sphinx (http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/order.html?from=Windows7FirewallControl). It runs under Vista or W7. It adds per application inbound/outbound controls to the Windows Firewall...
Blessings!
Simply put, you need more memory. 1GB is barely enough for your OS, must less running Norton and Logos.
Mike, your point is accurate from a user's perspective for sure. MS says that 512MB (half a GB) is the minimum requirement, but Vista tends to "expand" to fill available space in RAM. One thing that I should add for the original poster is: If you are running Aero desktop, or Media Center, those are RAM hogs. You don't need them, and they are causing even more swap than you'd normally see.
"Swap" is when the OS uses your hard drive as though it was RAM. Every OS since UNIX has used this function and you can imagine how much slower it is to read/write to a HD than to RAM. So kill those unnecessary features and applications!
Its accurate from every perspective.
has an INTEL 1.6ghz processor (I think
It needs to be Core 2 Duo or Core Duo which you should see on a sticker on the laptop, otherwise any upgrades will be futile!
I'll just add that I would not buy a laptop with a 5400 RPM drive for Logos, either. It makes a significant difference to have a 7200 RPM drive.
I was running under Vista with 2 GB of RAM and a 5400 RPM HD at first. Had a Core 2 Duo at 2 GHz. It was unbearably slow. I upgraded to 4 GB of RAM, a 7200 RPM drive, and Windows 7 and was a much happier camper. But when I did that my laptop was two years old, yours is much older. Your processor speed is marginal even if you brought everything else up, so it is not worth upgrading IMO. When you can afford a new laptop check back here and ask for the then-current recommendations. (I know that probably isn't what you want to hear and sounds dismissive. It isn't. You are just in a dead end for that laptop as far as Logos 4 goes. Logos needs more.)
What I have now is in my signature block and is a great Logos machine.
One thing that I've never seen mentioned on these forums is that once you get things set just the way you want them (either on the old or a new system), you can image the hard drive.
Do a Google forum search for "disk image" (Hooton OR Pavich) [;)] e.g. http://community.logos.com/forums/p/4386/34265.aspx#34265
I usually comment that a disk image is my only backup and you can restore individual files if necessary (Ac**is).
I just upgraded my RAM on my laptop from 4 GB to 8 GB with noticeable load time difference. 2x4GB RAM can be found for under $60 on some large computer part websites.
What a beautiful comment! Thank you! From Psalm 127 I am sure!
*smile*
Definitely get as much RAM as possible, minimum 2 GB for L4 and other programs to co-exist. 4GB will be wasted unless you have a 64-bit operating system.
Observation: if 4 GB RAM is installed in a system running 32 bit operating system, then ~3.3 GB RAM is available for application programs (with 0.7 GB RAM for device drivers).
If plan to install more than 4 GB RAM, recommend 64 bit operating system.
Currently Logos 4 is a 32 bit resource intensive application that can used on 32 bit OR 64 bit Windows. Logos 4 does benefit from faster processor (e.g. 2nd Generation Intel Core i5 or i7), graphics, and fast storage along with adequate RAM. For storage, some Solid State Disks (SSD) are much faster than older hard drives, albeit hard drives have better price per capacity. Hard Drive option: partition drive so Logos 4 always has fastest available transfer rate (outer edge of hard disk).
Keep Smiling [:)]
