photoshop

[clarenceclose]

John hit it right. Made wrong assumption and thought you were running different system. Apologies if this got you confused. Should have inquired about system ahead of everything else then you could have gotten some useful advice.

[slipchuck]

Originally Posted by AmandaJL

it's a hewlett packard
system: Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000
manufactured and supported by: Hewlett Packard
Pavilion
GenuineIntel
Intel(r) Celeron(tm) processor
63.0MB RAM
used space: 11.7GB
free space: 16.9GB
its called Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 Starter Edition
-Amanda

I would advise like others to get a new computer. by the time you invest more money in your present machine, it would cover the cost of a new one.
even a very basic computer with some extra ram (at least 1G) would be better then what you have.
I can speak through experence with older computers

think of any computer older then 3 years old like a ford pinto.
no matter how much you spend to upgrade it, it is still a ford pinto.

good luck with your decisions

randy

[clarenceclose]

Ah Pinto...The Ford fireball car.
Randy is correct. Dell has some reasonable deals on much better machines than the one with which you are wrestling.

[xecutech]

To answer your other question, yes those programs will help your computer run better, especially if you surf the web alot.
I agree with everyone else, you really should get a new or newer pc, they are so cheap these days. When you said you had 64 meg of ram, I knew you had an old system.
Dell has deals as low as $300-400 for a basic pc that should be able to run photoshop. Go for more memory than the next model higher when they try to push you to purchase more pc than you can afford.
I wouldn't touch xp if it doesn't have at least 256 in it, and then I am still not real happy.

[jfdavis58]

Well, that's an interesting machine!

Could we get a little information about you? Say a rough idea of your age (I'm male, 48, married 22 years with three children, a chemical engineer by education--on this forum Beth is my oldest child, only daughter, college student, part-time employee in large retail consumer electronics store--general generic bio. We are two very different adult individuals.)

Something about family, home, job. Nothing specific, just what someone could obtain by a quick glance at you from across the street from your home. If you are under 21 years old, clear this with your parent or guardian. If you are in school, you could supply a level: middle, high, college, other and skip the age question. Tell us about your school successes.

And finally something about your computer needs. Do you use it for anything other than Photography? Is it yours alone or shared with a spouse or sibling? This machine you have: a hand me down? used for a long time? What? And Why can you NOT acquire a newer computer? Money is tight for everybody-is that your only problem?

I'm imagining one of two situations: (1) you're a minor child, unemployed, parents cannot or will not buy a new machine for you-perhaps there are other restrictions; (2) you're older, self supporting, fixed income, you cannot afford a newer machine. Give enough info to show which.

Right now is a bad time to buy a new machine. The major outlets are soft-releasing Windows Vista: this means you can see it run and crash in the store, order it and hardware for future delivery, but not walk out the door with anything but a receipt. Windows XP hardware is in very short stock anticipating a full roll-out of Vista in 2-4 weeks; XP will soon be legacy stuff.

I sometimes write like a real egotist: I'm pushy and forceful and a pain in the ...; but I have a good heart. You seem like a nice person who might have some photographic talent--you certainly have stamina and some stubbornness and a desire to be part of this virtual community. Perhaps we can yet find you a solution.

[Jonas B]

Originally Posted by jfdavis58

-snipped away a lot of interesting read-
I sometimes write like a real egotist: I'm pushy and forceful and a pain in the ...; but I have a good heart.

Wov. That is good to know but let us check this with Beth first.

[xecutech]

I disagree that xp will soon be legacy stuff. There are people who are not going to jump and grab vista like the did with xp. Also, xp still has it's issues, so why go to another operating system that demands more system resources.
I see alot of people looking for alternatives to Microsoft... mac and linux....

I am sure there are some local outlets who are still selling units with xp, my hop being one of them. I have been telling alot of people to wait and see how vista perfoms. Microsoft has a habit of releasing software on unsuspecting guinea pigs as a test bed. I am expecting my shop to have an influx of users who tried to upgrade to vista and having issues.... should be a good year for me!

However, you are right as this person may not be able to afford a new computer, especially just for photo editing.

[Photo Tramp]

Amanda,
I'm not going to try and sway you either way here. I would have to agree with Jeff. First if you are a minor you would need to clear giving any information over the forum from your parents. Second if you have financial restraints This is quite understandable. Third after hearing what your computer is you need a new computer to run the software you want to run. With what you now have in the box is just enough to run your windows program and get you on the Internet. the programs you want to run are very large memory grabbing programs and even if you get them installed they will not run right. (it will take forever for a program to open and then if it does moving from window to window would cause a system crash)
The consensus here is if you have the money and if you can find a computer in your price range You would be in better shape. I would suggest the following for you for starters. Either an Intel Pentium 4 or an AMD 64 with at least a 3500+ GHz processor and a 250gb hard drive with 1gb of RAM And windows XP (Stay away from Vista at this time I had the BETA version to try and IMO the money they want for this program and the performance of the program it is not worth it. I would wait for at least a year before installing this program on any machine. It will give them a chance to work out the bugs.

All in all you only need the box not a complete system and a box like this would start around $450 - $600 US And for any one who doubts the pricing There as a little known shop Called Cyber Warehouse and I would recommend them to any one for computers and parts in pricing. there are other alternatives to DELL. ( Dell makes a good product but their marketing and sales have a lot to be desired.)

I hope this helps and I really want only the best of luck for you and your decision.

Good Shooting.
Cheers: David

[AmandaJL]

i'm in high school, um i dont really have school successes right now and yes i am unemployed. my mother doesnt understand the need for a new computer right now. the way she sees it, as long as we can get on the internet, its fine. but i want the computer for my pictures and i can see now that the internet is ALL this computer can handle. so thats why i havent gotten a new computer yet but i'm in the process of trying to convince my mom. this computer is used by mainly me and once in a blue moon, my mom. others in this household have their laptop so they use that. thats about it. i was thinking of getting "Macromedia Fireworks" have any of you used that? I used it at school and enjoyed it. But i dont think i will bother now because chances are quite low that it will work on my computer. I think my computer is about 5 or 6 years old.and almost everytime we shut it down, it makes a loud continuous beeping noise and doesnt stop until i press and hold the power button. I'm guessing that doesnt mean anything good. theres also something on my computer called "salm" and i have to ctrl+alt+delete it everytime i go to surf the web or do anything or it wont work at all. i used to have a cheap digital camera and the photo editing program that came with it worked just fine. i'll rap it up for now. i think i answered all your questions. sorry its so long.
thanks for your help,
Amanda

[slipchuck]

Originally Posted by AmandaJL

i'm in high school, um i dont really have school successes right now and yes i am unemployed. my mother doesnt understand the need for a new computer right now. the way she sees it, as long as we can get on the internet, its fine. but i want the computer for my pictures and i can see now that the internet is ALL this computer can handle. so thats why i havent gotten a new computer yet but i'm in the process of trying to convince my mom. this computer is used by mainly me and once in a blue moon, my mom. others in this household have their laptop so they use that. thats about it. i was thinking of getting "Macromedia Fireworks" have any of you used that? I used it at school and enjoyed it. But i dont think i will bother now because chances are quite low that it will work on my computer. I think my computer is about 5 or 6 years old.and almost everytime we shut it down, it makes a loud continuous beeping noise and doesnt stop until i press and hold the power button. I'm guessing that doesnt mean anything good. theres also something on my computer called "salm" and i have to ctrl+alt+delete it everytime i go to surf the web or do anything or it wont work at all. i used to have a cheap digital camera and the photo editing program that came with it worked just fine. i'll rap it up for now. i think i answered all your questions. sorry its so long.
thanks for your help,
Amanda

here are a couple of free programs that will speed your system up



Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition - Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com
The home of Spybot-S&D!

CCleaner.com

use them in that order as well.
the first 2 should be updated every friday.

after all of these, then defragment your hard drive. you will get a good boost of speed.
*caution* If you use a peer to peer program like Limewire or bearshare, using these will disable them.

as far as fireworks goes, it is mainly for optimizing photos and graphics for the internet. It can do some mild photo editing, though.
If you find an old version of fireworks it might work on your computer

good luck

randy