How do I keep my trading computer running well?

Quote from kerpali86:

Ok, he wanted to know how the get the most performance out of his computer.
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Actually, if you re-read the original post (and the title of this thread) you would see that he wanted to keep his machine clean and fast meaning keeping it running at the same speed as when an OS is freshly installed.

OC'ing the processor doesn't fit the bill for what the OP asked unless you think the solution to a car with engine problems is to bolt on a turbo-charger. He's already happy with the performance of his system, he just wants to keep it that way - he didn't ask you how to make it faster then it already was.
 
Quote from GTS:

Actually, if you re-read the original post (and the title of this thread) you would see that he wanted to keep his machine clean and fast meaning keeping it running at the same speed as when an OS is freshly installed.

OC'ing the processor doesn't fit the bill for what the OP asked unless you think the solution to a car with engine problems is to bolt on a turbo-charger. He's already happy with the performance of his system, he just wants to keep it that way.
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Oh I agree with you completely. I just was under the belief that he wanted clean his PC to improve performance, so I just went ahead and threw that out there. In hindsight it may have not been the smartest response, but I just don't see why Rodney King is being a little <.....> about it.
 
Hey guys,
I was wondering if there's a way to allow only the applications you need to connect to your system and block all the others.
For instance, let's say I use ABC broker for trading. Is it possible to configure your router, firewall, etc to let the ABC trading platform connect to my computer and nothing else? Would it be a safe alternative? Or am I dreaming?
 
I have a new Sony Vaio (bought March-07) Laptop
with Intel Centrino Duo, 1GB Ram, 130 GB Hard drive,
Windows Vista and full Norton Internet Security.
I trade with it everyday on my own wireless network (with Firewall) and I have my I.B. tradestation on all day.
I also use this computer for general internet usage.
After 3 months usage, here is my observations:
1: Windows Vista combined with full Norton Security occupies
33% of my hard drive right off the bat from Day 1.
"That is beyond ridiculous in every sense of the word!"
2: If I have my trade station on, a few charting web sites
and maybe 1 or 2 other web sites opened all at the same time,
I still get the classical hang up and sluggishness that my old computers had.
3: Also, on at least 5 occasions in 3 months, the screen blacks out completely and the only solution to getting it working again is to hold down the power button 6 seconds (dirt nap).

Regular weekly Disc Clean Up and Defragmenting does keep it running faster and sharper.
If I don't do that maintenance , after a week's usage its a hanging up slug bug!
 
Quote from jeffalvinson:

I have a new Sony Vaio (bought March-07) Laptop
with Intel Centrino Duo, 1GB Ram, 130 GB Hard drive,
Windows Vista and full Norton Internet Security.
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1GB of RAM is not enough for Vista (regardless of what MS says)
 
Quote from saxsystems:


Point being, even with XP, Memory is inexpensive; load it up with 3 GB, more if you are running a 64 BIT version of the OS (32 bit OS will not recognize much over 2.9 or so).
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Thanks Saxsystems

Someone told me that XP can only handle a maximum of 2 gig of ram is this true ?

BB
 
The short answer is that is not correct; XP can recognize more than 2 GB of RAM. Any 32 bit operating system (XP, Vista, Linux..) can recognize up to 4 gb of memory... This is just a plain mathematical fact you can take to the bank.. 32 bits, or 2^32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes, or 4 Gigabytes. This is known as the Address space. Before reading on; anything over 3 GB in a PC running a 32 bit os is pretty much a waste of $$..

HOWEVER.

The SDRAM, or memory in you system is not the only thing that consumes 'address space'...Device manufacturers often 'map' their device into the address space. Your Video card for example, may map 512 MB or so of it's memory on the 'bus' which will basically take 512 MB worth of address space away from the systems ability to recognize SDRAM.

If you are really board, and like Hexadecimal; Do a little experiment.
Go into the device manager on your computer; (right click on my computer, select properties, then the hardware tab. Click on the device manager button; and in the View menu, select resources by connection. Expand on the the Memory node;.. you should now see all memory addresses allocated on your system;

There is a lot more to this, but in general, the typical PC of today running 32 bit XP or Vista will recognize around 3 GB of memory; as the rest is 'allocated' to other devices on the bus...

If you really need more, then move to the 64 bit version of XP or Vista; then you'll have an address space of 17,179,869,184 gigabytes to play with... a whole different story ... :-)
 
This week I successfully replaced the stock fan on my graphics card with a much quieter ZEROtherm cooler: http://www.zerotherm.net/eng/product/GX700.asp

It was a $20 upgrade and now my HP is SO much quieter.

Fan and power supply upgrades aren't too difficult or expensive and can make a big difference in sound reduction. Newegg.com and Frys.com are good places to shop.
 
Best way is to reduce the number of processes that run on your computer.

Microsoft starts all these unnecessary processes every time the OS starts and they not only eat your memory up, but also slow down the computer.

For example, my trading computer runs exactly 18 processes whereas my other computer runs over 40 processes.

My trading computer, which has slower CPU and less memory, runs faster!!!


I run XP Professional with SP2 on both computers.
 
useful tool for the computer savvy:


go to WWW: http://www.cpuid.com or http://www.cpuid.org and download the PC Wizard.

pcw12.jpg



this program is free.
 
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