Hello and thank you for asking your question, with JustAnswer.com/Mac. I am Sr. Mac Tech Support Specialist, Terry, glad to assist you.

Are you able to connect your iPhone 3G to your computer that has iTunes installed?

there is some Information I need to check, regarding your iPhone 3G

Thanks- let me know when you are there

:)

Great- now if you would, can you tell me if within the open iTunes program, if you see your iPhone as an icon on the left side bar under DEVICES?

This is what I am looking to see if you can see

That means your iPhone is not being recognized by your computer

When was the last time you were able to sync your iPhone with this computer and iTunes?

Good point-

As a professional Mac technician, I like to take more of a personable, personal approach, toward helping any valued JustAnswer.com customers, I am fortunate to assist.
On that note, may I start by asking your first name?

Thank you Judy, again my name is XXXXX, XX. XXX Support Specialist, at your service

Now considering you have a new computer, I take it your iTunes library is brand new as well?

The other interesting point about this Judy, is that your iPhone 3G still should at least be recognized by iTunes

and when you connect the iPhone, it is not being discovered by iTunes

Is your new computer a Mac or PC?

and what was your previous computer?

And do you have music and data still on your iPhone 3G?

is your PC running Windows 7?

(Bear with me if you would, I will having to ask investigative questions in order to help isolate the problem in order to resolve it- so thanks in advance for your patience)

Thanks Judy (appreciate that!)

Now here is what I need you to do on your iPhone 3G if you can

I need you to go to the main screen

and click on Settings

Then General

then go to About

If you would, tell me what the Capacity & Available sections say

Ok so you have about 1.1 GB of space remaining on your iPhone

that is low but not so low that it should cause the significant slow down you have described

So here is what I want you to try:

I am going to have you perform a hard reset on your iPhone 3G:
Here is what you need to do:

• To perform a hard reset, press and hold your Sleep and Home Menu buttons for approximately 10 seconds.
• Once your screen goes black, release both keys. (If you see a white Apple logo before you release the keys you have held the keys to long and will need to start the reset process once again)
• The next screens you should see after the black screen, is the Apple logo screen followed by the main screen.

Nope

Sleep button, at the top Home Menu button in the middle (bottom) of iPhone

Assuming is dangerous :)

I actually just "hope"

that is the home button

correct

That is located at the top of the iPhone

it is the one that when you press it, your iPhone goes to sleep

Did you release the buttons when the screen went black?

great

now that you are back you main screen Judy, where do you usually notice the significant slow down with your iPhone?

Good

This is all good but, before moving forward, what version are you being asked to update your iPhone 3G to?

Don't be- that does happen

To update is an improvement to the performance of your device

the only issue I have is that I do not want iTunes to delete the content of your iPhone 3GS

because you have never synced with your new computer to this new itunes library with your iPhone before correct?

I am not saying you should not update

I believe you should

but first

I want you to follow this guide from Apple

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer

This is process that allows you to safely move your music and media over to iTunes safely without losing data on your iPhone 3G:)

once you have done this Judy!

THEN you are good to go:)

with updating your iPhone 3G

and by the way, to do this and be able to sync your iPhone 3G

that is great to do, because every time you sync with iTunes

it will create a back up automatically for all of your data on your iPhone 3G

Plus

it also allows you Judy, to have more control through iTunes

to really pick and choose what you want and don't want to import over to your iPhone

what that means is (to answer your earlier question) you can for example

uncheck certain Apps that you don't want to delete

in iTunes, so that they are safely removed from your iPhone 3G the next time you sycn

sorry "sync" with iTunes

thereby keeping those Apps safely stored in iTunes

but freeing up more space on your iPhone

Haa haa!

so do I!

Now let's say you DON'T want an App on your iPhone

and you really do want to get rid of that App

I want you to try this- this is really cool

I am not sure if you have done this

but if you right now, press and hold down on one of your Apps in your iPhone's screen

for at least three seconds

you should see all of the Apps dancing almost like "jiggling"

have you tried this before?

Sure can

try it

just press and hold down on one of those Apps you want to get rid of

2-3 seconds your entire screen should have jiggling apps with small "x's in the upper left corner of each App

it won't just yet

that is just the beginning

now you if you press the x on the App you don't want

those are Apps that are actually permanent

sorry forgot to mention that

the only ones you can delete are those Apps you uploaded to your iPhone

and now I know what you are referring to

the Stocks App is built in

yep

you can keep doing that until all of the Apps you want gone, are deleted

and then after you are done

to stop the jiggling you can just press the Home button located at the bottom middle of the iPhone

then the jiggling stops

Aww thanks Judy :)

appreciate the vote of confidence

shucks :)

hah hah (I love my work!)

the pleasure is all mine

but I have one more bonus for you

and I know you are going to like this

IF you want to check the progress of those deletions Judy, in regards to reclaiming space (and speeding up your iPhone)

Just go back into Settings>General >About and now check the Available

it should now be higher than 1.1 GB

that is the cool part I wanted to share with you

Whoa!

Available is now 6.0?!

You were not kidding Ma'am, when you said you wanted to get rid of some stuff!

that is great!

and now you know the way to free up space on your iPhone

and with the article I provided you above, you can now use iTunes, to better manage your iPhone and its space usage and so much more

Exactly

I am not called The "MacTechTrainer" for nothing

I really teach this "stuff"

;)

The pleasure is all mind

"mine"

lol

thank you Judy

and for future reference

click on this link:

MacTechTrainer

and book mark the page you go to in your web browser

and anytime I can be of assistance with your Mac product issues, just request me and I WILL answer:)

that is my last bonus for you Ms. Judy:)

So I hope I have given you enough to keep you pleasantly busy and rejuvenated about your iPhone 3GS

sorry 3G :)

take care and thank you very much for coming to JustAnswer.com Judy

I appreciate you allowing me to assist you.

If you are satisfied that I have resolved your question to your satisfaction, please feel free to press the Accept button, so that I may be compensated for my work.
And I thank you very much for allowing me to assist you. Keep in mind also, when you Accept an answer, it does not mean the session is over, especially if the issue
you received help from me, comes back. If all is well however, then there is no need to return. If you want to be cautious however, you are welcome to bookmark this session so you can come back to this session and alert me. Also please feel free to leave us some feedback about how you feel regarding your experience in your session with me as your Mac Expert.

Haa haa!

thank you!!

Take care Judy- and remember, have fun with your new knowledge!

Cheers!