Off Topic: Computer Problems

Just a note on upgrading ME to XP. If your computer does not have over 128 megs of ram XP will puke all over the place. You are better off installing 2000. Also if the computer is not atleast 500Mhz. XP is not a good idea. ME blows but installed and patched it may run faster if your computer does not have the power...Maximus

@ Supradude, windows ME was never designed to act like a server operating system, you should shut down at least every few days and let the computer refresh itself. the kernel in windows ME is so bloated and baddly coded, constent usage begins to drag down the computer due to built up memory leaks and other problems contained in the kernel (all of which i cant even guess at) windows XP will not be suitable as maximus said if your computer has less than 256. it may right fine in between 128-256, but you will experiance a performance drop in certain programs and video games. my suggestion for anyone who runs an older computer, for long periods of time, or even has a packaged computer(dell/gateway) is to upgrade to windows2000, win2k is a solid operating system that can actually handle sitting around and doing nothing. its designed for application and server use, so video games may not benefit from it, but in general you should beable to run your computer longer and with less slow-down. Some programs to consider running are a new browser: Opera (opera.com) or Mozilla Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org/) a new virus scanner: if your worried about memory loss, AND you know what sites and things you download, you can go with a free online virus scanner, to list a few: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm (will require Internet explorer though lol) http://tech24.com/virusscan.asp i wouldnt recommend this for people that dont really arent very computer savy, these days virus's show up alot, and unless you only visit a few websites in your daily lives, then you should not just use a web scanner. I agree with the use of norton system works. its a great tool, it scans your computer for various things to keep the computer in good working order. i also agree to the use of "Ad-Aware" i've been using this tool for a very long time on my own PC. and once in a while i'd find a few here and there, and know where they came from, but it didnt bother me. i checked my parents old PC and i turned this up (i kept the log file because i was amazed at what was collected)

/R7 wrote: Scanning finished ================== Suspicious modules found:0 Suspicious keys found :0 Suspicious folders found:4 Suspicious files found:167 =========================== Components ignored:0 Total components found:171

Ad-Aware really helped boost up browsing and computer boot times just because of 1 scan.

@ /r7, Is there anything that I can buy that will stop the ad type stuff from getting in my registery? The Ad-aware works great to get it out, but I'd like to keep it from getting in.Thanks for the advice on upgrading. I have been thinking about doing it for awhile. I guess I'll have to go with Windows 2000 since the XP won't work. I've only got 128 of memory, and its the Rambus Ram type, very rare and expensive to add more.'85 Toy

supra, this is why i suggest Opera or FireFox. in each program they have options to block popups. Most of the adware i find comes from sites that popup a bunch of BS on your screen, not the actual embedded ads on pages. (not to say it will eliminate all your problems) i tried doing a quick search on blocking registry insertions but i wasnt going to go through 1000 websites to find my answer, (got stuff to do ;/) i did find this, and if your interested in FireFox, you can download this file http://www.deftone.com/blogzilla/misc/cookperm.txt

Blogzilla wrote: This file is called cookperm.txt and is located in your Mozilla Profile directory, which on 2000/XP is usually here: C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\user\*.slt

it will increase firefox's effectiveness. i hope this helps a bit EDIT: due to the release of firefox 1.0, i believe they changed "cookperm" to hostperm.1 i've been testing this file, and noticed blocked image-ads that you manually add into FireFox are put into the hostperm.1, and not cookperm.txt. so just change cookperm and you should beable to take advantage of the cookperm file. and also note, if you go into your cookies.txt file you can find various ad server URLS they may beable to be converted for use in the hostperm.1 file to block even more advertisements. hth EDIT2: -_-... *err* ignore all that the format has changed inside of the hostperm.1 file as well, so you wont beable to take advantage of the cookperm file, unless you goto a PRE 1.0 version, and i dont know how far back you have to go to take advantage of this. sorry for wasting your time ;/

Well i felt i would try and take advantage of what firefox can do, and the cookperm, so i went ahead and edit'd the cookperm.txt file i mentioned above, to the hostperm.1 format. the below file, hostperm.rar just needs to be renamed back to hostperm.1, dont try and extract it lol. hostperm.rar i tested it on some websites, including the sites listed in it, and it does work, and if you go ahead an use firefox, if you ever see an ad on a website rightclick on that image and at the bottom of the context menu it will have an option to "Block images from xyz.zyx" select that, and you'll have added another site to the list. i hope that helps your advertisement issue. sorry for all the BS above.

@ fuseblower, I have a Gateway computer. It has a 1.4 Intel Pentium processor. The memory in it is 2 strips of 64 meg each Rambus type memory, total of 128. I have done some research on adding memory and the only thing I can do (I think) is add 2 more 64 strips, total of 256 with all 4 strips. Or get 2 -128 strips, since it has to be installed in pairs. The shops I checked told me this type of memory is very rare and very expensive. Any other advice is welcome. I don't know a whole lot about computers.  @ /r7, I will try what you suggested and see if it helps me. Thanks for your trouble and time.'85 Toy

@ fuseblower, Thanks, I looked around and the best price I could find is at  www.4allmemory.com, so I guess  I'll try to get it from them. They have 512MB (2-256 sticks) for $197.98/ free shipping. I guess my best thing to do is to do away with the 2-64's I have in it now and put the 2-256's in it? They told me I can't mix the memory. Then I can upgrade to XP. Does that sound like the best way to go? Thanks  '85 Toy