plz help....completely frustrated

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-01-2003
plz help....completely frustrated
8
Sat, 09-25-2004 - 11:17am
Hello. I am so completely frustrated with my computer but the worst part is that I need it for my work. Here is what I have....Dell Dimension Pentium 4 with 2 GHZ and 128 MB Ram...it is only a year old. I am hooked up to a DSL line which is fine, no problems there. My problem is that the computer itself is soooo slow. Everytime I click to open any program it takes more than a few minutes just to get it into gear. I am constantly looking at the hourglass. I cannot open more than two windows because if I do I get some stupid "your server is busy" error message. I don't even know where that message comes from....it just started happening. I continue to defragment and clean up the drive but that doesn't seem to help. I clean out all of my temp files and cache files. That doesn't help. I have installed spybot and internet pop up blocker because I was getting the most ridiculous internet files saved to my hard drive and the popups are driving me nuts. I just don't know what to do. At this point I am not even using outlook express to check my email because I have to always reboot the computer in order to open it..don't ask me why..just do so I usually go to my ISP website directly and check my email there. I just don't know what I am doing wrong. Do I need to upgrade my memory? Where do I start? Thanks.
Avatar for cl_emty_nstr
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Sat, 09-25-2004 - 12:52pm

I am sure since you use your computer for work that you probably do a lot more with yours than I do with mine. I put a lot of pictures in and have been trying to figure out Paint Shop Pro and some other graphic programs.


My computer also started running slow around in May or June if I can rememeber. My Dell Dimension 1.7 Ghz 8200


 


Have a nice day !.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-17-2003
Sun, 09-26-2004 - 3:48pm
I used to get big commision checks to sell ram and a bigger HD for performance issues.

In this case you need to contact your ISP or DSL provider.

Ed

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-01-2003
Tue, 09-28-2004 - 4:34pm

I disagree with Ed; I think you definitely need to add some memory.

Karen
Mom to Kristen (17) Chloe (7) & Connor (6)

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-01-2003
Wed, 10-06-2004 - 5:49pm
Thank you all for the great advice. I did purchase a 512 stick from bestbuy.com. Installed it last night...super easy....and I left the 128 stick in the second compartment. I then rebooted the computer and what a HUGE difference. I felt so dumb....for letting myself have such little memory and not knowing better...but the computer is a lot faster and it doesn't get hung up at all. I cannot believe how different it is...the only problem is that I am having problems with my internet explorer..i have version 6.0 but for some reason it shuts down when I try to open up on occasion. Do you think I should just reinstall with my boot disk ....I went to download a new version but I kept getting a message error ....any ideas?
Avatar for bewildered05
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 9:36am
There are so many quirks with internet explorer. I stopped using in a couple of years ago. Mozilla makes an excellent browser called Firefox. It's more secure than IE and I've never had a problem with it. I still keep IE updated but never use it.

Lynne

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-09-2001
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 1:48pm
I've been a Netscape user for years,, both for mail and browser, from when you had to *buy* the program, LOL! Never liked IE. I've heard good things about FireFox. Is it a freebie, also? Sometimes, though, some websites are *only* designed to work well with IE, so I have it, but am discovering than in the event the web site doesn't like my current Netscape browser, the Safari browser on the Mac sometimes fits the bill, too. It used to be all web site design was done to be compatible with both Netscape and IE. Now it's not always the case.

Gypsy



Blessings,

Gypsy

)O(



Avatar for bewildered05
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 3:07pm
Yes, Mozilla and Mozilla Firefox are freebies.

Lynne

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-09-2001
Thu, 10-07-2004 - 4:32pm
Thanks. I also know Firefox works w/ Macs. I'll check it out. :P Actually the current versions of Netscape, which I use, *are* Mozilla I guess, since things are always saved in Mozilla folders for this program..Gypsy


Blessings,

Gypsy

)O(