Still Alive


I haven't had to much time to hit the blog of late. I have a couple computers to work on that I'd like to get back to the folks as soon as I can. One is for a Christmas present and the other is due to the darn computer running so slow.

The Christmas one was no problem as I just had to check it out and then install antivirus and a firewall. Easier said than done though as this beast is running Win ME (yuck). However it only has a 700 mg processor with 64 megs of RAM, so I think XP would grind it down to a stop. The ME works not too badly, it is just that I am aware how horrible a operating system it was. Then of course Microsoft has quit any more upgrades for the system. I did manage to get it all updated as far as Microsoft had released up until last August.

Now this other machine is perplexing. It was slower than a snail. The computer does have XP isntalled on a 2 mg processor with 128 megs of RAM. Not nearly enough, but it should still work okay. My immediate thought was spywares so I got all the normal programs to check for the nasties. I ran the software through the system and it did help some especially after the computer finally boots. The boot up is just so slow.

I checked the registry for startups and of course MSCONFIG and trimmed everything down. I continued on to do a good defrag and other sundry checks and still the boot up is not where I'd like it to be. Mind you 128 megs of RAM is mighty scanty for an XP system now a days. Just prior to bringing over the computer, the owner dropped in the newest Norton AntiVirus onto the system. I am not overly found of this software as it tends to be a hog. But the owner put it on, so it stays. The strange part is after the computer finally loads up everything zips right along. It is just the long, long boot up.

I've been working on the system since Sunday evening and will probably try a few more tweaks to see if anything helps. Then I'll get it back to the owner so they have it over the holidays.