ok... i have a 3 1/2 year old gateway computer that runs Windows Millenium Edition ( ME )

i need to know what i can remove from my computer...

ive tried to uninstall and reinstall my printer a million times after windows crashed 2 years ago, still doesnt work.

anyways...

exactly what do i NEED??, like windows and explorer, + AOL

as for the things i want, Realplayer, Kazaa media desktop for downloads, yahoo messenger and yahoo mail, Adaptec CD Creator, my webcam and scanner software.

i have SOOO much stuff i dont even know what it is... these programs run and slow down the computer, make things freeze up

like these- i dont know what they are- sygate,launch outlook express, the launch internet explorer browser, i think P2P networking is from Kazaa, that seems to cause problems....

anyways, did i put this in computer terms so that someone who knows about computers can understand me?

 

i had kazaa, and my old computer would act up all the time bacause of all the crap on it, try going to kazaa light, that seem to help alot. but not sure about the other stuff your talking about. just thought i would give a little advise.

 

thanks Texan. i might not keep Kaaza much longer, ive dumped it before to save space, just trying it again to download a few songs and might delete Kaaza when im done with it again.

 

Kazaa is the killer of computers! They download all sorts of bad and evil cookies and spyware to your box!!!
Download Ad-Aware and Spybot. They are both free. Run them and watch how much "CRAP" is in your registry and files. It absolutely amazing.
Try them both, I guarantee you will be very happy once you do.

reever

 

also, get rid of that crappy Windows ME. Trust me, its the worst. Get 98 or XP. They are by far the best.

 

if the money was right id just say to he.. with it and buy a new comp... or even have someone come to my house and do all the tech stuff i need done

 

Yes, get rid of ME, and replace it with W98SE on your computer. Your 3-1/2 yr old computer may not have enough HP to run XP.

 

Format your hard drive, start over.

98SE or 2000 are that only windows version that I'll run. XP & ME are about the worst IMO. I run Linux because it's 10 times better than Windows.

 

whast so great about linux?

 

well to begine with shut off everything, if you want a program, then click on it or put it in your quicklinks, the only icon you should have running is the little gold speaker in the right corner of your taskbar. as for antivirus sofware i say yuck. it is a computer version of quickmire, slows everything down. i just run a decent firewall and i get good protection with that, as for shutting everything off, just go to run and type in msconfig, go to your startup list and uncheck everything that isnt microsft related then reboot, you will load up alot faster and free up some ram.

 

I would get rid of Real Player...in fact I did.

No I go with Media Player 9.

 

Well BuiltTough, you most likely have problems compounded by applications, devices, and operating system. As someone already stated ME is crap. A stop gap response for revenue by Microsuck because they did not have XP ready. You are between releases of Win98 SE and Win XP. Win ME is a severly stripped down version of Win98 SE.
I would first suggest you replace ME with Win98 SE. You most likely will have device driver problems if you move to WinNT or WinXP. I would start with device drivers.
Go to Dell.com and download any device drivers they have for your hardware and WinME. Work one device at a time. Down load new driver, install, reboot. If it works move on to the next. Do you have a back up? If not, all I can suggest is you wipe the hard drive, install WinMe and the applications you use.
If you can recover from a faulty install, go to MY COMPUTER, CONTROL PANEL, ADD/REMOVE SOFTWARE to remove any software you do not want.
Your Web Cam may be USB. USB is not the whiz bang interface Microsuck told us it would be just as Plug 'n Play never worked. Go to Microsoft.com and download the newest version of USB.
Enough for now, wish I could be more specific help but it is difficult without being in front of your machine to verify all the possible variables.
wes

 

Your computer came with a recovery disk for your OS if it's a gateway most likely. My suggestion would be to save everything that you absolutely need and burn it to a CD, and just start over, do a clean install of your OS, and with your recovery CD you won't have to search for drivers and everything. Running XP won't solve your problems, it will only drain your computer's resources further.

 

Exactly what everyone said, just make sure you format and re-install the OS.

Do not do a "recover" or any of that garbage with 98 or 2k. If you had XP that would be a different story (Xp is that aspect is getting a little better).

How fast is the comp?

If its over 1 Gig go with XP, Im currently on a 850 with 2k, runs like a dream (I have tonz of computers).

Good luck!

Adam

 

wow i wish i knew how to answer your questions even!
million- i just realized that i said i have REALPLAYER, but i scrapped that long ago. i have windows media player now.

im thinking im just going to have someone who knows comps. come over and straighten this out, i dont want to scrap software i need. thanks everyone