Slow computer

[Ford8N]

The last couple of months my computer is dogging. It sometimes takes almost three minutes to down load a page. I went to the sticky page on useful free downloads and tried that Crap Cleaner, but it will not start. I ran my Adaware thing but it didn't help. I did the disc defragger thing it did nothing also. I know NOTHING about computers, how they work, fancy code words or what I'm even looking at in the Task Manager. I have a Dell something and it is an XP. I use Firefox and have had good luck with it, Internet Explorer would get all kinds of viruses. And I have such bad hearing, I hate calling the Dell help line and talking to some dude from India I can't understand, even if I get past the very thick accent. How can I speed this thing up?

[mark2203]

Try Malwarebytes (free) and a registry cleanup tool (registry mechanic).

[trautert]

Having just enough RAM to run your operating system can do this too.

[Ford8N]

Try Malwarebytes (free) and a registry cleanup tool (registry mechanic).

Just down loaded it......NOTHING happened and it is nowhere on the computer.

trautert Having just enough RAM to run your operating system can do this too.

Thanks for the idea but like I said, I am a total idiot when it comes to computers. What is RAM? What is an "operating system"?

[trautert]

You said you are running XP. Windows XP is your operating system (or OS.)

RAM is Random Access Memory. Unlike storage, the RAM is where all the good stuff happens in your computer. You need enough to hold the whole operating system in "go" mode, and still go in and out of the other programs you are trying to run, like your Firefox browser. Not enough RAM and the computer starts having to go back and forth and back and forth to the hard drive for stuff it needs to run.

Go to My Computer from START at the bottom. Left hand column, system info. Look near the bottom of the page that pops up. You need at least 512 MB of Ram to run XP. Meaning you really need about 1 Gigabyte of RAM (double the 512) to run programs after the operating system goes to work.

[trautert]

BTW, I'm no tech. I have an 80+ year old neighbor who uses his laptop to check emails and run his sub-finder program for a part time sub teaching job. He keeps hitting buttons that mess up his laptop and calls me to fix it. I do what I can, but also end up taking stuff to the shop for him.

Good luck.

[ojisan]

Just down loaded it......NOTHING happened and it is nowhere on the computer.

I am no expert, but have been through some virus stuff before.
My guess is you have a virus.
You are downloading the corrective software, but the virus is lying to you, saying the download failed, it is not there, and hiding it.

You need to restart your PC in safe mode, then you should be able to see what you downloaded and run it.

This assumes you have open space in your RAM.
If the RAM is full, no download.

[maddoggie13]

Stop watching porn..jk. Only watch gun porns... You have a virus or too many reg. errors.

[KaHuNaZ]

try searching for mbam.exe on your hard drive. Ive had to rename it before the virus would let me use it in the past.

[dad1]

How many fire walls do you have installed?