NEWBIE request for help on 2 PCS

I'm a new member who is NOT knowledgable about much of this tech stuff but luckily I AM very interested. I just don't have much money to buy new or pay for help.
My DELL 9150 AND my Motion LE 1600 tablet both run Windows XP are are used daily. I am the Admin on both. They sync their My Docs with each other using SyncBack SE.
I just added 2 sticks of RAM to the 2 that were in my DELL 9150 to max it out but even after playing with them for several days, the MOST I seem to ever see at My Computer > Properties is 2.50 GB of RAM. Shouldn't it say 4.0? 2.5 is 2½ of the sticks of RAM . . . so what's up with it seein' a half stick and not seein' the other stick AT ALL¿
The Dell is hooked to a DELL projector and an XBOX 360 so that my son can play his games. We now have a VGA switch so that we don't need to mess with the monitor cable all the time.
Lately, both computers seem to slow. Time Warner cable internet should work faster. But even log-on or off is WAY too slow and is slower than it used to be.
I'm CONSTANTLY seeing boxes from the Task Bar area warning me the my computer is unprotected. I solve that by opening Security Essentials and have it run a Quick Scan. Then it is happy and the icon goes GREEN.
I've added max ram and even run all kinds of stupid fix its or find its crap.
This is an on-going hassle in my life. I've tried using TechRepublic and got blasted once too many times by some welding industry star moron, so I jumped off that ship.
If anyone can offer me any help, I'd prefer it just be a plain english and give me a step or steps to try. PLEASE don't just give me a link and say "HERE IT IS!". My request is . . . Copy and Paste a few lines advising my of a step to try. You might mention where you got the info, but PLEASE don't just drop some link at my feet!
Almost EVERY day I get a "blue screen of death" on each of these 2 computers.
Also, I am CONSTANTLY having my Outlook 2003 take forever to open since it says that it wasn't closed properly the last time. This mess takes quite a long time . . . 15 minutes?
Also, almost all the time on BOTH pcs, when I click the E icon to open Internet Explorer, it pops some box telling me that IE wasn't closed properly last time so do I want to go to the sites I was at or to my Home Page? But, so far as I know, IE WAS closed normally.
HELP PLEASE . . . I'M GOIN' NUTS!
This is what was on my DELL this morning after leaving it running Prime 95 all night long. I don't have a CLUE how to interpret this or what to do with Prime 95. It is actually somewhat difficult to for a newbie like me to figure out how to use it since you need to know if you are 32 or 64 bit to do some download and if you pick the wrong one, nothing EVER seems to happen. THEN, once you get the proper one, you don't know what to do with it. It's NOT self-explanatory or sure wasn't for stupid iJEFF!
[Jun 5 21:44] Worker starting
[Jun 5 21:44] Setting affinity to run worker on logical CPU #1
[Jun 5 21:44] Beginning a continuous self-test to check your computer.
[Jun 5 21:44] Please read stress.txt. Choose Test/Stop to end this test.
[Jun 5 21:44] Test 1, 7800 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M9961473 using Pentium4 type-0 FFT length 512K, Pass1=512, Pass2=1K.
[Jun 5 21:49] Torture Test completed 0 tests in 4 minutes - 0 errors, 0 warnings.
[Jun 5 21:49] Worker stopped.
[Jun 5 21:49] Worker starting
[Jun 5 21:49] Your timings will be written to the results.txt file.
[Jun 5 21:49] Compare your results to other computers at http://www.mersenne.org/report_benchmarks
[Jun 5 21:49] Timing 46 iterations of 768K FFT length. Best time: 25.907 ms., avg time: 142.595 ms.
[Jun 5 21:49] Timing 39 iterations of 896K FFT length. Best time: 31.254 ms., avg time: 131.444 ms.
[Jun 5 21:49] Timing 34 iterations of 1024K FFT length. Best time: 39.327 ms., avg time: 210.777 ms.
[Jun 5 21:50] Timing 27 iterations of 1280K FFT length. Best time: 59.087 ms., avg time: 242.369 ms.
[Jun 5 21:51] Timing 23 iterations of 1536K FFT length. Best time: 54.208 ms., avg time: 319.892 ms.
[Jun 5 21:51] Timing 19 iterations of 1792K FFT length. Best time: 64.374 ms., avg time: 232.751 ms.
[Jun 5 21:51] Timing 17 iterations of 2048K FFT length. Best time: 79.074 ms., avg time: 285.814 ms.
[Jun 5 21:52] Timing 13 iterations of 2560K FFT length. Best time: 106.527 ms., avg time: 223.738 ms.
[Jun 5 21:52] Timing 11 iterations of 3072K FFT length. Best time: 148.483 ms., avg time: 240.648 ms.
[Jun 5 21:53] Timing 10 iterations of 3584K FFT length. Best time: 208.196 ms., avg time: 481.919 ms.
[Jun 5 21:54] Timing 10 iterations of 4096K FFT length. Best time: 215.734 ms., avg time: 474.730 ms.
[Jun 5 21:55] Timing 10 iterations of 5120K FFT length. Best time: 524.440 ms., avg time: 1042.131 ms.
[Jun 5 21:57] Timing 10 iterations of 6144K FFT length. Best time: 377.060 ms., avg time: 919.320 ms.
[Jun 5 21:58] Timing 10 iterations of 7168K FFT length. Best time: 309.890 ms., avg time: 315.374 ms.
[Jun 5 21:58] Timing 10 iterations of 8192K FFT length. Best time: 368.728 ms., avg time: 436.481 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing FFTs using 2 threads.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 46 iterations of 768K FFT length. Best time: 13.675 ms., avg time: 14.273 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 39 iterations of 896K FFT length. Best time: 16.532 ms., avg time: 17.637 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 34 iterations of 1024K FFT length. Best time: 18.989 ms., avg time: 34.127 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 27 iterations of 1280K FFT length. Best time: 23.292 ms., avg time: 32.749 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 23 iterations of 1536K FFT length. Best time: 27.988 ms., avg time: 35.194 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 19 iterations of 1792K FFT length. Best time: 36.079 ms., avg time: 45.249 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 17 iterations of 2048K FFT length. Best time: 37.625 ms., avg time: 51.726 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 13 iterations of 2560K FFT length. Best time: 47.748 ms., avg time: 59.176 ms.
[Jun 5 21:59] Timing 11 iterations of 3072K FFT length. Best time: 63.684 ms., avg time: 111.290 ms.
[Jun 5 22:00] Timing 10 iterations of 3584K FFT length. Best time: 77.865 ms., avg time: 138.950 ms.
[Jun 5 22:00] Timing 10 iterations of 4096K FFT length. Best time: 80.998 ms., avg time: 114.679 ms.
[Jun 5 22:00] Timing 10 iterations of 5120K FFT length. Best time: 110.029 ms., avg time: 131.520 ms.
[Jun 5 22:01] Timing 10 iterations of 6144K FFT length. Best time: 125.295 ms., avg time: 157.984 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing 10 iterations of 7168K FFT length. Best time: 176.726 ms., avg time: 218.316 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing 10 iterations of 8192K FFT length. Best time: 202.204 ms., avg time: 258.578 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 61 bit length factors. Best time: 9.978 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 62 bit length factors. Best time: 9.955 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 63 bit length factors. Best time: 13.790 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 64 bit length factors. Best time: 13.804 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 65 bit length factors. Best time: 16.539 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 66 bit length factors. Best time: 16.557 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 67 bit length factors. Best time: 16.518 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 75 bit length factors. Best time: 16.512 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 76 bit length factors. Best time: 16.584 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Timing trial factoring of M35000011 with 77 bit length factors. Best time: 16.787 ms.
[Jun 5 22:02] Benchmark complete.
[Jun 5 22:02] Worker stopped.

So the problem is the computer is slower than usual?

That Dell is 7 years old, and probably wasn't the best-of-the-best computer at the time. Might just be time to bit the bullet and upgrade.

Have you tried reinstalling XP? Even though Microsoft is completely stopping support for XP this year.

Your RAM is only showing 2.5GB because XP is a 32-bit system. This means that only ~3GB can be used by the system at any one time; and the other 0.5GB you aren't seeing is what the OS and background are using to allow the computer to run.

It sounds to me like you have to do a few things to try to get to the bottom of your issues:

1) Run a Defrag. It's in the Admin tools (iirc). If you are over 10% fragmented, you're going to see some running issues.

2) How full are the hard drives on those systems? If you have less than 5GB of available space, you can start to have problems but generally not what you're seeing. You may also want to download and run WinDirStat (google it) to give you an idea of file sizes and what could be the space culprits. It's essentially a graphic representation of file sizes in your hard drive.

3) Download, install and run Spybot Search & Destroy. It will go through your system and find stuff that could be causing your system to slow down. At the least, this should help IE run a bit better.

4) Once you're finished with that, get the free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and run that as well. The combo of Spybot + MBAM + MSE should be enough to clean a lot of crap out.

5) Do some searching and figure out how you can get XP set up to not immediately restart after a BSOD. This way, you can write down the errors that are causing the BSOD and search up what the problem could be. It's been a LONG time since I set it up so I can't give you guidance on how to set it up, but I know for certain that you can do so.


Prime95 is generally used as a CPU stress test as well as a temperature test, so I don't think you're going to get a lot out of it right now. Your CPU's performance isn't the issue so much as it sounds like things just got bogged down on your system(s).

If none of this helps, it may be time to reinstall XP on both systems so that you can get to a solid baseline until you can afford an upgrade.

P.S. You may also want to try using PCDecrapifier to remove all the OEM utilities that Dell likes to cram onto their system, if you haven't removed them already.

You might want to stop using XP alltogether. It's no longer supported. No more updates. Wide open for hackers.

Thanks Sherretz,
Your answers is a nicely stated, useful and to the point one. The others are already in my mental trash can as they somehow skipped past my plea for cheap do-it-myself help as they'd read my Question.
1. I use Pyroform Defraggler v 2.14.706 on both pcs and I run it regularly.
2. Both are wide open in their hard-drives. I put a new 460 GB in the DELL and it is showing less than 50% used. The old C: is still in there to use for storage. On the Motion tablet, the hard drive failed a year ago perhaps due to the cooling fan not working, so I put in a replacement and started a new clean install adventure.
3. I ran Spybot Search & Destroy on both pcs for quite a while but in my disgust with how slow they both run, I had un-installed it on both. I'm not sure if I have it doing the correct stuff. Also, I'm willing to reinstall if you really think that I should. Please let me know!
4. get the free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware paid v 1.75.0.1300 since that had been recomended to me strongly. Again, I'm not sure if I have it doing the correct stuff.
5. ???? Over my head a bunch?

vankjeff said:

Thanks Sherretz,
Your answers is a nicely stated, useful and to the point one. The others are already in my mental trash can as they somehow skipped past my plea for cheap do-it-myself help as they'd read my Question.
1. I use Pyroform Defraggler v 2.14.706 on both pcs and I run it regularly.
2. Both are wide open in their hard-drives. I put a new 460 GB in the DELL and it is showing less than 50% used. The old C: is still in there to use for storage. On the Motion tablet, the hard drive failed a year ago perhaps due to the cooling fan not working, so I put in a replacement and started a new clean install adventure.
3. I ran Spybot Search & Destroy on both pcs for quite a while but in my disgust with how slow they both run, I had un-installed it on both. I'm not sure if I have it doing the correct stuff. Also, I'm willing to reinstall if you really think that I should. Please let me know!
4. get the free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware paid v 1.75.0.1300 since that had been recomended to me strongly. Again, I'm not sure if I have it doing the correct stuff.
5. ???? Over my head a bunch?

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Attitude check dude.

Electronic equipment degrades over time. You computer is 7 years old, its on its way out.

And what I suggested was also to reinstall XP. THAT DOESN'T COST ANYTHING.

I'm done trying to help you with your attitude.

Thanks Mr, Miss or Mrs Altminside,
I've not gone thru enuf crap without your help and so boy, I'm SURE glad U dropped it to pound on me some more!
The brain injury that I took back in 2007 on that new friend's motocrosser tryin' another double jump in front of my son that busted my helmet big time, put me in the hospital for months and had me lookin' like I was living dead for 2 weeks as my wife visited me daily and my business got shut down and some of it moved home and my new Mustang GT was sold to help my wife keep our home still going as her health insurance paid our $750,000+ just wasn't enuf torture. So, ain't it just GREAT that you can trot on in and tell me that you're done with me after just a Question and 1 reply? You're quite the stud, aren't you poppa¿
I'm just tryin' to make do with what God has allowed me to keep after my 40+ years of hard work after I screwed up just one time probably to show off in front of my 13 year old honor student son that I'd taken out of school for some stupid reason that day? I don't remember ANYTHING of the day, the motorcycle, the track . . . nothing! At least I lived and so now my insurance company gets to pay $1,400 EACH month for my stinkin' robbery Abilify anti-depressant pills plus way more other crap. :-(

@vankjeff

Within one hour and 12 minutes you got four replies to your first post here on OCForums. These were from people who saw a request from a newbie (your word) and popped in to see if they could help.

And you essentially told three out of four of them that you don't want to hear what they have to say.



Having said that, I'm *also* going to suggest that you re-install XP, if you are looking for a low-cost way to improve performance. (Which as was already pointed out to you, doesn't cost anything.) I'd go as far as to suggest you save what files you want on the other PC and re-format, then re-install. Then do the same thing in reverse if you need to.

vankjeff said:

The others are already in my mental trash can as they somehow skipped past my plea for cheap do-it-myself help as they'd read my Question.

Click to expand...

vankjeff said:

Thanks Mr, Miss or Mrs Altminside,
I've not gone thru enuf crap without your help and so boy, I'm SURE glad U dropped it to pound on me some more!
The brain injury that I took back in 2007 on that new friend's motocrosser tryin' another double jump in front of my son that busted my helmet big time, put me in the hospital for months and had me lookin' like I was living dead for 2 weeks as my wife visited me daily and my business got shut down and some of it moved home and my new Mustang GT was sold to help my wife keep our home still going as her health insurance paid our $750,000+ just wasn't enuf torture. So, ain't it just GREAT that you can trot on in and tell me that you're done with me after just a Question and 1 reply? You're quite the stud, aren't you poppa¿
I'm just tryin' to make do with what God has allowed me to keep after my 40+ years of hard work after I screwed up just one time probably to show off in front of my 13 year old honor student son that I'd taken out of school for some stupid reason that day? I don't remember ANYTHING of the day, the motorcycle, the track . . . nothing! At least I lived and so now my insurance company gets to pay $1,400 EACH month for my stinkin' robbery Abilify anti-depressant pills plus way more other crap. :-(

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure you don't ACTUALLY need any help with your computers, and you just came on here to troll.
Just out of curiousity, what other language do you speak? I see you have the upside down question mark hotkeyed on your keybo there.
If, by some rare chance, you are actually here looking for help, I'd seriously tone it down. Don't tell us about your personal life for no reason like that, for example, or call us 'poppa', or tell people you've thrown them in your mental trashcan. This makes people think you're an A hole, and rightfully so.

Now, step 1, go reinstall XP on both those machines (assuming you have a physical cop(ies)

See? I think you're a jerk but I'm still helping you. Isn't that nice?

vank, this is what I mean by my #5 suggestion:

http://www.technibble.com/how-to-di...r-bsod-if-you-are-unable-to-get-into-windows/

Essentially, you said you were getting Blue Screens. The article details how you can keep your system from auto restarting. The Blue Screen will show a code for the error that occurred. You can Google the error code to help narrow down what the culprit is.

Also, as a side note, we all suggested reinstalling XP. While Microsoft is no longer supporting XP, there is a wealth of troubleshooting information out there that should help you out.

Everyone on these forums is very helpful, so please take their suggestions to heart. We all have differing levels of experience with computers, so working together will help you get to the bottom of your problems.

Thanks to all of you. And no, I'm not or never have been a troll. I actually do need and want help. Unfortunately, I'm also impatient and a I'm a tad strong willed. I've always been pretty nice to most people in my life and that has paid off well in business and in my NASCAR relationships with others team owners, crew members and sponsors. Getting along with other drivers on and off the track is a whole 'nother game and I've done pretty well at that all the way up to the top level in NASCAR.
I know only English. I do have a little bit of interest in tech and that's what got me using a couple of odd but weird characters that I find kind of cool.
Right now, I'm not sure what to do with this info and the links.

I can't even afford the $500/month fee for the Abilify anti-depressant that my neuro-surgeon just prescribed for me. It would be $1,400/month but my Medicare and private Aetna brings it down to "only" $500 each month.
WOW . . . ain't that just GREAT!

vankjeff said:

I can't even afford the $500/month fee for the Abilify anti-depressant that my neuro-surgeon just prescribed for me. It would be $1,400/month but my Medicare and private Aetna brings it down to "only" $500 each month.
WOW . . . ain't that just GREAT!

Click to expand...

vankjeff said:

Right now, I'm not sure what to do with this info and the links.

Click to expand...

Re-install Windows

Hello Vankjeff - I'm sorry that you are having troubles. We all here want to help you please don't forget that.

I don't quite know where to start. I will honor your request to go with the "easiest or non-expensive" items first.

Part of the problem is that the Dell 9150 is Slow. I read that you have installed more memory (which I'm guessing is because you where trying to boost the dell's performance). Why not take out the new memory and see if you get any results. I realize this seems backwards.

The reason I am suggesting this is because we first need to see if it is a hardware problem or a software problem.

Fix or diagnose an internet problem is a bit more complicated. IF the Xbox is not having any problems and the Dell is that might mean that the "issue" is with the dell. If they both have problems then it might mean that it is 1) a problem with Time Warner 2) a problem with the router that you are using (Assuming that you are using a router).

The last thing that concerns me is that you have communicated "I'm CONSTANTLY seeing boxes from the Task Bar area warning me the my computer is unprotected. I solve that by opening Security Essentials and have it run a Quick Scan. Then it is happy and the icon goes GREEN." I wonder if you are running Malware in the background and don't know it? I am just throwing this out there.

Good luck to you and Yours!

Bullet with Butterfly wings was playing when I was writing this.

Thanks to ALL & I apologize for my rude behavior that might have been caused by my madness.
I do use Syncback to keep My Docs & Pics the same on both. I also have a USB One Touch backup hard drive on the tablet which also keeps a copy of all.
I guess that I should do a clean reinstall as I do have the tablet's Window XP CD and could hopefully get a Media Center edition CD for the DELL since I can't find that. Then I'd need to install / update all the drivers again and the Motion Computing stuff on my tablet which includes the Omnipass Fingerprint Reader/Fingerprint from that CD and their site.
Upgrades, connections, installing PST file for Outlook and recreating the email accounts and signatures.
Lots of stuff to do! WHEW! Maybe I can somehow afford one or 2 new computers instead? I just need 2 that are cheap, fast and can grow with the future for a while and be added to until then.
HMMMM