Computer Music Problem.

[nothumb]

So, I have an old Dell Inspiron 7000 laptop. 128 megs of ram, about a gig of loose hard drive space, pentium II processor.

I've played poker and listened to music, surfed, etc all at the same time for a while. Lately my computer has been failing to play music (mp3s) without skipping. I have tried it in different programs (WMP and winamp) and the same thing happens, virtually whenever I open a new table, click on a link with lots of ads to load (like, say, any page at 2+2).

In general my computer is slowing down to the point of absurdity. I will probably get a new one this Xmas but it is bothering me to no end as I have made do with this one for a long time. I recently freed up more hard drive space than I have had in quite some time. I got notice that my 'virtual memory' was too low and Windows was increasing the size of my virtual memory file. Could this have something to do with it (perhaps my newer operating system, XP pro, alotting too much space to this function for my old CPU to handle...)

I am not a computer dude so I'm just angry and confused. I suspect spyware plays a part but don't know how to get rid of it.

NT

[ThaSaltCracka]

maybe defrag your comp?

[nothumb]

You think this will make a big difference?

Last time I went to do this it was taking for damn ever, I gave up... maybe I should run it when I go to bed tonight or something...

Know anything about virtual memory or spyware?

NT

[ThaSaltCracka]

I don't think spyware would slow it that much, but it probably wouldn't hurt to get some spyware detection software. Then def defrag. Yeah it takes forever, but its worth it.

[4thstreetpete]

If you are using winxp pro, I strongly suggest that you get yourself more ram. Your computer specs are the bare minimum system requirements for xp and it's no surprise that you're finding it slow.
Since you're using your laptop for a while you might just have a lot of junk built up and may not necessarily be spyware, nonetheless it's always a good idea to run a spyware program to clean yourself out, you'd be surprised how much you have when you run it for the first time.

Your computer is most likely running too many programs in the background and on startup. In xp go Start-->Run then type msconfig. Then go to the startup tab. These are all the programs that start up automatically when windows startup without you knowing. Uncheck all programs that you don't need to have it running in the background when using windows (this most likely means everything except your antivirus program, depending on what you want) If it's a program that you use frequently then you can let it start up once windows start.
You can also then go to the services tab and uncheck any services that you don't need. This will save you a bunch of resources as well. If you don't know what each service is, I suggest you leave it alone.

As for defragging, this is always a good idea. To defrag your system faster press CTRL+ALT+DEL and end all processes except system and explorer. Now do a defrag and it should be faster.

As for me, I just love to do a format. Guaranteed to solve all your problems but if you don't want to go that route, you can start by doing what I mentioned. Hope this helps.

[nothumb]

Pete,

Thanks a lot for your advice. As I said, I've been using this computer, with XP pro, for a while and it does ok, since I don't do much with it. I agree that it is probably time for a little house cleaning.

Can you recommend a good free or cheap spyware detection program?

Thanks
NT