G
Guest
Please excuse my long post here:
My trial version of Norton Internet Security expired (the one that came with the computer), so I went ahead and paid for the full version. However, when I tried to install it, I kept getting error messages. Dell's tech support couldn't help...they blamed it on Norton. Norton couldn't help...they blamed it on Dell and/or Microsoft (imagine that!)
So...I backed up all my important stuff to Katrina's computer via the network...one monster zip file at about 1.5 gigs in size (her hard drive is only four gigs to start with...she ran out of room while holding my file for me). Then, I re-formatted my hard drive.
I spent three days of formatting, installing the things that originally came with the PC (at least the programs I really wanted), then hooking up the network. In doing this, I finally found out why Timerody's computer wouldn't see my or Katrina's pc in the past...it was getting to the internet through Jared's network next door! I only know this because I unplugged everything from my router, and my and Katrina's machines quite getting the internet, but Timerody's pc could still get out. I didn't understand why at first, but figured it out when I was running the software that came with the network card on her machine...it gave me a list of available networks, and Jared's was one of them. I read up on the directions that came with the router and the cards, and set up both the clients and my computer to only work with our network. Of course, it took me a day and 1/2 to figure all that out, but at least I understand how the system works now.
Everything was going fine while installing everything until I got to the Norton program again. It installed ok, but once it did, suddenly my very fast PC became very, very, very, very slow! I just knew it couldn't be the Norton program, so was uninstalling programs, checking the speed, then reinstalling them. Once I uninstalled Norton, everything sped back up. Bummer!
However, it's still not quite there. Some of the program I run all the time, such as Zuma (a game at msn.games.com) and Wheel of Fortune (a version I paid for and downloaded, also from msn.games.com) have always run very fast and smooth in the past. Now, they are fast, but very jerky, which tells me there is still something slowing my machine down. Just can't figure out what it is. And my productivity software (MS Office 2003) used to open very fast, but now takes 3-5 seconds to get past the splash screens. Not very long for most, but much, much slower than it used to be.
My computer came with 512mg of DDR SDRAM memory at 333mhz, made up of two memory sticks at 256mg each. I checked my balance on my Dell account, and had enough room to order more memory, so I ordered two sticks of 512mg DDR SDRAM at 333mhz, which will triple my memory to 1,536mg. Hopefully, that will speed my machine back up enough that I can run my games and other porgrams without the jerkiness, and reinstall my Norton Internet Security program without slowing things down.
Any opinions out there??
Thanks for listening to my ramblings
My trial version of Norton Internet Security expired (the one that came with the computer), so I went ahead and paid for the full version. However, when I tried to install it, I kept getting error messages. Dell's tech support couldn't help...they blamed it on Norton. Norton couldn't help...they blamed it on Dell and/or Microsoft (imagine that!)
So...I backed up all my important stuff to Katrina's computer via the network...one monster zip file at about 1.5 gigs in size (her hard drive is only four gigs to start with...she ran out of room while holding my file for me). Then, I re-formatted my hard drive.
I spent three days of formatting, installing the things that originally came with the PC (at least the programs I really wanted), then hooking up the network. In doing this, I finally found out why Timerody's computer wouldn't see my or Katrina's pc in the past...it was getting to the internet through Jared's network next door! I only know this because I unplugged everything from my router, and my and Katrina's machines quite getting the internet, but Timerody's pc could still get out. I didn't understand why at first, but figured it out when I was running the software that came with the network card on her machine...it gave me a list of available networks, and Jared's was one of them. I read up on the directions that came with the router and the cards, and set up both the clients and my computer to only work with our network. Of course, it took me a day and 1/2 to figure all that out, but at least I understand how the system works now.
Everything was going fine while installing everything until I got to the Norton program again. It installed ok, but once it did, suddenly my very fast PC became very, very, very, very slow! I just knew it couldn't be the Norton program, so was uninstalling programs, checking the speed, then reinstalling them. Once I uninstalled Norton, everything sped back up. Bummer!
However, it's still not quite there. Some of the program I run all the time, such as Zuma (a game at msn.games.com) and Wheel of Fortune (a version I paid for and downloaded, also from msn.games.com) have always run very fast and smooth in the past. Now, they are fast, but very jerky, which tells me there is still something slowing my machine down. Just can't figure out what it is. And my productivity software (MS Office 2003) used to open very fast, but now takes 3-5 seconds to get past the splash screens. Not very long for most, but much, much slower than it used to be.
My computer came with 512mg of DDR SDRAM memory at 333mhz, made up of two memory sticks at 256mg each. I checked my balance on my Dell account, and had enough room to order more memory, so I ordered two sticks of 512mg DDR SDRAM at 333mhz, which will triple my memory to 1,536mg. Hopefully, that will speed my machine back up enough that I can run my games and other porgrams without the jerkiness, and reinstall my Norton Internet Security program without slowing things down.
Any opinions out there??
Thanks for listening to my ramblings