Help. Any computer gurus/experts out there?

[shadowkat]

Okay I've been wrestling with this long enough on my own and need some adivce.
Since it's driving me crazy. Spent half the morning wrestling with the MSN support desk and the half wrestling with Dell's support site. Neither answered my questions or helped. (Case in point, when I went back to review and edit this entry I got disconnected from the internet and had to sign back in. I'm this close to throwing the damn computer out the window and buying a whole new system, but have a few qualms about doing it.)

Here's the situation - my computer is slow, my internet connection disconnects me approximately every 30 minutes. When I disconnect from it - the email takes an hour to sychronize and will not let go of my phone line or disconnect until it's through. Sometimes it will freeze my computer - forcing me to shut it off in mid synchronization or just reboot. I can't download graphics, music, or pictures. The operating system is also a little on the slow side, but nothing compared to the internet.

Information on my computer system:
My operating system is Windows Me.
I have Dell Dimension 4100 and Epson Stylus C66 Printer. My internet connection is MSN 9 - Dial-up Accelerator. My Ram is 128.0M. 32 bit.
There are no PC cards installed. And no Disk Compression. I have
Cable/Internal Modem/4C. There is no mention in the original configuration of an NIC Card. Not sure if I have it or not.
Oh and I have Spybot, Adware, and Norton AntiVirus 2005 all installed. MSN uses MacAfee. Computer to the best of my knowledge is free of all adware, viruses and spyware. Also have deleted all internet cache and cookies.

What I want to do is the following:
1. Exchange music with a friend or download music at some point
2. Greater speed in researching items online
3. Greater speed regarding email
4. Ability to go to more than one site at once, without computer freezing on me.
5. Ability to see graphics and download.
6. Ability to file share or even see streaming videos. Current system I cannot watch any videos on the net
7. No disconnection from the net - so can post and read uninterrupted without it taking two or three hours.
8. And no long periods waiting for email to synchronize, particularly when I don't have any new ones.
9. Keep what I currently have and not lose anything I've written or created on my current system.

Delivery/Financial Challenges: I live on the top floor of a brownstone - there is no doorman and if packages are delivered, someone has to sign for them. Since everyone is gone during the day - the package will either have to be picked up at the post office which is about 20 blocks away, in a crappy neighborhood, across a highway intersection and inaccessible by subway or a UPS site somewhere in the city. I do not own a car. Everything I do is by subway or bus. Also the information on my harddrive is backed up on floppies to some extent and a zip disc. While I could afford a new computer - not sure if I want to spend the money on it at this point, would like to wait a bit longer, when I feel a bit more secure in my job.


Questions:
1. Do I need to get a new computer? If so, which one would be best for my needs? Or should I just upgrade the one I have? What does upgrading involve?
2. Should I opt for a lap-top or a desk-top for the needs I listed above?
Which is better for writing and internet research?
3. Would switching internet carriers solve the problem?
4. MSN's suggestion - that I upgrade to Windows XP and my operating system is what is slowing me down. Is that what I should do? Do I trust them?
5. Do I have an NIC card? Is the 4c Modem the same as this? If not can I get one without getting a new computer and operating system? If so, how do I do it without having to take about my hard drive, something I'd rather avoid.
6. What DSL/Cable modem is best? What is broadband? And how difficult is it to install this yourself? Apparently that's what they all want if you live in NYC.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Comments

More advice!

[graffitiandsara.livejournal.com]

5. Do I have an NIC card? Is the 4c Modem the same as this? If not can I get one without getting a new computer and operating system? If so, how do I do it without having to take about my hard drive, something I'd rather avoid.

Your modem card is different from a NIC card. The shape of the jack will be the same but the modem jack should be noticeably smaller than the network jack. You may very well have one built in to the computer but if you don't installing on will probably require taking the cover off. If you have PCMCIA slot you can get a network card that will plug into that without fiddling with the insides. This port would be about 3 inches wide and about a half an inch or less tall. If you have a USB port there may be external network cards you can buy but I'm not sure of that. USB ports are little rectangles about an inch wide and a less than a half inch tall. If you go to google images you can easily bring up pictures of both type of ports.


6. What DSL/Cable modem is best? What is broadband? And how difficult is it to install this yourself? Apparently that's what they all want if you live in NYC.

Broadband is high speed internet - either DSL or Cable. It's called broadband because it has a tremendously larger bandwidth than dialup. I can't recommend modem models. We're using a SilverStream DSL modem that our phone company provided us with and it's working fine. The differences between DSL and cable are:

1. Cable will probably provide you with better speed, but your performance will degrade more significantly during high use, and can also degrade across the board depending on how well they keep up their hardware capacity as they sign up more customers. DSL, although usually providing slower speeds, will be very consistent. Any form will be affected by high traffic on the internet overall, but DSL will not be especially affected by the number of DSL users in your area, the way cable will be.

2. Cable is much less secure. You should have anti-virus and firewall protection regardless, but with cable it becomes critical and you must be much more careful in the strength of your protection.

Overall, if you want to keep your existing computer, I would not only downgrade to Windows 98, but I would also try and find a different anti-virus package. Norton Anti-Virus, like Windows, doesn't really run well on older machines. My desktop which is actually less powerful than the one you're using (but with 256mg of RAM) is running Avast's home anti-virus program very nicely, so that would be an option if you're looking for a less resource-demanding package. The fact that the home version is free is another plus.

Anything you do to solve this problem isn't going to be easy. Make sure you have good backups of everything that's important to you. In fact you might want to check them out on another computer before you try anything dramatic with your current system. I like to say a computer isn't a toaster, but unfortunately it's marketed that way so people have unpleasant surprises when they're in the position you've found yourself. If you decide to keep your current system, you might want to find a reputable place to help you with the changes. Just check them out throughly, there's a lot of jerks in the business.

Good luck!

Re: More advice!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this, Sara.

It's really helpful. I've been swinging in the direction of getting a lap-top for the reasons you suggest above. I'm not that interested in a large screen nor do I really need all the bells and whistles. But I would like something I can cart around with me. Something that if it breaks down or has problems, can easily be taken in to be fixed. I miss the days when I lived in Kansas City and could just drive my computer into a local shop and have them look at it.

You've also helped me make a decision about Windows XP - which I've come very close to buying a couple of times now, but haven't due to the fact that I don't think my current system can handle it. Wasn't sure I was right on that or not. And did not trust MSN to tell me. Sales people...ugh.

I think you hit the problem on the head - it's the Norton AntiVirus that's slowing everything down. In fact I'm certain of it - because the computer was doing fine speed-wise before I got the most recent edition of Norton last fall - couldn't keep 2004 because they no longer had it available. And 2005 almost killed my memory, I had to remove numerous programs to make room for it. The license is up in Sept or Oct, so I can opt not to renew, uninstall, and get something else.

Unfortunately, I'm a little scared of getting rid of it just yet - since it caught four viruses and quarantined them before they could infect my system within the last three months. One was a trojan horse, two were internet worms. The problem with doing anything on the internet nowadays is the viruses. It's the reason my own company is so strict on internet use.

Is Avast really good? Can I easily get it or something similar and uninstall the Norton?

Re: More advice!

[graffitiandsara.livejournal.com]

Yours would not be the first older computer I've seen get screwed up after loading the newest Norton Anti-Virus program, so if it was working fine before, removing it and replacing with a less resource intensive choice should certainly put you back to where you were before, and give you more breathing space for making the big buying decision.

I'm running Avast on all 3 of our computers, one desktop and two laptops. On Darby's laptop we run the Professional Edition which was around $40 because he does such crazy surfing he was getting hit with viruses right and left. The Pro Edition has script blocking so that a Web page can't infect you.

For me, I don't need that level of protection so I run the home edition which is free, and I haven't had a virus in the three years I've run it. Sophie (from the board) had recommended it to me, and I've been really happy with it. If you go to www.avast.com (http://www.avast.com) you can download the home edition very easily. Just be sure to completely uninstall Norton before you install Avast. My desktop is at least 6 years old, maybe even 7, and Avast doesn't seem to be affecting it's performance at all, and I haven't had any viruses infect my computer.

Glad this was helpful and didn't make you want to bang your head against the wall with too much information. I have been known to do that.

Re: More advice!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you. (Printing your advice, so I can take action on it later.)

Glad this was helpful and didn't make you want to bang your head against the wall with too much information. I have been known to do that.

You gave me just the right amount. Thank you, again! People always complain about getting too much information on computers - but sometimes, they give too little which is equally as bad.

I understand the dilemma...since I am known to provide too much information as well. My father told me tonight that I am prone to talk in paragraphs as opposed to sentences. He follows that line up with - so what did you do yesterday? Leaving me sputtering with a way to respond in less than ten words.

Yours would not be the first older computer I've seen get screwed up after loading the newest Norton Anti-Virus program, so if it was working fine before, removing it and replacing with a less resource intensive choice should certainly put you back to where you were before, and give you more breathing space for making the big buying decision.

Good to know. Looking back I feel incredibly dumb for downloading it to begin with - took forever and I ended up having to remove a lot of things. Damn Norton - I wouldn't put it past them to create viruses just to get business.