Can you tell me why my computer sucks?

chosen1s

chosen1s

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I built my computer 3 years ago. It has an athalon chip and more SD RAM than I could ever need (I think I'm near a gig)

Bear in mind that I am a complete idiot with computers, but I have the common sense to figure out how to build it because you just plug these things in where they are supposed to go. I have a decent CD Burner/Player that I also bought around that time.

I am running Windows 2000
I have Office 2000

I use my computer strictly for Ebay, email, and of course CAG. I don't run Kazaa or Napster or Limewire anymore (though I do have both MS Instant Messenger and AOL instant messenger). For the most part though, I run nothing but Internet Explorer and am having the same 2 problems over and over:

1) Warning box - "You are low on virtual memory"
2) Music - Any music I play, whether a CD or WAV file or MP3 plays with intermittent "skips", where every 5 to 10 seconds the song skips like a CD would if you shook the player.

I'm not sure why either of these problems is happening, as I have tons of Ram, don't run hardly any programs on my computer at a time, and only use my computer for, really, the internet. Thanks for your advice!
 
[quote name='chosen1s']2) Music - Any music I play, whether a CD or WAV file or MP3 plays with intermittent "skips", where every 5 to 10 seconds the song skips like a CD would if you shook the player.[/quote]

For that, I'm guessing that your Sound Card is onboard or intergrated. A seperate one would help.
 
Have you done the basics?

* reboot
* shutdown, let sit, poweron.
* power off, open up, blow off dust
* uninstall everything you're not using
* virus scan
* spybot/adaware
* scandisk
* defrag

And maybe try one of those Fix-It utilities, that checks your registry et al.

I would start with those steps, 95% of the time, those fix mine right up.

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, see what is running in the background. Check your Startup, make sure nothing secret is loading and running.

I think I've almost always had integrated or onboard sound cards, and any skipping of audio [which did happen sometimes] could be traced to another problem. Not saying getting a standalone won't help, but onboard ones aren't inherently bad.
 
I don't run Kazaa or Napster or Limewire anymore (though I do have both MS Instant Messenger and AOL instant messenger).
Click to expand...

Somehow I think therin lies some of your problem, along with regular maintenence. CTL-ALT-DEL will probably reveal a shitload of processes running in the background (you only need explorer and systray), any number of which could be accessing the HD, internet, or CPU and making your CD player stutter.
 
My first guess is you have too much junk on your comp. Try running spybot and adaware. You can download both for free. Next I would check your sound card drivers and/or reinstall the program you used for audio.
 
I have used Adaware, have done most of the basics (shut down, reboot, etc.). I haven't done the defrag or blew out dust - but could those cause these two specific problems? Everything else seems to run pretty smoothly.

I have no idea what the Mhz of the chip is. All I know is it was top of the line 3 years ago so I would think it could handle something simple like juggling Explorer and the CD at the same time.

Just did the Control/Alt/Delete and checked the task Manager. Nothing major going on with the "Applications" but I have about 50 .exe processes running...
 
Better still: Click on Start, then Run, and type in msconfig (and click OK). In that new window, if you click the tab on the far right that says "Startup", you'll no doubt have a slew of programs listed, each one of those starting every time you turn on your computer. MY suggestion: Go down that list and uncheck everything you don't need. If you don't know what something is, go to Google and do a search for the file name, you'll find a page that tells you what it is. When you're done, click OK and reboot. Chances are, that'll help quite a bit.
 
increase the size of your virtual memory, run some virus software, run some spyware software, clean up un-used software, delete old files you don't need, and do a general clean up.

If that doesn't help, buy a new Dell and give me your computer.
 
Also run some utilities on the hard drive. You may have some disk errors and a 3 year old hard drive is most likely the cause. Try a defrag but before you do make a backup.
 
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