It's just sad that folks are ok about "Wait; I gotta reboot." Three times I've seen that happen in Video Chat today.

I can prolly tell you why that always crops up:

How many icons are there in the system tray? (<sigh> the "system tray" is that part of the task bar with the clock in it.) What do they do? How many of them are communications applications [applications=programs]? All of them are in memory, right now, using up memory that could allow the application that you are using to run smoother. If they are communications applications (yahoo, icq, aol, aim, msn, cable/dsl connection) they are all listening for network traffic ... when they aren't checking in somewhere ... whether you are using them or not.

Please, it would be interesting to see what folks have running. If you would share a list of them in here, maybe we could work out some of the PC Problems that folks have. Let's Help Each Other!

How many processes are running on your computer right now? How many of them are running because you told them to? What are they doing? What do they do? How do you know that they aren't copying your keystrokes to an IRC server somewhere? How do you know that they aren't copying your keystrokes into a file that is gonna be sent out as soon as you log on? And if you have a cable or dsl connection, you are always logged on, so they can send anytime they want to.

Would it be so much more "inconvenient" to start ICQ, or AIM, or Yahoo Messenger or MSN when YOU get ready to use it? If you are not writing a letter or working in a speadsheet, do you need Office to be sitting there? You can start any of your applications from the Start Button ... or from the icon on your Desktop ... or from the Launch Bar (the area next to the Start Button). (and why does stuff need to be in all three places?! But that's a question for the "wise folks of Redmond" - almost makes me embarassed to live less than 25 miles from there! And his house [did you see that one in the news about all the features he had built into it?] is only another 20 miles or so further south!:() It only takes seconds longer for something to load into memory and start WHEN YOU NEED TO USE IT. It's like carrying everything with you when you leave home just because you might need to run your shirt through the wash if you spill some soup on it at lunch!

Take a look, folks: how much stuff is running in the background? And how much of it do you need to use RIGHT NOW?

That's why reboots are needed so often; because these things conflict with each other trying to the same resources at the same time! Even if you are using something, something else is trying to control/use it too! It ain't "angels on the head of a pin"; it's a bunch of cooks trying to work the same soup pot! And which one put too much of that seasoning in, and fer-gosh-sakes-WHY?

In 98, you can go to Startbutton -> Run, type in msconfig, go to the Startup tab and uncheck the stuff that you don't want to have running. Keep Explorer (this is the shell, not the browser), System Tray, Task Monitor and Power Profile. These are needed so that the system works; some of the rest are extra features that may be running to support some of your peripherals. At the very least, MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT THE REST OF THEM ARE!!!!!!!!!!

I'm mostly sorry that I don't know exactly how to do this in XP, but only because I am unable to tell you how to do the same thing. I'm not at all sorry that I haven't had the dubious pleasure of running XP myself.

Oh, and the firewall, virus scanner, other "protection" stuff ... <shudder> Totally scared of that keg of worms!

Windows is really a pain when one understands how these things should work. Seriously! But, of course, nobody is gonna take my word for it since "the man" done sold them this bill of goods! And we all know that the man is to be trusted in all things don't we? So why do you trust him in this one!!!

I'm not at all sorry that I haven't had the dubious pleasure of running XP myself.

all XP, all the time here and never had a problem.
maybe you should just relax a bit?

all XP, all the time here and never had a problem.
maybe you should just relax a bit?sure, relax like "we" "should just relax" about the rest of the stuff that gets dumped on us?

i guess my "problem" is that i understand the underlying workings of a computer to the extent that i not only know how, but want, to be sure of what it is doing. windows has always "protected" the user from gaining any understanding of how computers work, thereby allowing the computer industry to foist off this stuff on users and lull them into "maybe you should just relax". No, James; I am not going to "just relax" when y'all are getting as jacked by this pece fece as you point out we are getting jacked by giving so many of our dollars to non-Black businesses! what is the difference?

knowledge is power, and they have the power over your computer ... but if you wish, you may continue in blissful "lesser knowledge" of what is going on behind the scenes in your computer.

i guess you are as lucky in your knowledge/usage of xp as colin powell or sec.state rice are in their knowledge/usage of the political mechanisms to get where they are.

kinda ironic to see you being such a staunch supporter of getting our's back from them maggots when you are so supportive of a viral marketing tool pushed by them maggots. are you going to be jumping to vista when it comes out? why? because they say that "it will make your computing experience better"? haven't they said things like this about a lot of things that you just can't understand why Black folk buy into? where's the difference?

thanks for your support! and as usual, you've grabbed a small unimportant piece of what i said that had nothing to do with the topic i was trying to put across and tossed your opinion of that into the mix. thanks! now the folks that gain wisdom from the things you contribute to this Family (truly, without sarcasm; Thank You, Brother/Elder jamesfrmphilly for all that you give to the Family!!), are going to follow on with what you have expressed here and keep rebooting all too unnecessarily and just blithely go along figuring that it is their fault that there computer acts so weird.

ah, unity; always it just keeps getting further and further away!! and this is why!

Not in all cases, most of the times you just need to clean your system out and defragment.

Many people just get on the computer not understanding you MUST do maintenance as well to keep the computer running. For first time customers I always tell them treat your computer like your pet….CLEAN IT!!!! and it will never let you down. The ones that do, I don't hear from them until they change over software or adding memory.

Most of the spy ware, privacy mangers, firewalls, etc you purchase, it is a variety of them online free as well, and for people who don’t have money like that you can visit www.download.com and you will see the ratings of any program you want to download. They have free and/or trail periods for all downloads.

I run 50/11 programs and two browsers. The only time I do reboot is when I have downloaded something, or if my kids been on my computer. HINT: after a kid been on your computer, you WANT to clean it out. They play games and go to site where you need different programs and plug-ins to play games or to view that site. You want all that junk out, it will slow your computer down.

With the new chat room, we don’t have additional software to download. Must computers (newer models I know)have the Macromedia flash player software on them. If it’s an older system you may not. You can download it free here…. http://www.macromedia.com/downloads/

The new chat is on the same server as the forum. In addition, no downloading of a specific feature or program to really participate in this chat room, as we did with the other chat room.

As for windows 98 the internet do not support it as it should, if possible try to upgrade to a newr window program. Many issues come up using 98 windows, programs run slower, freeze ups, IE crashing more and resource and memory is read wrong….ask me how I know….I have been there when I knew how much memory I had, but windows 98 was misreading it…that equaled IE crashing and so on.

Peace
Angel

Hey! Cool! Keep talking, MzBlkAngel! It's good to see some other folks bringing tech knowledge.

Well, when someone wants to know how to turn their computer on, don't fear, I am here...lol