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Original Reply:
I highly suspect this isn’t a problem with your hardware. In all liklihood, you’ve simply hit the limit on a typical windows installation.
Long story short, Windows doesn’t handle files very well. Later versions do a fair job better than previous versions did, but they all have issues cleaning up parts, and keeping things tidy. This is basically because windows sometimes loses track of the files it creates. This often creates a condition where it doesn’t remove the files it no longer needs. It’s simply a matter of time before the performance of your PC takes a hit as it tries to cope with them all.
If you’ve managed to get 4 years out of it, you’ve done pretty well. I’d highly recommend that you do a clean install of Windows. Doing so should make your system hum like new again. If a clean install is out of the question, you can try using a program like Registry Mechanic to clear the registry of un-used trash. This often has a marked affect on performance, but does not work as well as a clean install would.
Note that a clean install requires you to back up your important files. Also, repairing the installation won’t have the desired effect, as it won’t remove the temporary files that are likely cluttering up your system directories.
In my experience, it’s easiest to simply add another hard-drive (for non-laptop PCs), designate the new hard-drive as primary, and do a clean installation of windows onto it. You can then have access to the old hard-drive as your secondary, and use it to migrate over any files you’d like. It’s a bit more complicated if you have a laptop, but not impossible.
Hope this helps!
Thank you much. Shall investigate re-installing, though it sounds a tad beyond me.
I made some edits during your reply – definitely check those out if you get a sec.
As for the level of difficulty, I’d put it as above average. Dell makes the process somewhat easier by making it relatively painless to restore the system using the CDs they provide. You can also likely get some help with the process by calling their support department. They haven’t been too horrible in my experience.
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Hey Serenity, Welcome to the Lounge!
Unfortunately, there is very little you can do to locate this information yourself, unless you 1.) have access to the computer causing the issues, or 2.) are the server administrator of the website in question. It’s important to note that tactics and techniques for using stolen information for the purpose of online identity theft are designed such that the persons perpetrating its use are rarely caught.
The only way to truly protect yourself is to change your information. If you suspect someone is using credit card info, dispute the charges with your card company, and request that they send you another card. If it’s a matter of accessing personal accounts, change your passwords. The idea is to make any of the information that’s being used against you obsolete, so that its use doesn’t continue to have negative affects on you.
If it’s more of a personal nature, (someone impersonating you to spread libel or slander) then you’ll likely need to retain a lawyer to determine who is at fault. A surprising number of records are kept for many social networking sites, however those records are only available if you subpoena the entity storing them. Before you contact a lawyer, you might consider contacting the company to advise them of the behavior. Most sites have fairly solid Acceptable Use Policies, and any use of your information without your consent is likely a breach of that policy.
If you can provide us with more detailed information about how your information is being used, I’m sure this advice could be further refined. I sincerely hope it helps.
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I think I am going to try to contact Linksys and see if they can talk me through any of the changes I have to make especially if there is a chance I will be without Internet if I reset it.
Good luck with that. It was a series of calls to Linksys that added them to my personal blacklist for future purchases. I have never experienced such poor phone support from any other company – ever. I’d be interested to hear how you fare – hopefully they’ve improved in the past several years.
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Ted Rules.
I’d love to offer my assistance on this, however I’m stuck using ’03. Nuff said. I’ll be following this though, those are some truly impressive charts.
*geek drool*
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As I recall, it will completely reset your router to the factory default settings. You could look it up to confirm, but I think the default password/id to access the router itself is a blank login ID with a password of ‘admin’.
Once you’ve reset it, you’ll have to go in and define your network password, security type, and Network SSID (What your wifi network is called.)
There should be a step-by-step guide on how to configure the router online. Definitely make sure you grab this before you begin – you may not have internet access until the router is configured.
Hope this helps, and Good Luck!
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The latest Windows Messenger has a desktop sharing option. He may already have that installed on his system. This should allow you to at least see what’s going on at his end, and perhaps fix it – maybe.
Honestly though, it sounds like registry corruption or other nastiness. Since installation of programs will be required to fix it, I’d probably advise him to try running a repair of his windows installation using whatever discs came with his machine. Failing that, a fresh format and install may be required.
As far as transfers go, nothing beats Dropbox. (http://www.getdropbox.com) However, this also requires installation. It’s limited to 2gb, but works very well for this particular situation.
Good luck! Definitely let us know how you fare.
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