Nickname: Apo

Review: Allow me to offer an alternative suggestion. Slow downloads and spam are not likely 'system' issues at all. Your father's money would be better spent upgrading to a broadband connection. Most ISPs will also provide some level of spam filtering/protection. At about $40 a month, I realize this is in excess of the $100 budget, but so is buying a whole new PC. A fresh install of XP with the latest service packs and a bit more memory would be a good idea as well, but none of the other solutions proffered will offer a true solution to the complaints of slow downloads and spam. Once online with broadband, he will need a firewall (both hardware & software highly advisable) as well as a virus scanner, though many options exist there, and your ISP may help you out here on one or more of these fronts. Also note that the web-brouser, email program & security settings of same will go a long way in thwarting most security threats.

Date reviewed: Apr 10, 2006 12:08 AM

Nickname: Vue

Review: You could try free antivirus and antispyware program such as Clamwin and Spybot. They work well and there is no budget needed.

Date reviewed: Apr 9, 2006 8:08 AM

Nickname: 'jake

Review: Horrible advice. Well, except maybe the one to upgrade to SP2. It doesn't take anything but some time to fix the stated situation. There are many freeware solutions that really do a great job. This shows the difference of attitude in the 'generations gap'. Throw it out vs Fix it.

Date reviewed: Apr 9, 2006 2:21 AM

Nickname: S. D.

Review: I faced almost the same problem. We totally cleaned the system, doubled the RAM, got a new graphics card, and installed Trend Micro PC-cillen for Internet Security 2006. Works like a dream again, and it is also a Dell. The cost was less than $275.

Date reviewed: Apr 8, 2006 3:49 AM

Nickname: GM Well Wisher

Review: Seems a lot of folks are recommending replacement vs. repair of an aging PC. Most name brands include either restore disks or have a restore partition already on the machine. If you do this, the only investment is of time. You'd still need to do the Windows updates and SP2 and install a newer anti- virus and/or spyware client but the amount spent would be a lot less than buying a new PC.

Date reviewed: Apr 7, 2006 8:20 PM

Nickname: Nick

Review: In this case, both upgrading the software or buying a new system may bring more frustration than help. High costs, overpackaged XP systems -- it's too much for most users. I have a better idea. I'm starting a new company that allows users like this (among others) to access files and applications that are hosted by us. And unlike new projects from Google and MS, we'll offer a full suite of applications. Don't upgrade your system; just remove the system from how you compute.

Date reviewed: Apr 7, 2006 8:16 PM

Nickname: FredMT

Review: Or you can download the GNU/Linux OS -- Ubuntu. Burn the ISO image to a blank CD: XP would do this and finally load Ubuntu onto his computer in default mode: Just hit the return key and a few other simple things and after about an hour, he's done. The upside: No slow computer, no viruses, no spyware, no adware. Or he can remain tied to redmond4ever.

Date reviewed: Apr 7, 2006 4:11 PM

Nickname: Wisconsin77

Review: I am an ex-Dell employee with a third option that's cheaper. The slowness does occur over time due to the degredation of hardware mostly, not always the software or viruses, etc. What I've done when experiencing slowness is wipe my hard drive and start over. Hopefully the user has CD-RW capability to copy any files or programs that they may want to keep. If there is software installed and the user doesn't have the install disks, this will also be lost. It does take time to burn and reinstall software. After everything is taken from the hard drive the user can reset the computer back to factory defaults. Contact the manufacturer to do this. The next problem is that the files and software you copied may contain a virus, etc. So first, reinstall or use new security and protection files... refer to the article. Reinstall everything you want back to the computer. Simply adding security and protection after-the-fact may not solve the issue of a slow computer.

Date reviewed: Apr 7, 2006 3:54 PM

Nickname: ecb

Review: I would say that in addition, your computer will probably need at least 192MB of memory to run Norton Antivirus so that it doesn't slow the computer down too much (I'm not sure about McAfee). In addition, it would probably be good to upgrade to 256MB memory for running Norton Internet Security. It's my guess that your computer either has the PC100 or PC133 type memory chips. Fortunately, memory is not that expensive these days. If you do upgrade, I would recommend ugrading to 256MB since it shouldn't be that much more expensive.

Date reviewed: Apr 7, 2006 2:55 PM

Nickname: sfmaster

Review: How about backing up your dad's data, then reinstalling Windows along with SP 1 & 2? When I bought my Dell 4300 back in 2001 I bought it with a too small hard drive. I recently bought a new, larger one, and decided to simulate a hard drive failure -- after backing up everything, I replaced the old drive with the new one as boot drive, then reloaded Windows, the drivers and only the software I needed. It was good training!

Date reviewed: Apr 7, 2006 11:33 AM