More RAM?

[swoody]

and be sure and take off your tinfoil hat also.

in 11 years of working with hardware, not once have i killed RAM due to static....

That is like saying in the 15 years I've been driving that I speed and never wear a seatbelt, but I've never been in a car accident. It is not good practice, and it's not the safe way to do it. Yes it may work for you this time, but next time you could fry a $200 CPU.

To the OP: Yes, once you install the new RAM Ubuntu will recognize and utilize it. Also, as it seems that you are helping out a friend, please don't install Ubuntu unless you have cleared it with that person. We don't want our beloved OS looked at as if it's a virus or malware that has wound up on their computer. If you do get the green light, then rock on! Just be prepared to become their own personal 'Ubuntu support technician' in the future

-Woody

[qyot27]

256 MB runs the WinXP SP3 OK, But you need some disk space and forget about multitaksing with multiple programmes. One task works relativelly OK though. If i could be safe that removing firewall and antivirus wouldn't have any consequences it would run relativelly ok.

With my SP3 setup (although this was largely true for SP2, SP1, and even RTM), there's ZoneAlarm Free, Firefox with Adblock Plus, and Spybot - for Spybot, immunize whenever you update; I also do both standard and registry scans with CCleaner fairly often and keep the Temp cache clear. And I've not had to deal with viruses or malware for years. I did have AdAware for a long time but it eventually stopped detecting anything at all, and since it took up so many resources, it wasn't worth it anymore (Spybot doesn't have to run all the time, the immunization feature being the reason why). The antivirus situation was much the same - besides, I know enough now about removing virii manually that I don't need one sucking up even more resources.

Generally speaking, I can turn on the computer, go pour myself a cup of coffee, and when I come back everything'll be fully up and running and finished loading.

[warfacegod]

With my SP3 setup (although this was largely true for SP2, SP1, and even RTM), there's ZoneAlarm Free, Firefox with Adblock Plus, and Spybot - for Spybot, immunize whenever you update; I also do both standard and registry scans with CCleaner fairly often and keep the Temp cache clear. And I've not had to deal with viruses or malware for years. I did have AdAware for a long time but it eventually stopped detecting anything at all, and since it took up so many resources, it wasn't worth it anymore (Spybot doesn't have to run all the time, the immunization feature being the reason why). The antivirus situation was much the same - besides, I know enough now about removing virii manually that I don't need one sucking up even more resources.

Generally speaking, I can turn on the computer, go pour myself a cup of coffee, and when I come back everything'll be fully up and running and finished loading.

Give Glary Utilites a whirl.

[patros]

and be sure and take off your tinfoil hat also.

in 11 years of working with hardware, not once have i killed RAM due to static....

I have, although only twice in about 16 years.

[Sylslay]

It is best to ground yourself before handling any part in your PC, touch metal heater/radiator in room and since than don't touch Yours jumper with bore hands.
PS. 1Gb is recomeded now a days. 2Gb could be to much for weak/ very old CPU.

[qyot27]

Give Glary Utilites a whirl.

Any particular reason aside from variety? It looks like it just does the exact same things my current solutions do, and they've not failed me yet.

[warfacegod]

I have found that Glary and Ccleaner together are top notch at bringing Windows back from the grave. For instance, each will catch Registry Issues that the other will miss. Glary has a number of useful tools whereas Ccleaner has only only a few. Empty folders finder, Duplicate files finder, Registry compactor, to name a few (mostly because I can't remember any others, been three years since I've used it consistently). I'm not saying give up Ccleaner but use them both if you like.

If you defrag then you might like Defraggler. Slow but good.

[Paqman]

If you defrag then you might like Defraggler. Slow but good.

Or Auslogics Disk Defrag. Fast and good.

[warfacegod]

Or Auslogics Disk Defrag. Fast and good.

I was never a fan of Auslogics fondness for connecting to the net without telling me or the constant offers to buy.

[PenguinInside]

BTW, there is a neat way to drain the caps on a desktop machine. Unplug, then hit the 'power' button. The caps get drained trying to start the computer. It should work on other equipement as well, but to be honest, I'm not sure about how healthy it is for the caps. Its probably not bad to do it for occasional maintenance but I'd try to avoid doing it often....

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about this before, but it does make sense.