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I have had this Dell for 3 years and it has just slowly gotten very buggy and unstable. Crashes every time I use it, often while IE open, sometimes while using Quicken, sometimes random. Sometimes I get a freeze, sometimes BSod, sometimes a "whiteout" screen.
What have I done already? Adaware, Spybot, Virus scan, Scandisk (after running EndItAll), defrag. Nothing helps.
I looked at my Startup files on msconfig and I do not know what any of them are, but I am afraid to start deleting willy-nilly.
My gut says to reinstall ME, but I do not know what that does to all the drivers, software, adn files I have on the drive.
Thanks.
Jeff Jaeger
Install Lavalys' Everest Home Edition program to get a detailed report on your hardware.You will need this information to get the drivers you don't already have from the Web.Make sure you have access to the Internet from a spare computer or a friend's computer to get the drivers.These drivers are saved(zipped) to diskettes or copied to CDR or CDRW.Video,sound,modem are specific issues that Windows ME will most probably not cover.You have been lucky to get 3 years from this setup:it is a long strech of time.Windows ME has a folder called Windows\Options\Install with the Windows ME setup files.You can use it to reinstall Windows from within Windows first just like you do with any Windows program setup.You can also make a copy at the root of C drive and use it as a starting point to reinstall ME from a dos diskette dos prompt if the Windows setup from within Windows is not conclusive.You can delete the files you don't need from a diskette dos prompt.Transfer a copy of deltree.exe to your ME boot disk(deltree is in Windows\Command folder).
deltree C: (Hit Enter)
Choose which files you keep.If you are not sure you delete Windows folder only if you setup from dos without formatting hard drive(after trying from Windows first without deleting anything).When you complete setup you reinstall the programs to recreate the registry for those.The last resort is loosing all your saves and data by formatting the hard drive and using the ME CD.You can boot from the cdrom by selecting the boot sequence in the bios.
format C: (Hit Enter)
Good luck.
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did you try a registry fix type program. NOrtons utilitiy's windoctor or registry mechanic might work.
A+ Certified
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If you have MS WinME CD, and NOT a manufacturers CD, reinstall over top will maintain everything ... you won't loose anything, just make sure to install to the same location.
If that don't help ... maybe ram going bad.
As far as msconfig ... you can just leave systray, scanreg, pwr profile, turn everything else off for test.Best
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Why don't you have all your drivers? When I bought my new pc I had an extra CD with sound drivers/modem drivers etc so if a disaster does strike (and it will eventually) you just reinstall Windows ME and the rest of the drivers for your hardware. I dont recommend installing WinME over an existing one as I have done this before and still had some problems. A CLEAN install is the best way to go.
Cheers!
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Before you do anything, try the homepage link on this response. Begin with a RAM test by running memtest from www.memtest86.com and then do the other things on the link.
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"A CLEAN install is the best way to go." as Betty says. And yes she is very right. Overwriting installs just lead to more and more problems.
I sure as hell would not go three years without a full format in between. What I do is keep my PC VERY CLEAN. And by that I mean, I eliminate All Spyware, adware, malicious programs.. that kinda thing.... I scan for those atleast every 2 days. I clear out all of the tracks I make... By using the most amazing program ever.... "Tracks Eraser Pro 4.5" Everything you do.... it makes some sort of trace, and those traces build and build eating Disk space. I dont use Tracks Eraser for its intended purpose, which is hiding................ "stuff" I use it to clean up my PC.
My point being..... that even though I keep my PC clean all of the time, it still needs to be refreshed. And by refreshed I mean... a Full format and reinstallation of Windows.
I also find it funny that the topic of your post was "ME buggy" Anyone that has knowledge of O/S's knows that ME is the worst most unstable buggiest version of windows there is..... It is just '98 written over very quickly to meet its release.
I HIGHLY suggest a FULL format and fresh installation of XP.
[Also never forget to do windows update after a clean installation of windows :) ]
_______-SamZee-________
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Ah yes, and one more thing that I forgot.
I really do not reccomend using IE. And for many reasons. If you DO choose to format and do a fresh installation of windows, then do yourself a huge favor and download Mozilla FireFox. I used to use IE..... untill I realized how much of a pain it could be being that malicious programs use it to their advantage. That and of how many terrible security issues it has, as well as bad exploits like saving pages you visit like 3 weeks ago... into your RAM.....Who wants that? No one I should think.But let us look at Mozilla FireFox in terms of Windows and Linux. There are TONS and TONS of viruses designed to work inside of windows..... where as Linux is pretty much safe from Viruses, being that no one writes them for linux. This is pretty much the same thing for Mozilla FireFox. Since most people use IE, then most people write malicious programs to work inside of it.
That and Mozilla FireFox even loads pages faster than IE and isn't a resource hog.
You would want to make FireFox your Default browser, but it also helps to have IE just incase... For very FEW websites do not accept Firefox. So have IE just incase.
Otherwise..... Mozilla is the way to go!
____-SamZee-____
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Heheh, and one more thing quoting my last post.
"Since most people use IE, then most people write malicious programs to work inside of it."
Just because you have FireFox don't think that it will Completely stop all malicious programs such as spyware and adware. What I was implying was...... If you receive spyware... and IF it runs inside of your internet browser, then it cant cause you have FireFox. That is only if it runs itself somewhere inside of IE... otherwise it could not even bother with our Browser and just be running in your Virtual Memory all day.
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