My computer is hurting! It takes up to 20 seconds to start programs, but once I open the program (Explorer, Word, Etc,) it runs just fine. My system says I have about 300MB of my 512MB of Ram available, not sure if that's acceptable or not. ( I am not much of a computer guy when it comes to this stuff.) Here's what I've done this weekend. Defragged Scan Disk Disk Clean-up Used Registry Cleaner Used Spybot spyware Used Adware-SE Not sure what to do next besides re-install windows. Any other ideas? I am now lost.

Have you tried , cntrl/alt/del to see what you have running that is taking your resorces?? Also try start/run/ type in; msconfig and clik on start up to see what you can uncheck that you dont need running Or check out this helpfull link How To Run Win ME Well " You're only as safe as your last update "

Thanks for the feedback Bob. I have done both of those and ran the system with only systray and explorer active and have the same problem. Not sure if I picked up a virus recently and it's not getting cought by spybot. I don't have a recent version of Norton running and don't want to invest in it if the odds of it fixing the problem a small.

Try this great and free Antivirus AVG FREE Zone Alarm Free Firewall Ive been using these for a few years now and they work great Also have you tried a system restore to a earlier date ?? Which may also correct the problem And then if all else fails it may be time for a reinstall, there could be some corrupt files " You're only as safe as your last update "

yeah, Bob' right Jeremy, do a format, reinstall........solves all probs. another GREAT tip i picked up fer speeding up your PC, is to set your PC to Network Server (instead of Desktop PC). Right-click My Computer/Properties/Performance Tab/File System/"Typical Role Of This Computer"/.....Reboot the second time you load a program......it loads immediately. Central Coast NSW Australia

A nice tiny tool to have shows who is using clock cycles in real time: WinTop. It's part of the W95 kernal toys and works with W9x and ME. http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/WUToys/W95KernelToy/Default.asp Download the 50KB file and put it in it's own empty folder, doubleclick the W95KRNLTOYS.exe and it will extract all the files. Read the WINTOP.TXT file. The non-wintop files can be discarded as they are already built into ME. Best