Hi, currently trying to fix my computer. System restore isn't working. I tried following your advice for a windows ME user, but could not find StateMgr at all. Could you advise me what I should try? Thanks.

I don't know what StateMgr is as I never used ME. Does you computer boot into WinXP? If so go to Start> help and support> system restore.

Your query isn't clear as to what you are trying to do.

How much free space is left on the partition Windows is on? System Restore won't run if you have less free space than the minimum it requires - I don't know what that is for ME, but for XP that's about 100mb.

Sorry, I only spoke about ME because I saw a similar post related to it, didn't mean to cause confusion.
With regards to space, I've got 24gb free on the drive.
The problem I'm having is that when I run system restore, it goes through the process, the system restarts, but then i get a message telling me it has failed to restore. Any ideas?

Using System Restore too many times can cause
more harm than good. After doing a restore
that does not fix a problem, then UNDO the
Restoration, and try another restore point, or
just do the UNDO.

This page has a Troubleshooting section --
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...
Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore in Windows XP

Whether using a previous restore point will work depends on what has changed since that restore point was made. If nothing major has changed you should be able to load most if not all restore points.

E.g.
- if you have un-installed or deleted programs or files that the restore point Registry requires, using System Restore will not fix that situation.
- if there were changes in hardware since that restore point was made, the restore point may fail to restore.
E.g. if you had an external hard drive or another hard drive connected when you made the restore point and it is not connected now, or visa versa, the restore will fail. In fact it's recommended you go into the System Restore settings and exclude external drives from being included for restore points if they are not connected all the time.

You could try other restore points, but you may find none of them work.

If you tell us what your problems are and what led up to your problems we may be able to help you.

What is it you are trying to fix? As stated, System Restore cannot fix a vast number of problems.

If you state your problem, in detail, you'll have a better chance of finding a solution.

There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

Hi, apologies for not going into detail.
I wasn't trying to fix my computer using system restore, it is just one of the symptoms of my problems.
The general problem is the computer is running far too slowly for a 2.8GHz computer, and it is running much more slowly than it used to. I have removed Norton and replaced with AVG to free resources, but the computer is still very slow to load things like Internet Explorer or Microsoft Word.
I have scanned for viruses and spyware, but don't seem to have any. The only things running behind the scenes are AVG virus scanner and Comodo firewall.
Looking at task manager, iexplore with only one tab open is using 59,232K of memory, does this seem too high? What else can I try to fix my sluggish system and is there any other system info I can give to help? Thanks.

Hit control/ alt/ delete and post how many processes are currently running on the computer. The number is given in the lower left corner.

With only Internet explorer open, I have 30 processes running.

30 processes doesn't seem excessive. My IE is 52,888.

I think your internet loading slowly is part of a systemic problem that may have nothing to do with IE. If you can't even open Word normally.

Your system specs state 248MB of RAM. That would probably indicate 256MB of installed RAM with ONLY 8MB dedicated to graphics.

256MB of RAM is very lean for WinXP.

Your best course of action might be to get more RAM, cleanup temp files, defrag the HDrive and if that still doesn't help, reinstall. In the meantime be sure you have backed up person files.

Go to Crucial.com and try thier online configurator. It will indicate what RAM is compatible.

You have plenty of memory for running ME well - that wouldn't explain the computer's slowness, but XP just barely runs as it should with 256mb.

See response 5 in this for some info about ram compatibilty, and some places where you can find out what will work in your mboard for sure:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...
Correction to that:
Mushkin www.mushkin.com

See this recent thread - reduce the number of Startup programs you have running
http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/...

Try using some online anti-spyware/anti-trojan scanners, such as Panda's - one will not catch everything.
Grisoft, the maker of AVG, also makes a good freeware Antispyware program.

Are you connected to the internet through a router? - if so it probably has a built in hardware firewall. I have found I do not need to use a software firewall in Win 98SE since I got my router - you may not need one for ME either, depending on what you do on the internet. I don't go anywhere dangerous, such as to places where you download illegal copies of music or movies.
The default firewall settings in the router config are all I'm using - it passes Symantecs's security check, and the "Shields are Up" tests (may be the wrong words) as is.
And malware is rarely targeted at Win ME and below anymore - much of it won't work in ME and below.

Thanks a lot for your help, I'll buy more RAM.

OntheHill: You said I only have 8mb dedicated to graphics, if I bought more RAM is it possible to allocate more memory for graphics? If so, how?

The settings for shared video RAM are in the BIOS screens. You may or may not be able to increase the setting. That is dependent on the graphics chip on the MBoard and the total amount of system RAM. 8MB is quite low. I would speculate you may be able to increase either now or after a RAM increase. With a 2.8GHz processor your computer can't be too old.

Read the manual for your computer for further explanation of how this works. As an example of what might be possible. I am typing on a computer with integrated graphics that uses 256MB of shared RAM. My display settings are currently 1680 x 1050@ 32 bit color depth.

You don't need more ram if you're only going to be using ME - that will not help your situation at all in that case.
The amount of ram you share with onboard video should never be set to more than half the ram you have installed, and it often works fine set to less than that, but 8mb is too little.
Setting the screen rsolution to the lowest setting you are comfortable using will improve the video performance if it is presently set higher, and using 16 bit rather than 32 bit color still looks good for almost everything and will also improve video performance.

Sorry for the confusion, I am running XP, I have never been running ME, I was just looking at advice previously given to an ME user.

How do i increase the ram I share with onboard video?

"I am running XP, I have never been running ME,..."

In that case, increasing the ram to 512mb is more than enough for most people, but see the link I pointed to - the ram must be compatible with the mboard.

If you supply the Compaq model number, I may be able to find the actual mboard model used (Compaq doesn't make the mboards) and you will then have more choices of which ram modules you can use.

"How do i increase the ram I share with onboard video?"

The ram shared setting being too low only affects the video performance of your system - other than that it won't make your computer slower as you describe, unless it is set way too high - more than half the ram installed.

The setting is in the bios Setup somewhere.
Typically you have at least several choices - e.g. 8mb, 16mb, 32mb, 64mb, 128mb, etc.
64mb or 128mb would be a good setting to try first in your case. The higher you have the resolution set, the more colors, the more ram needed to be shared for the video to work as it should. The lowest setting that results in good video performance is enough - if increasing the ram shared improves nothing above a certain setting, there's no point setting it higher than that certain setting.

If you don't know which key to press to get into the bios see the manual that came with the computer, or try pressing Del or F1 or F2 repeatedly while booting in the early part of booting (don't hold down the key).