Computer help?

OK, jazzns says he is willing to give some advice, and Iano thinks I should ask, but my problem is I may not be computer literate enough to get the problem across. The computer has been freezing up and giving me blue screens when I reboot for a couple of weeks now.I did the usual stuff, ran the disk cleanup program, the defragmenter, dumped a lot of old files, ran the virus program and the adware program etc. I downloaded a registry cleanup which helped some but wasn't a cure. A friend recommended HouseCall but I can't download it before it freezes up.I'm thinking of reformatting the disk and reloading my now-rather-ancient Windows XP disk, and giving up internet access for a while, but I'm a little leery of not being able to get everything hooked back up right and I need the computer for my work, which I can do as long as I don't ask it to do more than one task at a time, and save very frequently. All advice appreciated.
Thanks.
FaithEdited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Many parts put together over the years by various computer geek types who are not available any more for this and that reason. Last time got an Intel Celeron and Windows XP and Office XP about four years ago. No problems until recently. Yes, I figure if a complete reformat doesn't help then it's a hardware problem. Sometimes I get one that interrupts what I'm doing, usually when I'm online and says it's dumping physical memory. I forget what else it says. If I remember I'll post it. I'm hoping I won't lose what I'm writing now.Otherwise when I reboot - a few dozen times a day, I get a screen about checking a disk which usually finds things wrong and tells me it has corrected them. It's always something new. It tells me how many allocation somethings -- units? -- I have. I have no clue what that means. Yes. I run Ad-aware and AVG virus every day and it's been gradually slowing down anyway. I know I've had a Trojan for a few years I couldn't get rid of but it didn't seem to be doing anything much so I've ignored it. OK. Oh yeah, all the time. I thank Him for all the help I've gotten so far.

Thanks to everyone. I'm copying out the posts to answer later.

So if I'm getting blue screens I could assume it's a hardware problem?A friend mentioned something called "Ghost" to fix a hard disk problem. What can you tell me about that option. He says he can send it to me.I'm going to try the msconfig thing you suggested.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

No I don't know how to replace a harddrive but I guess there's a first time for everything. I've never handled the stuff inside the CPU except to blow dust out of it.I did the msconfig thing jazz suggested and it did speed things up some.I'll try a total reformat soon, but I have to get some work done first -- if I can. I'll keep checking in here if possible.thanks for advice.

Good backups? Well I put stuff I must keep on some old Zip disks. Hope that suffices. Don't know how to burn a CD and this machine won't do that anyway.I'm not going to try to install a hard drive. I'll have to get someone to do that if it comes to that.I've printed out the advice received so far. I'm still in waiting mode. Another piece of equipment I need happened to go out at the same time -- if it's not one thing it's another -- and will arrive sometime today. Someone has offered me a computer she isn't using, wants to clean it up first. I'll get it later today. I have no idea what to expect. She doesn't know anything about computers, just happens to have this one in the office.I may yet reformat but I have to get my work done first if I can, which I can't get started on until later today thanks to the other machine going out.Funny I can still get on from time to time at least. It didn't even make the awful noises this time. --- correction, not really awful noises, just often sounds like it's working extra hard for a while before it settles down.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I know there can sometimes be a problem with the clock in a computer, a battery going bad? For a week or so EvC's times have been about a minute ahead of my computer time. A clue?

The guy who set it up for me a few years ago partitioned the hard drive into C and D. C is about 75% full but D is 98% free. I've never figured out how to use the partition.

Hope this isn't Famous Last Words but the computer has been humming away quietly the whole time I've been on this time, and I've been able to keep posting without a hitch. I had a rocky time GETTING on, went through three bootups, and got frozen out as soon as I got online once. But since I got online this time not a problem at all.

I guess replacing a hard drive is less expensive than getting a new computer. Can't afford either at the moment but the hard drive is probably the way to go.So can you recommend what hard drive to get? Or should I just find a computer person to do it for me?Does "less and less like memory problem" mean I shouldn't bother trying to reformat?Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Thanks.And thanks to you too Ian for the urgent advice. I'm leaving the whole thing until further notice.Thanks for everyone's help.

I use MS Publisher in my work, not Word, and yes "a bit of Excel" says it there. I've got the CDs for Windows XP and Office XP with Publisher which I assume are still usable though they're as old as the computer. Somebody laid a cassette tape eraser (a magnet basically) down on top of them when helping me move, and I can only hope.I don't know what an ATA or SATA hard drive means. I thought hard drives were a lot more expensive than $30 as gasby said, or less than $100 as Jazzns said.

I have no idea what I need. I guess I'll look inside the box eventually if anyone needs to know. I'm so surprised that a hard drive can be that cheap.What does "Pentium" refer to? Isn't that the capacity of a hard drive?

Your advice to uncheck all the msconfig boxes seems to have improved things a great deal. I got through a whole day's work with only one freezeup and everything went a lot faster, so thanks.

What's a "processor" as opposed to a hard drive?(Told you I'm not very computer literate.)