Computer help desk

i just bought a couple of dells for two girls in the office.. cost me around $450 each w/out monitors.
2.4gz celeron
512 ram
40 gig hd
win xp home
dvd rom
cd/rw
$428 to be exact..

i also bought a much better dell for my boss..
Dimension 4700 Series,Intel Pentium 4 Processor 540 with HT Technology (3.2GHz)
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz
128MB PCI Express x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE
40GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition,Service Pack 2,English
Intel Pro 100M Integrated PCI NIC Card
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
48x CD-ROM Drive and 16X DVD+/-RW
Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit ADVANCED HD Audio,100dB/Dolby Digital/96KHz/7.1
no speakers, no monitor --> $957

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Originally Posted by Lucy

By the way, it's a 1999 Dell, running Windows 98. And I have the original manual and I THINK the original disk. Although the manual is no help -- its troubleshooting section has things like how to connect the mouse. Thanks, I got that -- where's the section for "Six years later, when things go bad"? :ohno

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you really should buy a new computer.. you should think of a computer like you do a leased car.. just allocate a certain amount of money per year for a computer.. or at least dont think of the computer as "oh no, i just spent $1k on a PC".. you should allocate that $1k over how long you think it will be up to speed... and everyone has their own speed.. personally i used to need a new PC every two years minimum when I was gaming but now my pcs will last a bit longer 3-4 years... but if email and web surfing is your only thing then get a good pc and it will last you another 5 years.. $1k / 5 years = $200/year... not much considering the value received in return.. just make sure you buy a pc that is not behind the times already or that thing wont last long enough to warrant the invesmet and you'll be kickng it after a couple of years...

i have a bad ass alienware at home that's already a year and a half old and still faster than most.

Thanks, Novalia. So if you bought Dells for the office, you're saying you recommend Dell?
I was looking at the Dell 3000 Celeron, which Dell has on its site for $519 at the moment (with a monitor, but not many other bells and whistles). It looks decent, and while I understand you get what you pay for, I'm on a budget. And I fully expect whatever I buy to be obsolete in two years anyway. :laugh I really just use the computer for writing and the Internet. :shrug

Anyway, I'm trying to squeeze some more life out of my old one until I order a new one and it arrives. Poking around web advice, it seems I either have a virus or my hard drive is dying. I'm betting the latter.

Lucy, can you boot from a floppy?

Not sure yet, Veejer -- I got my sister to make me a startup disk today (she has the same computer) and I'm going to try that tonight, although I'm not sure how to do it. :shrug

I just got a book, "Degunking Windows" by Paraglyph Press. Has anyone used this? It looks like it's pretty easy to follow. With 3 teenagers it's anyone's guess what is going on in my computer, but it is sloooooow.

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Originally Posted by Gutmutter

I just got a book, "Degunking Windows" by Paraglyph Press. Has anyone used this? It looks like it's pretty easy to follow. With 3 teenagers it's anyone's guess what is going on in my computer, but it is sloooooow.

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Sounds like it might be a good book. Why not have one of the teens clean up the thing for you. clear the IE history, run lavasoft adaware, defrag the thing, etc etc., I am sure it will all be covered in the book....

Hahahahahaha - now I know how my students feel when I'm teaching them a foreign language. That's actually a good idea to get the kids to do it. I would like to improve my knowledge, though and I will have a lot of free time this summer.

Does anyone know what the recycler is for? Can it be deleted?

Thanks

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Originally Posted by Pomeraniac

Does anyone know what the recycler is for? Can it be deleted?

Thanks

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If by the recycler you mean the recycle bin, nope gotta keep it, that is where all the files you delete go. If your recycle bin has stuff in it, you can empty it, something that should be done periodically. I generally empty mine every month. But if you delete a lot of stuff you can empty it anytime.