Wow, you most certainly know what you are doing don't you?? Thanks for all that great information.

Let me tell you what happened at Radio Shack on the 4th of July.

Alan and I went to Kings Plaza Mall to see Taking of Pelham 123.

We then took a walk to Radio Shack to look at Laptops.

WELL!! I never was so blown away at what they put into a laptop.

325 gigs of hard drive. 4 gigs of memory. Webcam's etc.

And they were on sale for $700 or so. They had less expensive ones also.

So I said to the guy "Would you please show me Vista".

He did, and there I was ...typing a document in Wordpad, and using the touch pad thingee and learning where all the USB ports were, and how to use Vista.

BOY WAS I GLAD TO GET THAT LESSON.

Then the guy takes me over to this laptop and it had FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE. My friend's husband and one of those things also and I told the guy.

And he said:

"Want to really be impressed?? watch this:

AND HE TAKES HIS THUMB AND MOVES IT ALONG THE SCREEN AND SAYS

"SEE!!! NO MORE PASSWORDS, IT JUST NEEDS YOUR THUMB PRINT".

I was ready to buy it right there and then but I knew I had to be cautious, so I thanked the guy, and went home with Alan (still thinking of thumbprints".

I then went home and knew I had to clean the cache in my computer.

How did I know I had to clean the cache?? Because I had told the guy at Radio Shack '"When I boot up my computer and I try to go online, it takes AT LEAST 4 MINUTES FOR FIREFOX TO LOAD UP".

I know it's not supposed to take 4 minutes, and the guy said "Oh, you have to clean your cache". I said "no, my husband always does it". Alan looks at me and said "I thought you were doing it'.

So it seems that NO ONE HAS BEEN CLEANING ANY CACHES IN THIS HOUSE.

So I went up to Tools, and clear private data and it took forever but I cleaned the cache.

I also went to google and typed in "How to clean the cache in Windows XP"

Well it seems that there is more than just doing the private data thing.

You go to START , and Run, and type some stuff in (I did all this, and followed the directions, but it wouldn't work'.

So what else can I do to get this computer to go online faster.

right now if I just go and sit on the computer and press the Firefox Icon, it takes 45 seconds. (a big step up from 4 minutes), but honestly, isn't it supposed to GO ON RIGHT AWAY??

Thanks to all of you.

Melody

Mel, I always feel good after reading your learning posts. It's so refreshing to read about some-one who faces each new challenge with enthusiasm. :D

I wanted to tell you that I'm using Vista on my new laptop after years of XP. I'd heard so many bad stories that I thought I'd never get it.... but I did. It was so much easier than I'd been led to believe, and I really don't mind it at all. I still have XP on my desk top computer, and I swap between XP on that and Vista on my laptop without any problems.

Good luck in whatever you choose, but the laptop with all that memory sure does sound good. I couldn't afford it when I bought this one but I must look at buying more memory soon.

There are free programs that will do "clean up" for you.
this is one I have been using for a year or so-
http://download.cnet.com/Glary-Utili...html?tag=mncol

just use the default settings one the 1-click maintenance tab

If you get brave you can explore other tabs too, it's pretty easy to understand.

Ccleaner is another good one -
http://download.cnet.com/ccleaner/?tag=mncol

I have them both installed and sometimes use one and sometimes the other .

Hi Jo:

Let me ask you a question. All I have to do is click on the first link in the post you wrote, and it will CLEAN MY COMPUTER??

What exactly will it do, and will that make my computer go online faster. That would be great. Thanks much

Melody

those are links to a safe website where you can download the program and then install it.
then after it is installed on your computer you click it to use it.

Also, if you click the link you can see the cnet editors & users ratings and more information about what the programs do.


If you want to try one just click the link, that takes you to a webpage with a "Download now" text click that and it will send the files to your computer pay attention to where it places that, because after the download is done .
you go to the file and click it to run the installation.
It might ask about adding Icons to desktop , I usually don't cause I don't like a cluttered desktop. - the program will be in the program list anyway.

once it is installed you just find it on your Start/Programs list and click it to open it, then just find the 1 click maintenance tab and click scan for issues.

when done it will have a " Fix issues"? near the bottom { i think that what it says..} I've used it so much I don't really read it anymore LOL
and click that and it will do it and then you are done.

I suppose there are online cleaners you can use but i guess don't feel comfortable using those types of things.

:hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::

I DID IT!!

I clicked on the thing and I downloaded it and it went to town.

This is what it found:

Registry cleaner - 456 problems found ??????????what does this mean?
Short cut fixes - 17 problems found ???? same question
Startup Manager - 3 problems found (I'm being redundant here)

Temp File Cleaner 517.85 mb files found (THIS I UNDERSTAND, Lol).

I clicked on Repair. it did it's thing.

Then it says PROBLEMS SOLVED!!!

I then waited and wanted to see how long it would take me to get online.

It took me 13 seconds.

13 seconds. I haven't seen 13 seconds to go online IN YEARS!!!

again.

:hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug:
You gotta love you guys!!!

lol

Melody

the registry tends to get clogged up with junk
- like adding or removing files/programs leaves a little stuff behind
and it just bogs down the whole system

that my understanding anyway -I haven studied it deeply just skimmed the main topics on it what I was looking for info.

If you haven't defragged the hard drive lately now is a good time to see if that is needed also.

I'm off to defrag.

Thanks MUCHO!!!!

mel