3 part question:

I really hate to make this thread any more complicated than it already is, but here goes... ;)

If you're getting virtual memory errors, it doesn't sound to me like you need more RAM from Crucial (BTW: you never said how much RAM this system has). It sounds like your hard drive is running out of space. In that case, you need to copy Word files, pictures, videos, music etc onto your external drive or onto a CD and delete thosee files from your internal hard drive (What size is it?). A good idea even if you're not running out of disk space.

Then you can clean up your hard drive more by:
Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Cleanup
When that's done, search the hard drive for .tmp files and delete them. Then open Internet Explorer (for example) and click Tools>Internet Options. Click Delete Files button and put check in "Delete offline content" in box that appears. Click OK.

When that's done, turn off your screen saver and then:
Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter
When that's done you can turn screen saver back on.

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 06-21-2007 04:41 PM

256 MB is pretty small amount of RAM for XP. And that's why the system needs a huge "virtual memory" file on the hard drive where it can put things for fast access. So yes, you will do well to increase RAM on this system to at least 512MB or 1GB, if the budget allows.

But you also need to clean up the junk on the hard drive. .tmp files are not cookies. They're typically files created during installation of software and can be deleted.

Transfer files to external drive BEFORE you delete them from internal drive. ;)
As long as you plug in external drive, you can access those files whenever you want. Just remember their location will be changed from c:\ to whatever drive letter your external drive is assigned by XP. You don't need to use the backup software to put them on the external drive. Just drag the folder from c: to the other drive. The backup software may create a compressed folder so you'll probably have to 'decompress' it to access the files it contains.

External hard drive only has to be plugged in when you want to access files stored on it.

RAM = random access memory; they're hardware (chips). They get erased whenever you turn off the power, unlike hard drives, USB memory sticks, floppies, CDs which store data even when the power is off.

Get the hard drive cleaned up and defragged before installing SP2. The files will take a fair bit of space and you don't want to get half way through the install and run out of hard disk space. That won't be pretty. ;)

And remember, you'll have to go the microsoft update site and download/imstall 80-90 updates after you install SP2.

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 06-21-2007 05:21 PM