Betty I like PC Pitstop very much - but not enough to buy it when I can use it for free whenever I need to do so. If you go there you are offered the chance to sign up. If you sign up your test results are kept and you are welcomed back each time and have the opportunity to compare the current test with previous tests. When you have completed the full test just click each red or yellow flag to see their comments. Buying it gives you the chance to have them fix things that will enhance the computer, not buying you still get told the problem areas but need to do the fixing yourself. Not a bad idea because by fixing it yourself you become more comfortable with tinkering with the computer. Overcoming the fear of messing up is perhaps the biggest issue for most computer users. The Google bar can be your friend too, just type anything in that you need answered and the wealth of information provided can be amazing. you may need to rephrase your query at times but it is a very worthwhile tool to have. I do not allow it to steal a whole line at the top but dragged mine up alongside the address bar so I do not lose screen space. I did not buy a 19 inch screen for a 17 inch view.

My goodness, don't even consider taking it to a shop to fix. There is precious little to fix there. The only thing that computer needs is more RAM or memory. Using 256mb of RAM is minimal at best for Widows XP, another 256 would make a difference. You can install that yourself very easily too. As you keep it squeaky clean already I would only make 2 suggestions - for your own peace of mind more than anything. Go to PC Pitstop, linked below, and run the full free test. Then click on any yellow or red flags for interesting comments. Do not let them do the fixes or they will need money, they will tell you how to do whatever they feel needs fixing. Secondly visit BitDefender and run a free online scan for any nasties your software may have overlooked. You need to be online in IE for this oe to work, they are not set up for Firefox or Opera. Here is a link that might be useful: PC Pitstop

I have used the free PC Pitstop for years. It was a great program but a succession of "improvements" seem to have removed a lot of the advantages in my opinion. While buying computer parts I was offered the $39 program for free and took it, based on what I felt it did I would not be paying money for it. PC Matic seems to belong to PC Pistop. Never heard of Evensoft till your post. Cnet has offered this (amongst hordes of other sites of course) and in 14 months has had a mere 17,527 downloads with user rating 3 out of 5. Hardly a hit in my mind. It also cleans the registry which you should not be doing, registry cleaners are bad business unless the person knows what they are doing.

* Posted by iowagirl2006 (My Page) on Tue, Oct 28, 08 at 12:42 I am confused. I am on dial-up and regularly connect at 46+ Kbps I went to PC Pitstop and did a Download Bandwidth test. The results stated: Download speed: 40 kilobits per second I have just regular dialup - it sounds much better than the results listed above. Do I just have an exceptionally good connection? I am beyond the reach of DSL. I also don't have the cable option. Sattelite is to $$ for what I want. I have thought about the cell phone type air cards - is that what you are using above? It doesn't sound that great if it is. If I am way off base - please let me know. Thanks for any input. I don't think you understand the difference between connection and download transfer speed. If you go to a site that tests your internet speed you will find that your download and upload speeds are only a fraction of your connection speed. For example here is what I got on one test. Your current download speed is: 189.00kbps which means you can download at 23.63 KB/sec from our servers.