How fast is your internet connection? How much RAM do you have? How much disk free space? What speed is the CPU?

there are a few things that can contribute to that, one a slow internet connection or one that is not very good, how are you connected?, low memory in the pc Ram memory, low memory in the video card or application. spyware and viruses can always cause strange problems. Heat on your video card, have you opened up your case recently and cleaned out all the dust in side there? IF not that is a MUST do. IF your fans get clogged up with dust they will not be able to get the heat off your components and it will cause failures and likely death to the computer.

so open the pc and clean it out real good with some canned air, be sure it is not turned on or plugged in, also be sure to ground yourself by grabbing onto the metal frame of the pc before doing anything inside. IF any fans are not working they need to be replaced. IF you do not know how to clean inside ask here or do a google search.

If you have not added memory and the pc has 512 or less it needs more Ram added, to find out what is on your pc you can get the free belarc advisor which will scan your pc and give you all the info on it you can print that out to have handy.
Belarc'

Then get the free version of superantispyware and install it update it select for it to scan your C drive and choose full scan, let it clean any thing it finds. the blue one is the free one. SUPERAntiSpyware

let us know if that helps

Thanks bpgreen and ravencajun.
The unit is very clean and cool and should be spyware free due to installed SpyBot.

I only have 256 megs ram. I will check to see how much more memory I can add. Memory is not terribly expensive as I recall. How much do you feel is needed? I have DSL service and the Intel P4 clock speed is 160gb. Free disk
space is over 25gb.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Larry

256 Meg of ram is probably the biggest problem. I've got one laptop with 512 and XP and I consider it barely functional. Fortunately, I don't use it for much. My main laptop has 1.5 GB and my desktop has 3 GB. Really, 1 GB is about the least I'd consider for XP.

160 GB doesn't make sense as a processor clock speed. Clock speed should be expresses in MHz.

There's not much you can do about the processor clock speed, but you can increase the amount of RAM you have.

I agree with bpgreen, you do not have enough memory to run continuous video. The buffer size cannot adequately be maintained causing these annoying stoppages. Assuming you have 2 RAM slots even another 512 would be good, if you go this route be sure to move the 256 over so the 512 gets used before it needs to find the second stick of memory.

Would the 160 gig you refer to actually be the hard drive size? If so with only 25 gigs of free space that is also contributing slightly to your woes. Generally at least 20% free space should be maintained for the swap file and temporary internet files that get downloaded. Try running Ccleaner and doing a defrag, it may work wonders for your performance.

golfer don't count on spybot it is best to have more than one good antispyware scanner, superantispyware is the best available right now do your self a favor and get it and run it, can't hurt for sure.

I would definitely up the Ram, see what Belarc tells you about how many slots you have and how much Max the pc can take, it will also tell you what Ram you need to use in that pc. I get my Ram from newegg.com, Kingston, very good prices great company.

The processor speed is actually 1.6 gigahertz. The memory module has two empty slots labeled 'j8j1' and 2.
I have a 25 gigbyte HD which ya'll have indicated is probably too small for a lot of video.
This puter is rather old and outdated and Im now thinking that it probably would not be wise from a cost standpoint to go for an uprade vs a new more powerful unit. Any advice on where to shop for good value on new units?

Larry

There does come a time when updating becomes more of an expense than adding any assets to the computer.

Regarding new computers, I am totally amazed at what is for sale at very good prices. A friend recently bought an HP with Vista, 350 gig hard drive, 3 gigs of RAM, 17 inch Acer monitor, mouse and keyboard for $699. And that is Canadian prices, it will be less south of the border.

Check out the weekly flyers, they should soon start trying to sell to students returning to school/college/university

right now is an excellent time to buy they have all the back to school sales going. I just saw a couple really good priced ones on the walmart flyer.

if you do not want brand new you can also check your local craigs list under computers, I have bought a couple on there and got great deals, plus since it is local you can go try out the pc to make sure it works and then you know where they live LOL.

Check all the sale fliers the deals are out there right now.
I think it was either office max or office depot that had a very good deal too.

If I spot something I will come back and post it for you.

I do agree if that is what you are working with you need to just bite the bullet and get a new system that one is way outdated.
You could clean it out wipe the disc and load linux on it though and it would run, since some versions of linux demand very little resources.

here is a site that allows you to view all your local sale ads.
ShopLocal

ok I found it on that shop local under the office depot ad flier.
Dual Core Processor at a Great Value AMD DUAL-CORE - Do More in Less Time  1GB DDR2 memory  160GB hard drive  Reads & writes dual layer DVDs & CDs plus LightScribe Tower SR5501P

In Store Price $349.99

SAVE $100. Office Depot® Exclusive. HP TotalCare offers expert assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Monitor sold separately.

Compaq Presario Desktop Computer with AMD Athlon X2 4200 Dual-Core Processor

$249.99 PC Only, After $100 in (2) Mail-In Savings On Sale Now!
so the sale price is $249.99 for it.

Just put in your zipcode on the shop local site then click on the sales button and you will be able to choose your local shops.
I think that one was the cheapest I had seen. But the one at walmart was close and it did come with monitor I am pretty sure.

I will try and make this a clickable link and see if it takes you there.
Compaq Presario Desktop Computer with AMD Athlon X2 4200 Dual-Core Processor