Vista needs at least 1 GB of RAM to operate smoothly. Increase your memory to 2GB if possible and Vista will be the rabbit instead of the tortoise.

Defintely needs more RAM... a minimum of at 1gig and runs very well with 2. Anything over 3gig is really not needed and there is no noticable increase in performance.

Bob

I poked around at the Dell website and most of their suggestions to speed up Windows Vista refer to the Microsoft website link below. HTH.

Terry

Here is a link that might be useful: Optimize Windows Vista for better performance

Oh, this is great information, thank you all. How difficult is it to add more RAM?

Before adding more RAM. You only have a 60 gig hard drive which is one third filled already, how much 'stuff' do you have on your XP computer? I ask that so you have a rough guide on how much room you may need on the Vista machine.

On the XP machine click Start, click My computer and you should see how big and how much free space you have on that one. This might give you an idea of how much you may try to load on the Vista machine. Bear in mind a hard drive needs about 20% free space for the swap file to work efficiently. If you have an external drive this may not be an issue.

If it were mine I would go to this page at crucial and order the 2 GB kit. It is easy to install and there should be a manual with your Dell that gives step by step directions.

If you can't locate the manual here are the directions from the online manual at Dell's site: Installing memory.

I'm curious...did it come with a Dell Warranty?...or is it maybe a rebuilt one, with no warranty since it was 'given' to you by your ISP.

If you have a Dell warranty, (and I would be checking if you have a warranty, and what it covers, and for how long), Dell should be able to walk you through the installation besides helping you with whatever memory you need.

Sue...who has had great luck with her Dell

Oh, you guys are all awesome! OK, My XP PC has a small capacity of 37.2 GB. I know that's not a lot, when I first bought this, I only wanted it for internet, nothing else. Since then, I've gotten involved in Paint Shop Pro and use the PC constantly. The old XP PC has 23.0 GB free and used 14.1. I like to think I keep it in great condition, defrag and clean temp internet files weekly. I have most of my graphics on a flash drive. The new Vista PC has the PSP program already installed; did that right away.

As far as warranty, it was warrantied but it's since expired. I got the PC from my ISP in August of 2007 but because of a broken wrist and not being able to connect it up with one hand; plus holidays coming up, I didn't even hook it up until January of 2008.

I do remember when I got this old PC, I eventually added more RAM because it did run slow so I guess the new one would be the same thing. Bob, thank you for the links telling me how to do this.

likely the reason they gave them away were because they were sub-par setups and they got them very cheap.
Vista should never be put on a pc with 512 Ram it just won't do anything. I would for sure up the Ram, I buy my ram from www.newegg.com they have super prices, I usually get Kingston ram. You would do good to get a matched pair of 1 gig sticks. Changing the Ram can be easy unless the pc has the insides really cramped up then sometimes it can get a little more difficult.
Another option would be to wipe Vista off of it and load XP on it and it would run much better.
Vista has a lot of extras on it that eat up resources but many can be turned off like the Aero effects.
To do that Start by right-clicking any empty area of the Desktop, and then clicking Personalize in the context menu. Next, click the Window Color and Appearance option. Clear the Enable Transparency check box and click OK
You can change the theme to more xp looking also,
Go to the same Window Color and Appearance option as before, and click the link marked Open classic appearance properties for more color options. In the 'Color scheme' box, choose Windows Standard, and then click OK. Wait a minute while Vista does the XP change over. When it's done, you'll have an xp looking Start menu, taskbar, etc.
Here are a couple articles you may be interested in
Install Windows XP on Your Pre-Installed Windows Vista Computer
Windows Vista How-Tos
How to make your Vista computer look and run more like XP

these are a couple things you can do now to help it look more familiar and maybe improve it.(another method)
Right click on the taskbar and select Properties, on Start Menu, select "Classic Start Menu"

Right Click on My Computer, select Properties, Advanced and under Performance select "Adjust for best Performance"
I will also give you a link to a very good easy to follow video by cnet on how to make some changes so that it will look much more like your xp that you are familiar with.

If you want even more just go to google and put this in the search box with quotes "vista look like xp"

Here is a link that might be useful: cnet video

The help you all have given me is amazing, thanks so much! I need to get more RAM but the other tips on making Vista look like XP is great info, thank you so much for all of your help. You all are great to take the time to help me!

Consider running this program see the link.

You should also find out what is running on the machine now at start up, and the pre installed Anti virus program name (Trial Version) which will be probably asking for money in about 30 days. We can all guess what those might be...

I like ravens Idea, but you may consider keeping Vista since you have xp already if only to get use to it..

Anyway my 2cents...

Here is a link that might be useful: Decrap

Great, I used the Decrap on both computers, thanks! I also just ordered 2GB RAM; hopefully it'll work. I'm trying to figure out how to see what's running at start up and how to fix that.

one good program that I use that will do a good uninstall of anything you may have on your pc you want to get rid of but ALSO has a feature to show you what is running at startup and with simple clicks lets you change those from on to off and vice versa is Revo uninstaller, it is free.
Revo Uninstaller
on their site you can click on some screenshots to show you exactly what it will look like and they have good step by step directions on how to use it.
User's help
Auto Run Manager
Junk Files Cleaner

it does all that and more, if you go to any of those links then look to the right it lists all the various tools built in, just click on any one of those then at the bottom of that page's text there will be another link that says go to user guide page, that will give you the direct instructions and pictures to how to use that aspect of the tool

Here is the list of the tools and utilities included in Revo Uninstaller:

Auto Start Manager - Stop programs that start automatically on Windows startup; speed up loading of Windows!

Windows Tools Manager - Handy and useful tools bundled with every version of Windows; easily find useful system tools and options!

Junk Files Cleaner - Find and remove unnecessary files from your computer; free up disk space and delete files you do not need!

Browsers History Cleaner - Erase web browser history, visited pages history and temporary internet files of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape and Opera web browsers; free up a lot of disk space by deleting temporary internet files like temporary saved videos, temporary flash files, temporary pictures etc!

Office History Cleaner - Remove the history of most recently used files in MS Office; remove your tracks by deleting the list of last opened MS Office documents!

Windows History Cleaner - Remove the history of recently opened files, delete temporary files, remove usage tracks and other history items that are saved by Windows; remove your tracks saved by Windows for a lot of operations!

Unrecoverable Delete Tool - Erase files and folders forever; be sure that nobody could recover your files and folders after deleting!

Evidence Remover - Make sure already deleted files, folders and other data are unrecoverable; securely erase your data!

This is great; thanks so much for all of everyone's help. I'm waiting for the new memory to be delivered; hopefully the install will go well without me blowing up the computer.

Hi all again! I took advice and bought 2 GB of ram. How difficult is this to install? I remember hearing something about "grounding" also....what is this about? Thanks to anyone who can help.

Historically installing RAM is not difficult.

Doing a simple search on the Forum's homepage with the words "wrist strap" (sans quotes) will reveal the a recent thread, "....Year Is It...." involving grounding.

DA