Linda, be cool and things will be just fine. You will not get a shock, the computer is at risk from you and static electricity. Everything inside the case except the fans and hard drive are less than 3.5 volts. Fans and hard drives are 12 volt. Remove the power cord from the back of the case before attempting anything inside. Then always rest your bare hand or arm on the metal frame of the computer case to dissipate any static electricity that may be present. The advice to remove both old sticks and insert both new ones is absolutely correct. Just make sure the small slot in the bottom of each stick of RAM is centred over the proper spot on the motherboard and listen for the click as each end clamp pops up to hold the RAM in place as you push down to seat them. You should not have to push the clamps in, they will pop in once the Ram is fully seated.

thanks for the suggestions. I have 1 GB RAM, 1.66 Mghz whatever it is... I spent the afternoon searching through microsoft stop errors and found hundreds of different suggestions, and tried many. I still had problems. A computer programmer suggested to me that it could be the fan, since in his experience, the blue screen is generally a "cry for help" from the computer, that it's overheating. I do spend hours with it on my lap doing my work, rather than a table. This could be why?

You most likely need to delete cookies and temp files if you computer does not load web sites and also is slow. Go to your tool bar menu and since you are on AOL , click on the icon of "settings". Then a page will come up showing an idex for your AOL experiences. Go to INternet settings ( underneath the I in the index alphabet) and double-click to open the settings window. There are tabs at the top that are sort of like headlines. Click on settings and when you see the words cookies, temp folders etc., click delete. *** Remember that when you delete cookies, you will have to re-enter your User ID and Password for all forums and special sites that require them. Before you delete them , make a new folder that is under MY documents and title it as "My User ID and Passwords " so that you can easily find them to re-enter them on the sites that need them ( including this site). I have used AOL for 6-8 years and do not have any bad experiences with it and many people still criticise it from old , long ago issues and they have not bothered to re-check it's capabilities and will tell you to dump it, because they have a narrow old mind-set. I have the MAX in hard drive space and memory and processor, and every 3 months, I now know that pages may not load or even give me a "timed out" message, and that means I need to take 10 minutes to delete cookies and temp files. Good luck and always feel free to ask questions , even if some responders come across as harsh or critical. They have forgotten what it means to be brand new in using a computer and learning their way around all of the settings and programs. There is a Computer Forum on this THS site and there are thousands of Q and A and search function and archive and the people there will also be of enormous help to you. Patricia

I think this same woman is circulating around to all of us..lol..The friend who I dumped years ago was like your friend. I actually had anxiety when we talked on the phone ,because it was essentially all negative about everyone we knew. So and so should lose some weight. Did you see so and so actually used a toothpick in public? Stuff like that. My goody two shoes friend and I have a lot in common, but her "digs" set me off sometimes. My daughter and husband were having difficulties last fall, but all is well now and they had a big three week trip to Hawaii. I remarked to friend that their son doesn't know how lucky he is. He has been to more places, Europe, this trip where he dived off a 50 foot cliff and rode in a helicopter, and the trips to Canada and the islands many times (I didn't mention those as she knew about them)..She said all he'll remember will be the fights his parents had. Really? Emma, I think I'm getting like your mother..a bit of a recluse. Reading old diaries ten, twenty years ago, I was amazed at what a social butterfly I was. Talked four and five time a day on the phone, went antiquing and running around at least once a week. I still like an occasional lunch with a friend but not the obsessive running around shopping, stuck in traffic ,buying stuff I didn't need. I prefer being home with the pets.