how much Ram is sitting on your desk? not sure what you mean when you say have not updated to whatever it asks me to update. Maybe I should? PC is about 5.5 years old. do you mean you have not done any windows updates? or do you mean you have not done sp3 update but have done all other updates? You can choose not to do sp3 but be sure you ARE doing all other CRITICAL updates for your pc, there have been some very serious ones lately. You can go to the windows update site choose custom and then select the critical updates and skip sp3 with out a problem. Adding Ram is very easy so go ahead and get that stick put in there so you can get that advantage. If you go to the HP site they usually have excellent pictures for each model pc showing inside the case and exactly how to do it. You are right when you say Norton is a resource hog, you might think of dumping it and going with something less hoggish. You have some good security programs just make sure you are updating and running the scans, I would also add spywarblaster to your list, no scans to run just open once a week and check for updates then hit the enable all protection button. SpywareBlaster and you did not mention a firewall, what are you using? is your Norton a suite? The noise from the floppy drive could mean it is going bad, or has some loose connections as owbist suggests, or the sound could be coming from something else and it sounds like it is the floppy, you could leave the side open for a while running it and see if you can tell for sure where the sound is coming from. Losing a floppy is not a big problem, they are super cheap and most new computers don't even come with them. but I would try to nail down the sound for sure and make positive it is not your hard drive going bad. on belarc do a scan and see what it says about hard drive health.

If you're running Windows 98, your computer could be ancient from a technical standpoint. It would be interesting to know its age and see the specs (RAM, processor speed, and hard drive size). However, I suspect that, if the machine is as old as I think, it may be time for a new computer that can keep up with all the resource intensive demands of today's software. I'm not saying that you couldn't make this work, but you are at the point where you will continue to have more and more problems, and not have any tech support to fall back on. Many web sites have complex graphics and other features that will tax an older machine. It's like trying to fly cross-country with a rubber-band powered airplane.

As I went to respond to RC and Zep, I thought that maybe I should check and see if Belarc Advisor should be updated. Well you can guess......that was it. I updated Belarc and ran another scan and the notice that I was "missing a critical update" was gone. Something else I learned from you guys/gals...always update before running any scans.

I always recommend for anyone getting a new pc or laptop etc so that you know exactly what is in the unit and have the info handy for when you will need it and can not access it for some reason, to do a quick scan with belarc and SIW and print out those specs date it and keep it with your pc info. Doing that has come in very handy in times when a part is needed or info is needed to help and the unit is not able to access that info. You have it all printed out. Belarc Advisor SIW and yes her laptop is windows 7 64 bit when using the new 64bit windows be sure anytime you are looking for programs to download and use on those units that you look to see if 1. it is compatible with 64 bit and 2. is there a separate special download for the 64 bit version. That will often make a big difference. 32-bit and 64-bit Windows: frequently asked questions What is the Difference