Major problem for major geek help

hello.... and I want to first ask if what I want is too much to ask..
warning! this is a very long post.. I've tried to include what i think to be relivant information

The problem begins..
I've been having some very slow action on my computer the last 3 weeks.. and have been searching and tweeking on my own.. and yesterday.. i got a blue skreen with a full page of scary information. of which I can only remember some thing they said about bios being full.. ?? and the report said if this is the first time you've seen this skreen ( yes it was) to reboot to safe mode and delety any new software.. and I've forgot the rest.. sorry.. it took 3 times to reboot before it would come up.. ahh.. what a relief that I'm back up.. however very concerned about the future.

early in the day- I did a system restore to date before christmas. When the blue screen appeard - I had been on pcpitstop.. testing the computer in IE the test was done. I was reading the results and recomendations and also had netscape open searching for cabnet pulls for my mother <just that 2 brousers were open > I have also been trying to configure my firewall for use with lime wire. the LW show's that the firewall is still blocking usage. I had been reading up on port forwarding.. but have not changed any thing there yet. I have reduced the upload volume because .. I had experienced frequent internet connection loss on this computer - possibly due to the limewire < this computer has a wireless card. on Dlink 624 router /dwlg520 card which I just downloaded and put in an up?grade from the manufacturer.. because I couldnt find the disk - I had done that a few hours befor getting the blue page but the computer had been runnin g extreemly slow before I re-installed the drivers> I really dont think installing drivers would cause trouble.

so thats the short version of the history
-- side note. - 0h. also a few months ago i saw that netscape had a new version out and I downloaded it. and aparantly it does not have a mail client in that version .. and after downloading and in stalling the new version.. I couldnt find my mail box.. I eventually uninstalled the new version but I think it's still has folders on the computer- aparantly I did that wrong too.. but now I can axcess my mail box in the old 7.1 version of netscape. - that was up setting .. so I had been toying with using fire fox and or Opera.. I like the usage of opera but.. i'm still having trouble with that brouser and some of the applications with Gmail. which is my primary email program. - yes.. I'm just computer savy enuff to get my self in trouble.. guess you see lots of us here.

so... this is what I'd like to do.

1) make sure I have a boot disk for this computer - I have all the dell disc's but after the blue skreen yesterday.. i went to look and I dont know which one to use. incase of a crash.. !Safety first!

2) I reciently purchased an external HD to put all my dc's and photo files on.. its 160Gig I would like to partition it 3 times ? can I do that? one for the photo and music files. 2 & 3 for a backup of the 2 computers I have.. Old Dell which is the ?server? < not sure if that's the correct terminology its the one connected to the Cox cable internet service and has the router> and for the Newer Dell which has the wireless card.

3)Eventually , after backing up the old dell, I want to reformat it and reinstall win98 and start clean on that computer. in time it will be religated to the basement for my nephew's use for his games and minor internet usage . but for now.. it's in the main office as the Main computer .. < the newer dell should be the server.. but it was too much work to take every thing out of the office and relocate. ( TMI.. to explain every thing I never claimed to follow logic all the time)

4) I havent been able to get the printer sharing to work on the computer's yet and that would be nice to do in time.

5) when I reboot.. on the newer dell - some times there is a window that opens and says windows is not in regular start up mode.. (Because I'v disabled some of the startup programs) I think there is some thing wrong that this comes up.. I wonder if there is a way.. to have this boot up Normal.. and not have all those programs start.. ( at one time.. I selected a normal start up and all the damn programs opened )

6) the primary concern.. is the newer dell.. I need to figure out what is slowing this down.. I have 512 M sdram.. and the report from pcpitstop was very poor and indicated that I may not be using all the ram.

I have and regulary use AGV as primary virus scanner. I used microsoft's virus cleaner.. as a 2dary but when I tried it yesterday.. it said that my beta version had expired - I went to download another ?update? from microsoft and the page kept coming up blank

I use adaware regularly.

I downloaded aida32 just now.. and I'm not sure how to use that yet

I have Hijack this .. and can send a report

I used to keep a log of all the changes i do on the computer.. alas.. this xmas season.. the book is misplaced.. and I didnt. . ( dum dum dum )

well that is the problem.. and I'm thinking its a lot to ask.. so

"- Your assignment should you choose to accept it " < from that old TV show>

are you willing to assist in all that.. or .. should I look for a compent computer whiz .. this may mean going 80 miles away.. I dont know of one in my town/county.

deb.

 

I think I figured out the AIDA program..

trouble is.. I got the report.. hit select all / copy. and paste

but nothing comes out on the page.. I saved that data to a file. but dont know how to get it here. I did see an ooption to email..

what do you recommend

 

update on progress

while reading up on problem .. the system crashed again and the blue skreen re-appeared I did write every thing down this time .. there were BCCode error and BCP4 error listed and a recomendation at the bottom to contact some one smarter than I.. and said to reboot .. and uninstall any new soft or hardware. < what is working now after the dlink driver reinstall is the Dlink airbus utility.. I opened this and nothing jumped out at me as being wrong.. but then what do I know.. >

after reboot a microsoft error came up with a link at the top directing me here
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/response.aspx?SGD=94bb5a31-5917-4580-8b03-bbf9429345ce&SID=1811
a snipit from that link is below:

Thank you for submitting an error report.

Problem description

An analyst at Microsoft has investigated this problem and determined that an unknown error occurred in AirPlus Wireless Adapters (a3ab.sys). This software was created by D-Link Corporation.

Solution

Microsoft has researched this problem with D-Link Corporation, and they do not currently have a solution for the problem that you reported. Below is a list of recommendations to take that may help prevent the problem from recurring.
Contact D-Link Corporation for AirPlus Wireless Adapters (a3ab.sys) support.

Additional information

If this problem continues to occur with the latest product updates for AirPlus Wireless Adapters (a3ab.sys), we recommend you obtain assistance and troubleshooting information directly from D-Link Corporation.

-- I have since written to Dlink and am awaiting response.

--- and downloaded TUT and have run the first analysis..
its 4:am and I'm calling it a ?night? and then some.

still concerned that the task manager which usually reads about nill is running at 80% give or take a little most of the time..

deb .. still waiting on some insight and direction

 

Hi! You only want to use one antivirus program. Running more than one can cause problems. You should also use more than one antispyware program. They don't all catch everything. Have you defragged the hard drive lately? If not, do so in safe mode. How many programs are still starting up? When did the task manager start showing 80%? Had you changed anything?

 

Hi.. and thanks for the post...
D-link support came thru today
I could hardly believe that downloading drivers from Dlink could cause problems.. however it did .. some thing about the settings.. on the master computer.. the guy was good about it and all but he asked me to disable some things. on the super G and said it was temporary to get this computer hooked on the wirless. . then he got of the phone in a hurry after he saw I was on line. so I'll have to spend a nother 40 min on hold to ck that again..

bottom line.. the system reasources are now b ack to normal.
but I haven t been on th e computer much today only to ck the messages here.. tomorrow I'll open the software.. and test 'em out..

I'm still lookin for some one. to help guide me thru the partitioning .. and some network stuff. getting printer sharing.. but I think there is probably an order.. that would be best to start at..

Yes.. I do have 2 spy and virus scanners..
No I do not use them at the same time..
and Defrag'ed last week.. even when it said it didnt need it..

great day to have the sys reasources back in line.. strange. from a driver installation.

 

Re: major geek help With TUT

I ran the TUT program .. recomended on this site.. they give you 10 free scans.. so my first one is done.. and I'd like some assistance in analysis.. and the like..

Thanks.. for your help.. (please. )

deb