cleaning up

Hi
I just inherited a used computer (Dell Dimension xps t600r windows 98) I need to use this for work which is autocad 2000LT and would would like to do some photo editing, more if allowed. I have installed sygate, ccleaner, avg, spywareblaster, diskeeper lite, I have deleteed what I knew to be junk (porno, cookies and such). I have heard that norton takes up too much memory and would like to rid myself of it. I installed nlite in order to rid myself of windows components I don't use but it requires framework, which i tried to install and it wants me to reset my regristry. earthlink wont remove all the way, "a dll file is missing" message come up upon startup. I want to remove some startup entries but am not sure the effects if I do. I am po folk and need to rely on freeware. I am on dialup and everything runs slow. How do I eliminate what is not needed and speed up my computer?

Thanks
Lori

 

This isn't the best place for this post, a mod will likely move it.
Also advise us of HDD size and RAM.
To eliminate start-up entries goto Start > Run > enter msconfig > goto Startup tab > uncheck unneccessary items
You should be able to tell by name / entry what they are.
In my opinion, keep virus & firewall items, and sound.

Norton IMO is terrible, but I had to do a XP reinstall to rid myself of it, this maybe your best solution to clean the PC of this and everything else, to start again.