Voyager flashes

Hi,

I was reading over posts and came across one that said something like---good, I'll try that and then I can mess something up and fix it!! There are more of me! I was looking for a remedy for a slow computer and came across your site. Rest of family and friends think I'm weird for messing with computers. Anyway I am using an emachine W2047 @ the current minute, it's networked to a HP but that is beside the point, I'm running XP home, amd 2000, 128 ram, 40 gb hard drive, partitioned into an 18gb drive for xp, and a couple other linux drives. I downloaded smartalec voyager and have recently installed pc boost but I don't think boost is the problem. I like voyager but the left side of the screen flashes on the edge, first @ the top and then the bottom?? Anyone have that problem before, I did a search but nothing came up? I'm a grandmother when most people still have kids in high school who are my age. We own a small business, I paint and garden and mess with computers and try not to cook. I also have an HP pavillion and a sis sunsystem?? computer hooked to a 7 yr old packard bell monitor. I'm going to network all 3 for the office/family room. I also have several thinkpads I have redone, supposedly they were locked up but I managed to make 3 out of 4 whole. I am going to college or at least taking a psychology course, I was going for my RN at least but computers are sooooooooooo much easier. Any ideas on what causes flashing screen, other windows on voyager taskbar flash also. Any ideas??Liz

 

XP needs 128 MB RAM as a bare minimum and when you load more programs it will slow it down more. I suggest putting in more RAM (cheap) and see what happens. Those accelerator programs rarely do what they say.

BTW liz welcome

 

Thanks augiedoggie, That is probably the one thing I haven't done to any of the computers. I had heard the deal about the ram and xp but light bulb didn't go off. Xp seems fast @ first and then starts to bog down.
Liz
And thanks for the welcome! I'm feeling geekier by the moment.

 

Hey, Liz! Welcome!

Nice to have a grandmother around here!

Augie's absultootely right: you gotta have a lot more RAM to make that OS percolate, and you need even more to run heavyweight apps and utilities.

Adding RAM sticks is about the easist, most trouble-free thing you can do inside the box, as you probably know. So grab some RAM and put it where it belongs, Gran! You can get another 128 stick and a 256 stick for very small money nowadays, and if you put the 256 in the first slot and the two 128s in the other two slots (in any order) you'll be surprised at the difference as soon as you close 'er up, boot, and try that troublemaker again.

 

Adding RAM

A small point - make sure when you buy and add your RAM that it is compatible with what is already in there. The RAM chips of the world are famous for hating each other when you add - often it's best to take out the old and competely replace it with a new single chip or a set of matching ones. I got caught by this once and the experience was not very pleasant.
Welcome to MG - a totally honest site
Robert

 

I haven't purchased RAM yet so the advice was well timed. I hadn't thought about getting the same kind but makes sense. Now if I can just decide what kind of computer I have. Is a Sis by sun microsystems??? Anyway I think that's the motherboard which is the only thing anyone will admit to but it has two fans I think. My daughter got it on ebay for a work bonus for someone and they got fired before they could get the bonus. she owed mommy money sooooo.
The other two computers are dull, they have names and manufacturers so they won't be hard to shop for.
Guess what??? I used that pc medic free version that is on the pgware.com site and now voyager doesn't flash anymore??? Cool.
Thanks for the welcome.
Elizabeth on Roof