I have a Dell E520 computer that I just put a new motherboard in, everything runs fine now but it runs slow. I was told last time it was in the shop that I may have to increase my memory, I could do this by putting in another memory stick in the motherboard. I am running windows vista but can't figure out where to look and see how much memory I'm using or how much I have left. Can anyone help me through this, thanks.......

everything runs fine now but it runs slow.

What do you mean by "now" it runs slow? Did it used to run much more quickly? Did it slow down suddenly or over time? Understand a system running slow can be an indication of malware infestation. Have you scanned for malware? It can also mean your system is full of clutter or you have run out of free disk space. Have you run Disk Cleanup?

There are many ways to see how much RAM you have. Right click on Computer and select Properties and it will show how much is installed. Or call up Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt Del) and under the Performance tab see how much total RAM you have and how much is free.

There are several versions of the E520 but it looks like it will support up to 4Gb of RAM using 4 slots.

Have you installed your Chipset Drivers? That's the first thing that should be done following an OS install. Then proceed with other hardware drivers for the machine (video, sound, LAN, Modem, etc).

Her computer ran slow before the new motherboard was replaced. I ran malwarebytes, Advance SystemCare, C Cleaner, and a scan with Microsoft Security Essentials and everything came up clean.
When I checked the task manager I seen CPU usage and PF usage. I also see Physical Memory, total, advailable, and system cache, is this what I'm looking for?
Also I seen she only has 20% free space left on her hard drive and 86 programs running, could any of this make her pc run slow too? Thanks........

We brought the computer to a repair shop and the the guy said we needed to expand the ram, he put in two GB of ram and tuned it up. He took off our CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and our anti virus software Microsoft Security Essentials. He said having these things on your computer could harm it so he installed a diffrent anti virus software and charged us $50 extra dollars. The last shop we had the computer in said there was nothing wrong with having these programs on and it was good to run Microsoft Security Essentials at least once a week. Is Microsoft Essentials good to have for anti virus protection, and is it alright to run the CCleaner and Malwarebytes in case of a computer threat? Is this guy just try to make extra money off us or what, can anyone help us out? Thanks.....

I run;

avast! Anti-Virus Avast!
Comodo Firewall (firewall only) Firewall Antivirus Software Free Download from Comodo™
CCleaner
RegSeeker


A good (free) "cleaner" for removing junk from your system is CCleaner. It also performs a "clean-up" pass on the registry.

CCleaner - Download
(Click on Download from FileHippo......, in the PayPal box)

When the next window opens, click "Download Latest Version" on the right of the page.

Alternate Download;
|MG| CCleaner Slim 3.03.1366 Download

Once you download and install it, open the program then click on (left hand side) OPTIONS, then COOKIES. Any cookies you want to save (trusted sites, places you have usernames/passwords), highlight them in the left column, then (using the directional arrows between the panes), move them to the right hand column under "Cookies to keep".

Still under Options, click on Advanced. Remove the check mark from the box for "Only delete files in Windows Temp folders older than 24 hours".

Leave all other settings at the default.

Then click on Cleaner (on the top left). When that window opens, click on Run Cleaner (bottom right of the window.)

When it finishes, close CCleaner, and restart your machine. (Some files will not be deleted until a restart is performed.)

I do not advocate running CCleaner on each boot. I run it once or twice a week.



RegSeeker <<<<<<<<<<
Open it, click on Clean The Registry, then OK.

Once it's finished, along the bottom of the screen, (near the operation progress bar) click on Select, choose "Select All". Then click on Action, then "Delete selected items".

All deleted items will be backed up, just click OK for the default backup filenames/locations.

Close the program and restart the machine.

NOTE: This is a powerful tool. It has many other settings/tools/tweaks. Use more than what is mentioned above at your own volition/risk.

He took off our CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and our anti virus software Microsoft Security Essentials. He said having these things on your computer could harm it

Is Microsoft Essentials good to have for anti virus protection, and is it alright to run the CCleaner and Malwarebytes in case of a computer threat? Is this guy just try to make extra money off us or what, can anyone help us out? Thanks.....

Yes, he lied to you and is just out to rip you off. Never go there again and make sure you tell your friends where not to go too. There are several good, free anti-malware solutions out there, including MSE, which I use on all my systems. The new 2.0 version is even better than the previous. You must also have a firewall. Comodo is great and the Windows Firewall works great too. I use WF on all my systems as well.

I use CCleaner regularly. If you have too, you don't need an alternative cleaner. Just make sure you always backup the registry when prompted.

And MBAM makes for an excellent supplemental scanner. I use that too.

Out of curiosity, what A/V did he sell you? And did he ask before dumping your perfectly good security solution and installing your $50 one?