programs that used to work fine now do not work. I cant play audio or video files, aim doesnt work, and my computer will freeze a lot. umm im on a router and m computer has had windows recently installed........... i installed a lot of programs on the same day... including crap cleaner, supertrick xg.......i have norton, zone alarm,.. ya so if u nned more information on figuring the problem ask me a question

Are you running AOL 9.0 ?

Can you reboot your PC, right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop and then tell us the amount of Free System Resources that it reports (e.g. 90%) as well as how much RAM it detects, e.g. 131,072Kb RAM.

Thanks.

no, i dont have aol. i can restart normally and reboot. codecs are not the problem... and i have tried several different media players. they usually remain in the opening prcess forever..... i cant install new programs by .exe files either. My audio works because i hear the sound that u get when u turn ur computer on. i can hear the music on websites and the sounds on websites. Checked for viruses and found none.. the only place i can view videos are the ones i have made through my webcam(mabey i could give u a webcam video of somethihng?)

i have 256mb of ram and 36% system resources currently (percentage is higher when freshly restarted)

So what is the percentage when you've just rebooted? 36% is awful - Windows 98 will never run reliably with less than 50% free resources - I'm not surprised it's crashing. Windows 98 running with less than 70% resources at startup needs some serious looking at.

Reasons for low resources on startup:

1. Whoever re-installed Windows messed it up somehow (unlikely).

2. You've installed a number of intensive programs that have a high payload as soon as you've started Windows, e.g. Norton Internet Security 2004 (likely).

3. You've downloaded and installed some freeware / shareware that hasn't been coded very well and is hogging your system resources (likely).

4. You've got a virtual memory-related issue (unlikely).

5. You've got a RAM compatibility issue (unlikely if your 256Mb worked OK before you re-installed Windows).

6. When Windows was re-installed, the hard disk wasn't wiped first and Windows was simply installed over the top of the previous copy, making all your problems even worse (likely? unlikely? Don't know - how was it done?)

i get 61% on start up

but my main fcus is on how to get videos and music to play normally again(my computer was humming louder than ususal when i turned it on today)

heres this thing if it helps

-------------------------------------------------------

OS Information:
PropertyValue
OS Name Microsoft Windows 98|C:\WINDOWS|
Service Pack .
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS


Processor:
PropertyValue
Current Clock Speed 869
Description x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 3
Manufacturer GenuineIntel
Name Unknown Intel P6 processor


Memory (RAM):
PropertyValue
Bank Label Bank0/1
Capacity 268435456

Total Memory Deteced in Hardware: ~256 MB
Memory Reported to Operating System: 255MB

Disk Drives:
PropertyValue
Description GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE47
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model IDE DISK TYPE47
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 20020331520 (~19 GB)
Number of Partitions 1


Installed Printers:
PropertyValue
Name HP DeskJet 610C Series
Port Name LPT1:
Driver Name HP DeskJet 610C Series


Motherboard:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Giga-Byte Technology Co., LTD
Model
Name Base Board
Part Number
Product i815-ITE8712
Serial Number
Version


BIOS:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Award Software International, Inc.
Name Award
Release Date 19010322******.******+***
Version Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG


Monitor:
PropertyValue
Description Default Monitor
Name Default Monitor
Screen Height 768
Screen Width 1024


Keyboard:
PropertyValue
Description Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard


Pointing Device:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer (Standard mouse types)
Name PS/2 Compatible Mouse Port


Sound Card:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Creative
Description Creative Sound Blaster PCI128
Device ID PCI\VEN_1274&DEV_1371&SUBSYS_20601458&REV_07\50F00 0


Video Card:
PropertyValue
Adapter Compatibility Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc.
Adapter RAM 33554432
Description Diamond Stealth III S540 for Windows 98
Installed Display Drivers stl50016.drv
Driver Version 4.0
Driver Date 1/19/05 4:00:00 PM
Video Mode Description 1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors


DirectX Installation:
PropertyValue
Version 6.01.05.0124


Modem:
PropertyValue

Network Adapters:
PropertyValue
Description D-Link Air DWL-122 Wireless USB Adapter
Description Microsoft TV/Video Connection

External Ports:
PropertyValue
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator
External Reference Designator Detected
External Reference Designator

Expansion Slots:
PropertyValue
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation PCI
Slot Designation AGP
-------------------------------------------------------

61% on startup? That's really bad. Personally, I'd deal with that before worrying about your audio/video problems. I wouldn't be surprised if sorting out the resources problem also fixes your AV issues anyway.

Do you think that any of the 6 issues I listed above are likely to be the cause of the problem and worth us helping you to deal with?

well, 1,2 possibly 3, and 6 look likely.
I have norton and kazaa lite++ running at the same time usually.
My computer mostly crashes when a program freezes and i try to close it using ctrl+alt+delete.
Also have eDexter running and zonealarm.
My computer had windows 98 recently reinstalled.
My hard drive was wiped but it wasnt formatted because it was pw locked.
Before it was wiped i had this same program setup and USUALLY had very low resources, but everything worked fine and didnt crash as frequently as it does now.
I am considering uninstalling all my programs on my computer and starting fresh somehow? without reinstallin windows again
I know all these problems started after i installed a lot of programs.
Could that registy progam ive seen on the fourms help me?

Thanks for ur help.

registry mechanic found an interesting 69 problems fixed them all, audio and video still doesnt work and my system resources are still same