1. Everytime my PC boots and before it opens Windows, it displays "Checking NVRAM" and takes its time doing so. Is it necessary to do that? I often press Esc and Enter to stop it, but I would rather it did not do it at all and therefore speed up the boot process. I think that the way to stop it may be in the BIOS but I can't see where.

2. I am on dial up (yes, I know it's slow but it's adequate for my purposes) and every so often the dial up window pops up of its own accord. Often, when I close it, it pops back up almost immediately. After a while I become sick of it and just leave it up but behind the window I am working on. I'm assuming it is caused by a programme asking it to do that, but I don't know what or why.

Neither of these two probs are computer life threatening but I would like to know what I can do to stop both.

Thank you.

Here is a dial up idea:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autodial.htm

As to the RAM check:

Has this always happened or is it a new issue?

Check your BIOS Setup for such a thing as "Quick POST".

Thanks, Jephree. That did the trick. Both probs solved. As I said, they were not life threatening but annoying. I can sleep peacefully now. Thanks a lot.

No problem. Glad all is well!

Let us know if we can help further in the future.