A Sluggish Box Might Need More Than RAM

Q: I noticed that my eMachines computer running on Windows 98 Second Edition has slowed down. It is taking much more time to open files or folders. It seems to have slowed down after I downloaded a lot of files and folders from the Internet. However, I have filled only about 10% of my hard drive’s space. I ran scan disk and defragmenter 20 days ago. I would like comments on whether increasing the RAM from 64 megabytes would help or whether I would need to upgrade my Celeron processor.

A: Adding RAM never hurts--up to a point. Putting in another 64 MB or 128 MB probably would boost performance. Above that is overkill for most applications.

That said, the friendly geeks at Q&A; labs are guessing that something you’ve downloaded is running in the background, which is what’s really slowing everything down. This could be relatively benign, or you could be suffering from a virus. So, run a scan with an updated antiviral program such as Norton Anti-Virus or McAfee VirusScan.

If everything checks out, look at what’s running in the background by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Del once. You can feel pretty safe shutting down everything but a program called Explorer. Just highlight what you want to turn off, then click End Task.

To prevent these programs from reloading in the future, open your System Configuration Utility by clicking Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and, finally, System Information. Then click the Tools menu and go to System Configuration Utility. From there, hit the Startup tab and uncheck programs you don’t want to start next time Windows starts.

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Q: I have purchased a new computer, but I have done nothing with it yet because I do not know how to transfer my “bookmarks.” You recently explained this procedure for Internet Explorer; can you do the same for Netscape users?

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A: Piece of cake. In Netscape, hit Ctrl B to open up your Bookmarks workshop. Go to the File menu (top left) and hit Save As. Assuming your bookmarks will fit on a floppy, just carry them over to your new box and do the exact same thing, except instead of Save As hit the Import menu.

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Q: How can I link two Mac PowerPCs, a 6500/275, and a 9600/300, so they can share one monitor?

A: The monitor issue is pretty easy. You’ll need to buy a monitor switch box for about $50 that will let you, well, switch the monitor back and forth between the two computers.

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Dave Wilson is The Times’ personal technology columnist. Submit questions to Tech Q&A; at techtimes@latimes.com.

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