[aaaa44]

Compaq Presario 5000, 192 MB RAM, 631 MHz, 15 Gig C drive, 37 Gig E drive, Intel Celeron processor

My computer came with Window Me. Years ago a friend of mine installed Windows XP Professional without paying. I just now found out that this is illegal. I am having a lot of computer problems that appear to be with the o/s: videos on the internet don't run smoothly, can't open Word documents in Word, computer is very slow, tons of application error pop-ups, entry point not found pop-ups, sounds like a program is running all the time, etc. I just ran through a bunch of antivirus programs with another tech site which eliminated at least one virus, but I'm still experiencing a lot of problems. Do the problems I described sound like they're from the o/s? What is the best thing for me to do now? Buy the proper key to my system or the XP package from Microsoft or elsewhere? Where is the best place to buy an XP system key or XP package? Another site offers the key for $50, but someone else said that sometimes downloaded o/s's have hidden viruses. The XP package I believe is $200. At that price I would be better off just buying a new computer. I am not asking how to install or operate XP illegally. I only want to be able to do simple, basic things with my computer: run simple programs, watch videos online, use Word, etc. Also, I've been told I need at least 512MB of RAM to run XP properly on my computer. If I install that much RAM or even more will XP operate on my computer properly? My understanding of computers is very rudimentary. Any replies would be appreciated.

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Our Terms of Use state "We will NOT help anyone we suspect of having obtained their software illegally." Therefore, we can only recommend that you purchase a legal copy of XP from a reputable retailer. Once that occurs we would be glad to help you further.

[stettybet0]

Our Terms of Use state "We will NOT help anyone we suspect of having obtained their software illegally." Therefore, we can only recommend that you purchase a legal copy of XP from a reputable retailer. Once that occurs we would be glad to help you further.

[Ztruker]

If you downloaded the copy of XP you are using then it's possible it has some malware in it, no way to tell for sure. The only real solution you have is to do as stettybet0 said, and buy a copy of XP. I'm sure you can find valid, legal copies of XP for a lot less than $200.

Save your data, then do a Clean install of the new XP by formatting the hard drive during the install process.

[hfcg]

If the OS is corrupt then a valid key will not help.
Some times Microsoft will sell a valid key for $149.00, if you where not aware that this is an illegal copy of XP.
How ever this will not give yu a disc to reinstall XP.
ANY thing that you download will be illegal if it does not come from Microsoft.

[Basementgeek]

Hi aaaa4 Welcome to the forum

To be honest, I would think about buying a new PC. Lets face it ,you have what would be considered an "old PC"

XP Home is about $100.00 USD. Also since this is an older machine, seriously think about replacing the hard drive. All HD's will fail given enough time. I replaced a 4 year old one, last week - MINE 192 RAM is pretty thin, 512 is considered pretty much the minimum any more, for XP.

631 MHz (?) also, you never going to happy with this. Coupled with a lack of RAM, you will have these types of problems that you are having.

BG

[Tyger]

I don't know what your computer needs are but you might consider putting some lighter version of Linux on such a machine. There are several versions that would do well on such a machine where a fully updated (part of your problem may be lack of updates) version of XP will be slow. Anti-X Mepis and PCLinuxOSTinyFlux would both do very well on a machine of those specs. And if you don't find it suitable you could get a new machine and reinstall the OS on that one and give it to someone who needs a basic computer.

[AlErT]

the main problem is ur coputer
trhe configuration is very old nd most of application requires high configuration than urs
so either go for new computer or try using small linux os

[Murray S.]

Sorry but we do not assist with problems caused by running illegal software.

Murray