Renegade
Right click 'my computer', hit properties, then the advanced tab then the performance button.
BTW, I used to work for M$ and IBM, and now do my own consulting business, database programming, hardware systems for large companies, etc etc
Trust me when I say, Ideally you want 2 gig's of total virtual ram - ie, if you have 512 meg ram, make your swap file 1.5 gig... Windows addresses up to 4 gig of ram, (32 bits), so some argue it should add to 4 gig... if you have the HD space, then go for it. (and yes, defrag before you do this - with swap disabled)
Also, on the VGA CARD issue... don't fall for the general directives of 'buy highest' or 'buy middle'... the companies rely on this, and you WILL get ripped off for the very top of the line, all the time.
Get at least an ATI 9500 PRO or better
Or get at least a GF 4200 ti or better
ati if you want direct x 9 pure support... but the TI series of GF 4's are nice... DO NOT buy MX variants of geforces
These cards are now fairly cheap, but use essentially the same architecture as the highest end cards... they just usually are clocked slower, and have slower memory. In many cases you can overclock to gain half the difference. My own 4200ti card easy runs at 4400 speeds
For those of you who insist on putting your own systems together, use GOOD quality stuff, ie, asus motherBoards, (msi and gigabyte are decent too), use 865 or 875 intel chipsets for the p4's and use nvidia chipsets for the amd's... (some other new sis and via amd chipsets are coming along nicely now as well, for a real low down, refer to tomshardware.com or anandtech.com)
Atrocities --- OMG, I feel so horrible after reading your experience... I wish I was around to help. Or you should have asked here...
Dell's with home warranties really are nice, the prices are reasonable but they do use decent components these days on their higher end stuff. You won't go wrong, you'll pay a bit more than homebuilt, but some say its worth it for the piece of mind.
If you connect to the internet, and use windows, ALWAYS update your computer from microsoft before you do anything else... too many hackers out there these days... if you're running XP, i'd suggest going to service pack 2 beta right away. If you run linux, then you don't need my advice really
Re: OT: Worst PC Decision
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