Tony D

Here is a link that will give you other options to open the Run command on Windows 8. See if you can get to that context menu to Run as Administrator using one of the tips on that page. Windows 8 How To: 12. Show and Use “Run” Command

The Ethernet cable needs to be in the Internet port, not one of those 4 ports available for computers. I'd change the SSID to something different than your other access point.

At one point I managed a group that included a web developer. I think he liked to make changes just to justify his job.

I'd make sure you have the server setting correct. If they are, your email servers may be down temporarily. Can you get to your email using a browser, i.e. Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc?

You may need a RAM upgrade. with SP-3 you need more than 512 MB RAM. How much RAM is in your system?

I would look to memory (RAM). If you right click MY COMPUTER and go to PROPERTIES, see how much RAM you have installed. What I've been seeing is older machines that came with 512 MB or less of RAM was OK initially. Then SP-3 came out and it seems the 512 MB RAM is not sufficient. Also listen to your computer to determine if you have excessive hard drive activity. If you have a hard drive activity indicator, check that also. If during the 4 minutes while the comptuer is starting you notice a lot of hard drive activity, that may indicate that you need a RAM upgrade.

I think that's proof that his process MAY work. It's a 'useless' machine right now anyway. I had a laptop in here where the user spilled a glass of wine in it. I took it apart and scrubbed the system board where the wine spill was evident. The machine came back to life. The only problem after the alcohol wash was that the USB ports didn't work. Thinking that USB ports supply 5 Volts, it was probably a fuse that blew with the wine spill.

That must be an old hard drive. I'd be concerned about how long it'll last. Make sure to keep it backed up. That's prefectly fine. Don't worry about the hard drive until it gets to around 20% free space.

RAM is sometimes bad right out of the box and may not be noticable at first. You can download and rum memtest but I'd remove the new RAM and out old back in. If the problem goes away, the RAM is bad.

Is the wizard still coming up?

Just this week I reloaded a Dell Inspiron 9300. It had XP Media Center. Customer didn't have the disk. I used one from another Dell and it worked just fine.

check for problems with your devices. Right click on My Computer and click on Properties. Then Click on Device Manager and check for any yellow or red marks next to the listed devices.

It may be a 'mapped' drive. How it got there I don't know.

If this started on Tuesday, it might be related to a Windows update.

Go to START > RUN and type in services.msc then hit the ENTER key. Check if Windows audio is running. If it isn't, set it to auto, click OK and see what happens.