My computer running Windows Me is very slow and I cannot understand why, as the hard drive is only one-third full. I have completed a Disk Cleanup which deleted all the temporary files on the computer, and also attempted to run Disk Defragmenter but this did not proceed past the 3% mark (instead it constantly restarted once it reached this point). Is there something wrong here? There is also another irritating problem, whereby the clock in the Windows system tray has disappeared. How can I restore the clock? What’s more, the clock does not keep the correct time. Can this also be fixed? Finally, how can I find out what is running on the background on the computer? I have noticed that on other machines I can press CTRL-ALT-DEL to open the Task Manager but this does not work on my computer.

You have certainly asked quite a few questions, so we will deal with each question in order. Regarding your first question about the computer running so slow, despite only one-third of the hard drive being full, the amount of free hard drive space on a computer has little to do with the performance of the machine. Sure, when the hard drive space decreases to a particularly low amount (e.g. a few hundred megabytes) this can degrade performance, as Windows and various other programs do not have enough space to store their temporary files. However, having two-thirds of the hard drive free will not impact upon performance. The most likely reason that you are experiencing performance issues is due to a lack of resources, particularly a lack of available memory (RAM) and also having a relatively old and slow computer. Many people become confused about hard drive space and memory. Hard drive space is used to permanently store data on your computer (well, until you want to delete the data). We call hard drive storage non-volatile storage as the data stored on your hard drive is not lost when the computer is powered off. In contrast, memory (commonly known as RAM, or random access memory) is used to temporarily store information for running programs and also the Windows operating system. This is volatile memory, as the data in RAM is lost when the computer is powered off. RAM is very fast storage, which is why running programs use this to temporarily store required data, compared with the hard drive which is comparatively much slower. When your computer runs out of RAM (i.e. due to having too little RAM and too many programs running) it swaps data between the hard drive and RAM. This is a very slow and inefficient process, resulting in the computer performance significantly degrading. As you can see, the slow down in your computer is most likely due to a combination of insufficient RAM together with too many programs running on the computer at once. Additionally, as your computer seems quite old it would have a relatively old and slow processor, adding to the slow performance of the machine. As such, my best recommendation would be to purchase a new computer.

As your machine is running Windows Me, this indicates the computer is very old. Furthermore, Microsoft ceased all support for Windows Me on 11 July 2006. This includes all security updates. As such, you are now running a very old and potentially vulnerable operating system. This alone is a primary reason to get a new computer. I would not recommend upgrading your existing computer, as it is quite old and would be unable to handle most of the new computer components and hardware. Additionally, it would most likely be cheaper to purchase a new computer. For example, you can get very good deals from Dell (www.dell.com.au) with some computers costing less than $1000.

However, should you wish to make your computer to perform better in the short-term the best method would be to backup all data you wish to keep, and then perform a clean install of Windows Me. I recommend that users do a clean installation of Windows every 2 years, as this generally keeps the machine running quite well.

Regarding your second question about the clock in the system tray having disappeared, this is most likely because the clock has been disabled. To re-enable the clock, go to the “Start” menu > “Settings” > “Control Panel” and open the “Taskbar and Start Menu” control panel. In the window that appears, click the “General” tab. Make sure “Show clock” is ticked. Click OK to save and close, and the clock should reappear in the taskbar. You also mentioned that the clock on your computer does not hold the correct time. This is most likely due to the CMOS battery on your computer’s motherboard having gone flat. This battery allows your computer to retain certain settings, such as the time, when powered-off. When this battery goes flat such information cannot be retained. As such, you will need to take your computer to a technician to have this battery replaced or, as we discussed previously, look at potentially getting a new computer.

Finally, you can only use CTRL-ALT-DEL to open the Task Manager and view the list of running processes and their information in Windows XP and Windows Vista. If you press CTRL-ALT-DEL in Windows 9x/Me you will only be presented with a basic Task Manager window which allows you to close running applications and visible processes – this does not list all processes, unlike the Windows XP and Vista task manager.