Suicidal computer round 2

[Carbon27]

 My PC is freaking out again. All I know is I was starting up Google Chrome, and, well...       my PC just stopped working. Nothing was working. So i turned it off, waited a little bit, then turned it on again. I did that three times.
The fourth time I got some really weird message as it was turning on. Something about that I need to get the PC looked at by some tech guy. I just bought a PSP (Horrible timing) and I don't really have the money to pay someone to fix it. About a year ago the was some issue with my PC mouse turning on and off, and then it got to the point where it would disable the PC from working. I did get that figured out, it was some corrupt port attachment. About 2 years ago my computer started making horrid grinding sounds. And, as most of you know, the weird issue that started and stopped. (The reason why I "Left") It was actually a virus. Which did get removed.

HELP!!!!
Oh yeah, my PC is an XP, and it has some 200$ video card upgrade from like 2008. I cannot give any more detail right now because I don't know much more. And because it's late and I must get to bed.

I'll reply to comments tomorrow, early in the morning or in the afternoon.

[{TCE}Call-of-Duty]

You can get a Toshiba like me, I got a Satellite C655, 320gb Hard Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium for 279.99 at Best Buy but for the love of God buy it anywhere but from Best Buy, try Wall-Mart or maybe Amazon.

[Gold Man]

You can get a Toshiba like me, I got a Satellite C655, 320gb Hard Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium for 279.99 at Best Buy but for the love of God buy it anywhere from Best Buy, try Wall-Mart or maybe Amazon.

Never Best Buy, their return policy is a nightmare.

Anyways, according to your issue, I'm wondering if you've tried looking at any of the product's help boards yet. Whenever something screwy goes up with my laptop, I always hunt down my answer off of HP's support boards, and I usually get the answer to my issue, or I get a topic with someone having the same issue, and there's no resolve.

If I were you, I'd try looking at the support boards for your product. If it's HP, just look for the model name (it's always on the casing somewhere), then type your product in, the problem, and you should get a forum topic with your issue listed.

Of course if it's been modified heavily from the original product's specs, then you're on your own, unless you can tell one of these techies here all of your computer's specs.

[RepComm]

You can get a Toshiba like me, I got a Satellite C655, 320gb Hard Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium for 279.99 at Best Buy but for the love of God buy it anywhere but from Best Buy, try Wall-Mart or maybe Amazon.

I had a one of those once.. Long story short, it ended in an explosion and is somehow related to the wiping out of the dinosaurs..
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Not but really, I had one at it broke one day.. Just note, that if you buy a laptop, you get what you pay for. (I've had a few very nice ones, even with XP)

[Carbon27]

 I did fail to mention, my XP is working perfectly fine. I will not be getting a new computer for at least a couple years, unless somehow I win the lottery, which would be illegal since I'm not old enough. I do not need to buy a computer because my Mother has an online business, and her computer suffered an issue that was like my mouse issue (Explained in first post) but it was fatal to the computer. She had to have a computer, so she did some shopping and got a Windows 8. Unfortunately, for her (not me) it did not really do everything her old PC did. So she did some more shopping and she purchased a refurbished (I think) windows 7 for what she needed to do. The Windows 8 is a Gateway and the Windows 7 is an Optiplex 745. Or at least that's what it says on the front. As soon as my Mom gets everything figured out, I may install a couple games on it.

Ok, this information was completely pointless. But I do have 2 computers to use in case I start Big Bang 2. (Well, really 1...    but we won't go into that.)

The information I'm looking for is not what computer to buy, or even how to fix the problem. It's more how do I keep my PC strong and healthy as it can be. It's not "The Rock" in computer health terms, it's an old man wheezing for it's last breath while it's family kneels beside him and cries.

Oh and I know exactly what my PC is...            a Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

A couple questions I have: Should I do system restore, I don't want to but if it's my best choice, how far should I go?

Should I leave my computer off when I'm not using it? I always leave it on, unless I'm out of the state. I'm not sure if making it work hard to turn on and off would be good for my computer.

Uhh...                                            thanks for reading.

[{PLA}gdh92]

I don't think system restore deletes any documents or pictures. It just un-installs programs and changes settings so it's probably worth a try, it can be undone anyway.
If you're PC is slow it's also worth looking at Add/remove programs and what runs at startup. You can do this by searching for 'run' then typing in msconfig. A new window will appear with a startup tab where you can stop things from automatically turning on. it's amazing how much rubbish appears in there. Just don't stop anything important.

[Ltin]

My dad had in issue on my moms vista laptop once, he deleted chrome and then it was fine. Perhaps chrome did something it shouldnt have?

[aeria.]

The most simple way to keep your computer running well:

If you're not using program X, don't install it. If you don't remember installing program X, remove it. Keep unnecessary programs off of startup.

Upgrade to Windows 7. Windows XP is over 11 years old.

That's pretty much it. It's not rocket science to keep your computer in good shape. Hard drive fragmentation can help too.

[Carbon27]

Never Best Buy, their return policy is a nightmare.

Thank you, I shall remember that. I am also looking into a Windows XP forum.

My dad had in issue on my moms vista laptop once, he deleted chrome and then it was fine. Perhaps chrome did something it shouldnt have?

I have been having issues with my PC long before Chrome, but if my PC is about to explode, I will delete Chrome.

If you're not using program X, don't install it. If you don't remember installing program X, remove it. Keep unnecessary programs off of startup.

Upgrade to Windows 7. Windows XP is over 11 years old.

That's pretty much it. It's not rocket science to keep your computer in good shape. hard drive defragmentation   can help too.

Program X? I don't know much about computers, don't laugh at me. 

Why would I pay 120$ to buy something 6 yards away from me?

I have tired , defragmentation, doesn't help much.

What part in my PC is corrupt? If I can locate the corrupted part, I could replace it.

[Ltin]

Have you ran any antivirus programs?

Also, by program x he means anything on your cp.
Example: swbf.
So what he would be saying is if you werent using swbf, you should uninstall it.

[Kit Fisto]

Buy a Mac. No problems that you have described will plague you.

[RepComm]

Buy a Mac. No problems that you have described will plague you.

Lol, don't say that, you'll jinx everyone!
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Also, to further clarify;
By program X, he means program _____ you name it, if you see a new program you didn't install, get rid of it. If it's a program you never use, demand it be sent to a remote prison on hoth to freeze to death for all eternity!

[Kit Fisto]

Even better, get a tablet! What can you do on your computer you can't do on a good tablet besides PC games?

[{TCE}Call-of-Duty]

New Windows tablet with a flash drive 

[Ltin]

Buy a Mac. No problems that you have described will plague you.

It depends on what you're looking for. From this perspective, yes, but a) thats going to eventually be irrelevant
b) he said he wont get a new comp anytime soon
c) that doesnt fix his problem