Need Help for Donated PC (Fire Victims)
 

I have knocked myself out this past week trying to get a Dell Optiplex
running XP to "go faster." The boot time for everything is so bad that
I'm ashamed to give it to a family who lost everything in a fire--two
school age kids, single parent to boot (so I need to get this up and
running).

I deleted everything that could be deleted. Installed the free AVG
anti-virus (family lives below poverty level). Did a defrag, a couple
of registry-cleaner clean-ups, an error check--the whole nine yards,
as far as a computer layperson is concerned.

Is it that a single chip processor is incompatible with software
programs that connect to the internet? I'm sure this PC could be used
successfully as a word processor or to play CDs; I installed a new
modem and a new USB 2.0 port. Sorry for the language, but it still
sucks.

If anyone can suggest any final band-aid, I'd really appreciate
hearing from you. I absolutely can't give this family a new computer
but now feel that the few bucks I invested in the peripherals would
have been better spent as a gift card for a new system. If there's
anyone who'd look at the start menu and tell me what I could and can't
delete, maybe that would help?

Thanks.