I've recently purchased a second hand computer, I formatted it ran anti-spyware, cleaned it up as much as possible and now the computer seizes up at a click of the mouse it has win98 se with 256 mb 20G hdd and when I install a fire wall it runs for awhile then comes up some kind of error, utter than that it just freezes. (SOS) Rusty..
I formatted it 3 times and still the same problem!!!!!!

   So you format the drive, install DOS, and then install Win98.  Do you have a problem with it at this point?  If so, something is either wrong with the computer or you have a bad Windows CD (I would think that you would get errors during installation in this case).
   If a new Windows does not give you any problems, the problem must be with one of the programs or drivers that you install.  If you install one at a time, it should become obvious what is causing the problem.

I formatted the computer reinstalled windows and now the wonderful little piece of technology has gottin worse and seeing that i can't install or won't accept anything
on it i have come to the conclusion that the harddrive is gone or the motherboard is going. Seems like no-one wants to part with anything of any value anymore.
Would it work if i installed a 3G,hdd with only 128MB of ram and by the way i am
making this up as i go along. Thanks for the advice Ray...Canning

   I would think that if it were a bad hard drive that it would not format without errors.
   I would think that 128mb of RAM would be enough for 3G hdd.

Well Ray, I'm gonna give it a shot and see how it works out. I am certain of one
thing, if it doesn't work I know who to turn to for tips, it's been a pleasure....
Canning

did you try just switching the ram in case the ram was bad ? I had a similar problem and it turned out 3 hard drives later that the ram was not compatable with the motherboard.