There must be a few of you out there with a black BT Home Hub 2.0. Here's how to check a few things including your Internet usage:

Click on this link: http://192.168.1.254/

(Ever after this it should stay in your History if you've enable the Autocomplete in your browser and so all you will need to do is just remember to put in the first digit, being '1', (ie. the very first part of the address) and it should apppear for you to autocomplete)

As you can now see, up has popped the BT Home Hub Help page.

Click on Settings

Enter your case sensitive Home Hub Administrator Password

Click on Advanced Settings

Click on Continue to Advanced Settings

Click on Broadband

You can now see from the Connection information data a few things:

Connection time (ie. for how long the connection has been open)

Data transmitted/received (MB) (ie. your 'usage')

On this page, if you Click on the ADSL tab you can also read your Downstream and Upstream connection speeds and also other connection data too ((ie. ADSL settings)

This BT Help site has lots of extremely useful and helpful information. Do have a browse around it.

HARRYCAT, Thanks I can upgrade the memory to 2GB Max

Shame there is not a one for motherboard upgrade etc

I run a PC and a laptop and find the PC is more versatile, though less mobile! As I cannibalise all of my old PCs as they fail, the power supplies, fans, hard drives, memory chips and plug-in boards quite often get re-used.
Motherboard upgrade? Apart from the drivers (CPU, BIOS, USB, on-board graphics etc) which can be upgraded on-line, not sure what you are expecting to change.

Richgit I can't find anything searching on the model number you've posted. Is it a desktop or laptop? The Acer Aspire T135 or T136 seems to be about the closest match.

If so, I don't think any significant upgrades are going to be worth it TBH. It has a maximum of 2Gb memory (2 x 1Gb modules). Its not going to be possible to upgrade the processor to anything current.

If the PC has just got slow over time through "Windows rot" consider backing up your data and then re-installing Windows. If its struggling with current software and you need a new PC something like thislooks pretty good for the money (note comes with no OS installed). The Core i3 will be a huge jump in performance from a Sempron 3100+.

Jonuk76, HARRYCAT It is desktop pc

One of the main reason I want to upgrade is to get my 3 monitors working, without crashing every few hours, also want to get Windows 7 64bit, and basically get a trading/gaming maching all in one

How about this review of one of the PCs on ebuyer.com - the reviewer's name is AliG :-)

this Pc is well tidy , me like to put me floppy disk in da mazzive holee , its feel sooooo gooood . izz likeee to pushh youu dee buttons well arddd . tooochhh meee USBBB!

If you don't believe me: Extra value PC

looking for a wireless tv box thingy that lets me play my files videos music files, webcasts from my PC to TV, needs to be easy setup etc and whatever else you think it should have, harddrive etc

Hope someone can help with this. Bought my daughter a new Dell laptop. Everything worked fine until I uninstalled the trial version of McAfee that came with it. Immediately after the uninstalltion of McAfee, I noticed I could not browse websites although the connection to the router was active. Obviously McAfee has done something to the networking...looking for solutions desperately before daughter gets back home!

McAfee Problems and Help (see more at the bottom of this page)

Alternatively, you could try these guys:

'The Computer Doctors' - Northampton
Tel: 01604 411 444

They don't actually recommend McAfee but they will have a damn good idea what your problem is. Ask them if they can help you 'remotely'. Your machine would need to be enabled to do this and they will tell you what to do and then take over your machine to sort things out.

They say at:http://www.computerdoctors.co.uk/care/index.htm

"....You can purchase a one-off remote repair for 19.95 per 30 minutes. This is often long enough to sort the problem or decide that the PC or laptop will need a vist to our workshop or an engineer on-site. For example a failing hard drive. If this is the case, you get 10.00 off the subsequent workshop or on-site repair.

Alternatively, you can purchase a remote repair contract for 6.99 per month (3 months minimum) or 79.95 per year. The plus pack gives you a remote repair contract + 4 free visits per year to our workshop (parts not included) for 9.99 per month (3 months minimum) or 99.95 per year. Any of the free workshop visits can be converted to on-site visits for just 30.00 (half our normal call out charge)...."

Thanks ExecLine. I'm looking at the first link now to see if I can fix it myself. Alternatively, do you think doing a system restore to a very recent date help fix the problem? One other options that come to mind is to restore the laptop to factory settings using the hidden partition. Last resort, I guess get in touch with Computerdoctors. I've tried speaking to McAfee who have very cleverly refused to do anything saying that McAfee product is no longer on my laptop, hence it is not their issue! Dell want to charge me a big fee for fixing it! What a mess!

I doubt that there is much wrong. It is probably just something minor with your internet connection settings.

Thanks Haystack. You're probably right about this. The one thing I forgot to mention is that the laptop has started freezing after uninstalling McAfee. Damn McAfee! Will stay well clear of that blasted product!

I have always disliked MacAfee, Norton as well. They just slow the PC down.

Klal,

Not sure if it will help in your case, but when you uninstall McAfee you also need to download a file from their website (MCPR.exe) to complete the removal. Try looking at this link.

Tried that Hils - hasn't resolved the problem. :-(

Guys, do you think doing a system restore will help? The most recent restore point is from late last night which was before a Windows update and today's MdAfee debacle)

In XP cntrl+Alt +del will bring up Sysytem manager. Might be worth having a look to see if there is anything recognisable as a file which is still running from McAfee. Also I have often noticed that an uninstall does not take out all the files. Go to My computer, Program files and have a look for McAfee folder and delete any remaining files within that folder manually.
Not sure how Windows 7 works as have not yet tried it.

Klal,

I asked my son and the response was:

1) What OS and browser are you using? Could it simply be a case that your browser is set to working offline?

2) Can you see if any processes (and what they are called) are hogging all of your resources before the freeze?

3) Have you tried re-installing McAfee to see what happens now that you've run the product removal tool?

Thanks Hils.

I am an ex-IT guy though only application software. So H/W, networking is not my cuppa tea exactly.

1. It's Win7. Definitely not working offline mode!
2. Will look out for any processes that hog....shortly
3. I could try re-installing McAfee, it'll be a pain.

But, I've just restarted the machine in Safe Mode and find I CAN browse fine!

I'm going try this solution: Solved!

Guess what! Sorted the problem out. Turns out Norton Internet 2010 (which I installed after removing McAfee) was the culprit. Never expected that. Used the Norton Removal Tool and got rid of NIS 2010. Rebooted and everything worked fine. For the moment I am on Windows Security Essentials. Would appreciate suggestions on what alternative internet security product to use.