I am no expert. Amy it seems like the friendly advice given to you by our members isn't helping you. I will say it again, we are NOT a computer help service, we are a trivia site with some forums. One of those forums is this one in which members TRY to help when possible, but once they have made suggestions there is no point in going back and back over the same ground.

256MB RAM is nothing these days, nor is 512mb, no wonder you are having problems. My unqualified advice to you is to take both computers to a reputable computer firm, get them to upgrade to about 2gb of RAM and to reformat and reload. You can ask them to copy the scanner driver.

If you cannot afford to take this advice then there is really no point in posting in this forum asking for further assistance.

Yes, we understand the site isn't a computer help service. In the very first post that explains about this forum talks about the topics range from computer problems and computers in general.
Have also noticed so many other complicated computer problems others are having that seem to be getting help. Plus some of my friends who have used this forums mentioned Tellywellies is great with things.

We would need to find someone who will be able to come out to the house. The computer is too heavy for my mom to lift. So, we have the people come to the house.
For sure for my computer I definitely want more RAM added and get them to help correct the errors the other guy messed up on getting the stuff all out. We tried getting the other guy to add more RAM but he said I didn't need it and wouldn't do it.
The only thing we can do is just hope whoever we call to come out is good.

Thank you very much for all the great suggestions.
With all the computer problems we seem to have over the years, it sure helps to learn and all too each time a problem happens. Right now both computers are Dell. Before we had Compaq and on my last computer ever since I had got it, there was a problem with it saying No Operating System Found almost everytime you turn it on by the button on the front. We had the hard drive reformatted and still had the problem.

Amy,
IF you deal with a respectable repair/computer service, they will be MORE than willing to come to your house and pick up the computers! All you need to do is explain you and your mother are not physically able to bring them to their place of business. If they are NOT willing to do this, chances are you do NOT want them doing any work for you either. I know that Circuit City, Best Buy, and Computer World stores all offer this service. Certainly, you are not out in the boondocks and should have access to one of them or another reputable place.

Many of the things you have repeatedly mentioned as big problems should not be. Obviously, as I said before, you need to quit looking at sites and tinkering ie "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Your modem and router are not going to take your entire memory and when you use a scanner, of course your CPU is going to jump. It's the nature of it. Having umpteen virus programs installed does NO good whatsoever if they are NOT running properly, they cancel each other out, and running partial components of numerous ones is asking for trouble.

We thought that we were dealing with a reputable company. The recent one I mentioned about did come to the house. Like I said, we tried getting him to add more memory and told him that the CPU usage is going to 100% when using the scanner, and the other things it's doing it on too, and he didn't believe us or anything and didn't want to add it. He's the same one that didn't get all the Norton stuff out either.
There is this other one listed in the phone book my mom found that thinking of trying them out next.
Good suggestion about possibly trying out the stores. Don't have Computer World around here. The others are about 1 hour drive from us.

My brother-in-law(who lives hours drive away) I mentioned that looked at my computer a bit while over at Thanksgiving, his best suggestion for us is to ask around in computer forums for help that he gets help from. Said you can usually find people who have problems or would know what to do.
We do have a good bit of knowledge though about computers, but of course not a computer tech. Do know how to add and remove programs/software, download things, so many things. We knew enough to get the computers up and running when getting them. Would be nice to someday learn more. Before I took the computer class I mentioned I took and got an A in, did know a good bit from my Dad(passed away due to brain tumor) being a computer programmer.

Amy, we know you know this isn't a computer help place, but you keep asking the same questions over and over. We have told you what to do and if you do not take that advice, please do not ask further.

Sorry if we misunderstood anything from seeing other computer problems people have been getting help from.
Some of the other problems going on though I have got help on in the past in here. Did get an IE security warning problem fixed and got help on just some other software stuff.
Don't we need to let people in whatever computer forums if the advice they give you to do, let them know if you've already tried that before so if they have other suggestions can suggest something else instead?

Amy, I think we're just talking in circles. The help offered isn't working for you. Further comment would therefore seem pointless. That being the case, I'm going to lock this thread. I would ask that you don't re-open the same questions in other threads. Nonetheless, I do hope you can get your computer sorted out. There are many forums on the Internet dedicated entirely to giving computer advice. I suggest you try asking your questions in one or two of these centres of excellence. We have all tried to no avail here.