[Colorado Buckeye]

Gretchen, since your PC problems involve, at least in part, programs running in background, I suggest that you install a freeware utility called Easy Cleaner. It is a registry cleaner, and yes I know that you already have one; however, Easy Cleaner also has a built in function that finds all the programs that get loaded into background during the boot process.

I'm not sure how it finds them all, but it seems to work well. You can then use a built in feature to stop any program from so being loaded.

[GretchenM]

Dear Colorado Buckeye, I am happy to say my PC finally got stable enough for me to download and install Easy Cleaner. It’s worked well and I thank you.

The other quirky things continue to befuddle and amaze me, such as all of a sudden certain keyboard keys don’t strike (such as caps lock, the dash -—, the numbers 5 and 6, the left control key, etc. Then they will suddenly start working again. That, however, is the least of it. Old Gray needs a visit to the shop but it’s beyond my means right now. Thanks for your advice.