There are several possible methods for doing so: 1) Especially if you are running Windows, formatting your hard drive and re-installing everything will go a long way to stopping your computer from crashing often. Of course if you have ten-year old software, it may be difficult to find a way to re-install it as it is likely not being published anymore. 2) Run programs Ad-Aware and Spy-Bot. These find and delete programs like MyClick, Gator, or Cosmo Cursor that run in the background and consume processor time. 3) Try to run only one program at a single time. This means clearing out the system tray and actually quitting programs, not just minimizing them. 4) Defragment your hard drive(s). This decreases the time needed to access information from your hard drives. Assuming you are running Windows 95 or higher, this option should be in "Accessories" in the Start Menu. 5) If your speed problem is related to the internet, you might need a faster modem. Anything slower than 56 Kbs needs to upgrade immediately. 6) If your computer is actually from 1995, a modern desktop computer should be roughly 64 times as powerful. Upgrade your computer as soon as possible: this is the most effective method to speed it up. If your computer is very old, more than about 4 or 5 years, the motherboard is outdated. A motherboard is the large circuit board that the processor, memory and hard drives plug into. If your motherboard is outdated, then to upgrade any other part of the computer to modern equipment, you will need to upgrade the motherboard. If this is the case, I recommend either buying a new computer (a solid entry-level desktop can be purchased for less than $600) or getting a professional to upgrade yor computer. Here's the order you should upgrade your computer, assuming your motherboard is not too out of date: First: RAM -- Try to have at least 256 megabytes of RAM from a quality brandname. 512 megabytes is much better. Second: CPU -- What kind of CPU you can buy is determined by your motherboard. I recommend AMD processors: they are the most cost-effective. Don't bother with a new video card -- if speed is a problem even doing things like surfing the internet of using word processors, it isn't related to your video card. Of course, a new video card would help greatly with playing games, and if you are up grading your motherboard, you may need to get a new card any way. 7) If you are using Windows 95, 98 or ME then you should upgrade to Windows XP as soon as possible. It requires a faster computer, but it is well worth it. XP is much, much better than 95, 98 or ME. 8) If so inclined, you could try to overclock your processor. This would help a little, but it is essentially worthless in a ten year-old computer. For instance, overclocking a 50 MHz processor to 100 MHz -- a 100% increase in speed -- would still result in a computer that is woefully slow by modern standards.

Actually a correction to the previous poster. I'll bet that box is a 386-486 , likely not first gen pentium, the 120. Even if it were, overclocking the proc would just cook it ( if the board even supports changing it). Also, short of physically gluing the ram on the board for pure sex appeal, you wouldn't be able to put 256 megs on it. Don't forget...we're talking about EDO ram here, and ten years ago, if memory ( pardon the pun) serves correct, even finding a stick of 16 megs, cost a weeks salary and that's as big as it came fo a long time. The bios and the operating system wouldn't support it in any event. In answer to the question at hand, as much edo ram as you can find and put on it ( whatever the boards bios limit is) and..if it is indeed a first gen pentium, I believe you may be able to change out the cpu to a 166 mhz. Higher than that I think it went into a different socket and pin. Again, your board and bios will be the limiting factor. What will you gain? Not much. A faster old box and have some fun. If you want to make it a real old speed demon, run Linux on it. It will be faster than windows and you could actually use it as a home or small office server. Pal of mine uses an old 166 mhz for a print server in his biz.

I just wanted to offer an alternative take on this discussion. You can't really do much to make a 10 year old computer 'significantly' faster. But even more importantly, why spend the money doing the upgrade? Do you expect to get another 5 years out of the computer? In my opinion, any money spent on a 10 year old computer would be better spent on a new system, especially now that you get so much more bang for your buck than ever before. So while the solutions offered so far are correct, the question you have to ask yourself is, "is it worth it?"

Nothing Really you would have to get parts from around that time which will be fun enough also even if you upgraded it real well your better of throwing it away i throw away my pcs like every 4 years

Take it to a 30-story building and make sure no people are under it when you throw it out the window!