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gateway ta6 laptop

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Shades:
If the limit is 2x1GByte RAM modules, that is the limit then. if it is old, it likely only supports the DDR2 notebook version of RAM modules. This is an old hardware format, which means they are expensive, because they aren't produced anymore. Second hand RAM is likely what you will end up with. If you think there is too much crap on the laptop, download all the drivers from the manufacturers website and store these on a pen drive, get the windows key from the bottom of your laptop (if that is still readable, else find a piece of software to retrieve your Windows key), find the installers and keys from the software you want to keep, backup whatever data you already put on the laptop and re-install.

Such a "fresh" start will make the laptop more enjoyable. You won't have to bother with finding ways to get rid of crap the previous owner installed, you can use the AV solution you like, etc. etc. My advice is always to put as much RAM in your new PC/Laptop as you are able to afford. Not only will you enjoy using the PC/Laptop longer, it will have more re-sale value (especially with laptops). So, find out which model of RAM your laptop uses from its manual and find two RAM sticks of 1 GBYte, the hardware in your laptop cannot handle any other RAM memory configuration. Buy something else and you have thrown good money out of the door. Don't think it will be easy to resell the wrong memory module configuration or expect to get a decent price. Remember, it is only expensive when you buy it... 

General advice:
If you want to know what the specifications of your laptop are, look at the site of the manufacturer or manual. In the manual, you usually find which type and model of RAM will work with your laptop. The manufacturer usually has support, where you can download drivers, updates, manuals etc. Other websites will do their best effort to have all this info available, but as long as there is a manufacturers support website, why bother going somewhere else.

IainB:
I recently acquired the Gateway TA6 laptop, with problems:
-Napster shows up in Control Panel Add/Remove programs and nowhere else and refuses to go away.
-PC MightyMax 2009 shows in systray (lower right desktop) and nowhere else and refuses to go away.
-It is a Win XP Tablet, and I would like to disable the Desktop 'Tablet PC Input Panel' somehow.
-I will never use the Motorola fax feature in systray and wonder how to disable it.
-How can I selectively disable McAfee safe web browsing?
Any helpful sugs would be greatly appreciated.
-holt (December 18, 2015, 05:44 PM)
--- End quote ---

Well, the scope of your post seems to have just expanded to become a classic bundle of problems - which I would normally avoid trying to help with as remote support can become a real time bandit and I don't want to get sucked in by the vortex they create.

However, having gone as far as I did above, I would suggest that, with the symptoms you describe, having an unknown quantity of software in a laptop, you should suspect the worst and act accordingly  - you may have a virus or a hijack virus and that would put you on the back foot, as it were.
To take and maintain control of the situation, I recommend that you therefore download and install and run, one at a time/one after the other, in this order:

* MBAM - Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (FREE)
* RevoUninstaller (FREEware v1.95)
* CCleaner ($FREE)
If you do have a virus, then a common behaviour is that it may try to block downloads/installs, in which case, if you cannot complete the first step (download, immediately install and then immediately run MBAM), then you will need to take out the drive and treat is as virus-infested as a portable USB drive to a secure computer already installed with the above software, which can then be run to clean that hard drive. I have done this to successfully disinfect and expunge viruses and expunge PUPS (Potentially Unwanted Programs) on several infected/hijacked hard drives for friends.
You should use RevoUninstaller to delete and expunge other unwanted or annoying programs (e.g., Norton Anti-Virus or "Security" software) that may have hooks deeply embedded in the registry - RevoU seems to be the best FREE tool for this.
Then use CCleaner to tidy up the registry and remove all the excess system detritus that most badly neglected PCs will tend to have accumulated. This can sometimes have a surprisingly significant performance improvement for many of your applications and sometimes even the OS, and on a neglected PC can generally free up a considerable chunk of disk space.

As a penultimate cleanup step, open a Run window and run the windows cleanmgr.exe, and select the option to delete restore points (it deletes all but the very latest restore point). You can do that in CCleaner also, but cleanmgr is a good belts-and-braces precaution in my view, as it can sometimes clean up a few bits not necessarily caught by CCleaner. This can generally free up a considerable chunk of disk space.

The final step should be to optimise hard disk performance - run the Windows defrag.exe and automate this by setting it in the options to run every couple of weeks (automatically controlled via Task Scheduler). On a neglected PC this can generally make a useful performance improvement, potentially affecting the performance of most/all applications.

holt:
The laptop was a freebie, and i can use it to look for something new and affordable. But for now, i think i'd like to upgrade the ram at least from 1gb (2 x .500) to 2gb (2 x 1gb), for $11 per ram stick plus s/h.

The freeware RevoUninstaller killed PC Mighty Max 2009 from running and i deleted its folder. I also successfully wiped out all Napster traces. I will never use the tablet screen writing feature and am not sure if it is safe to disable or remove, but it would save some ram. I am still trying to disable the Motorola fax from auto-starting.
Thank you to everyone for all your help.

dr_andus:
I am still trying to disable the Motorola fax from auto-starting.
-holt (December 18, 2015, 08:39 PM)
--- End quote ---

WinPatrol might be able to help you with that, but I can't make out from the website whether there is still a free version.

Edit: Oh, yeah, there is still a free version.

holt:
I added freeware WinPatrol, and thank you.

This is a Gateway tablet Win XP laptop. On boot up, the laptop will reach the pre-Desktop screen where you are to choose your user name icon and click on it, and it will say this:

Windows XP.
To begin, click your user name.

After you log on, you can add or change user accounts.
Just go to Control Panel and click User Accounts.

A small 1/6th-screen virtual keyboard also appears that I don't think belongs there and don't know how to get rid of. You can right-click at the top of it and move it around, but if you put any of it off-screen it realigns to the screen edge. It always loads/appears a little slower than the parent screen, suggesting separate origins. To right- or left-click at the top of it or the parent screen produces no sub-menu, but when you click on some virtual keys they change color. I added the picture by clicking first on the virtual 'print screen' (PrtScn) key to grab a shot of it. Clicking on virtual ctrl-alt-del (in sequence) produces a message to just use the pc tablet Windows Security button. Free RevoUninstaller can't 'target' it there. Whatever it is, I see no need, and it may be tying up ram. What is it and does it belong there, or what's the use of it, or how do I remove or disable it?

gateway ta6 laptop

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