ORAC, Many thanks for the benefit of your expertise. I fitted a spare 64mb chip which I had laying around and the difference in performance is very noticeable and by pressing CRL ALT DEL, I see that the machine has taken up all of the added memory. I have ordered two 256mb chips from Microdirect as there are now three 64mb chips occupying all three available memory slots. The programme which I am running is a specialised property management software package from a company called CFP. It is this software which prompted me to change to XP after CFP technical support advised me to change to XP to be able to enjoy the full features of their software which was written for XP. With the computer only running Norton Systemworks, Explorer and Express, I was out of memory! Thanks also for the instructions on how to install a taskbar, I had been launching some programs from the desktop so it was a bit of a problem not having a shortcut on an easily accessible task bar. Thanks once again.
NAC, I wouldn’t know the difference between a VIA or an SIS chipset I’m afraid! All I know is that the memory chips are 168 pin PC100 types, the board has labels marked Advent 8725 and PCI 0195 - there are three cards attached to the motherboard, a Creative Labs CT5803 sound card, a 3dfx voodoo3 video card and another card marked “Firewave”