i play three online poker games at a time.  lately my web pages are
loading slowly and i am getting knocked offline a lot (dsl modem), 
non pentium processor.  tried all the defrag, aol computer check,
simple things - no help.
tried to restore to earlier point but computer won't let me and my
guess is i need a new computer anyway>   t.y. in advance

If your computer boots, then it's not literally the case that the
processor is burned out.

You say you've tried all the simple things, but have you checked for
"spyware"?  The Lavasoft Ad-aware software comes in a free version and
would be worth running once a week (or more often, if you find the
results warrant it).

regards, mathtalk-ga

thanks,  i ran adaware - is that different?

Are you running Ad-Aware SE Personal. I had some problems with my
computer. The SE version fixed it, the outdated Ad-Aware 6 didn't.

thanks,  i will try that.  the problem occurred with my last computer
after about 18 months, so i am wondering if it is some sort of
'fatigue'.  i assume that the games i play may cause accelerated wear.

I've used personal computers for over twenty years, and in my
experience they don't "slow down" due to wear.  Since you mention
being on the internet and visiting poker sites, my suspicion is that
you've inadvertently downloaded some Trojan/virus pests that are using
your machine to perform tasks you don't know about.  Another free tool
of this kind with a good reputation is:

[Spybot S&D]
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

But to address your other question, yes, you can probably get a much
nicer computer at an affordable price!  If it's within your budget,
then start shopping for a replacement to your pre-Pentium clunker. 
Just be diligent in setting up any new computer with a firewall,
anti-virus, and anti-spyware software.  Unfortunately it's a necessity
these days if you surf the 'Net.

regards, mathtalk-ga