OSX 10.2.8 / G3 and 640M RAM

A friend has this combination and is having issues....macMail not working (she says the icon spins and hangs) and she has to do all mail from webmail.

'The problem with the mail programme and its the one it comes with is that when
you open it the indicator just keeeps spinning round and round and doesnt stop
and then the programme quits.'

She is also struggling with downloading videos from the web...she has mentioned Myspace as the place she is trying to look at and says she can play local copyies (I assume with QT).

I can see she is back level on OS but am not sure whether the G3 with 640M will take an OS upgrade and whether that will help even if I try ? Not even sure how to do that so if that is a suggestion a guide to upgrading OSX would be appreciated ?

I can simply try to reinstall macMail on the old OS (Can I ?) and see if that helps ?

I suspect she possibly simply needs a new machine but before telling her that I want to explore other angles.....so what else can I look to do apart from scrapping her G3 to help her ?

I am going to look at this on the weekend so advice before then appreciated ?

create a new user on her machine. log in as that user. try to do the same things she is having trouble with as the new user.

if the problem follows the user then there is a problems with the app/os. if not than it's a problem with the user profile, most likely preferences.

I used to run tiger on a g3 500 ibook with 256mb. It wasn't great but it worked ok for day to day stuff.

Thanks - I will give that a go on Sunday

If it is an app / OS problem can I easily reinstall Macmail and / or OSX ? Where is the best idiot guide to how to do that ? I assume I can drag Macmail to the trash and pull a new DMG from apple.com for macmail ? What about OSX...that has to need a new CD ?

If it is a bad app/os use the install cd to do an "archive and install". this preserves user accounts and none apple apps while delivering a fresh OS.