Annoying problems!

[Roj]

I'd Blame the Modem!!!!! Hehe... :bandit:

You should probbly buy more ram.... Windows XP will use 300 Mbs on it own... with nothing Extra running....512Mb is a good running amount.

[Roj]

i see what you mean. Where do i find this 100MB+ file? Is it called anything?

Last time i decided to clear all my system restore points just because i am running a little low on harddrive space. I freed a whopping 2.5GB. I went straight to the system restore settings and shut it off. :ninja:Not too prudent. I'd just flush it once a week or so. You never know...

[Shewolf]

My PC seems to be getting slower and slower. Many problems keep cropping up.
You've already heard about my Firefox problem..then there is the fact that programs like my media player and Photoshop etc will take forver to load and become unresponsive after a time. I frequently have to end programs and processes myself.
I have no virus harming my system..although I do still ahve one in quarentine that I'm trying to delete, I run several anti spyware scans and defrag regualerly.
It wasn't even that long ago that I last reformatted.

I'm begining to think things are slowing down, mainly, because of my lack RAM.
My hard drive is not exactly huge either.

Anyway, I just wanted some opinions, if possible. I know I need to upgrade, but my wallet is already in intensive care this year.

[Tokelil]

What's you system? (CPU, RAM, HDD size)

[Shewolf]

I have a 56k modem, 40 gig hard drive, 256k DDR RAM, 1.8 Athlon processor and my OS is Win XP home.

[Tokelil]

RAM is probably your biggest problem with that comp. or if the harddrive is filled and you have dynamic pagefile. (Which means it'll probably be fragmented even though you defrag regularly)
Have you disabled index service? Checked that you got a lot of processes running?

[Toe]

256k DDR RAM
Well there's your problem right there! :cheeky:

[Shewolf]

Tokelil, yes I have lots of procsses running all the time. I don't even know what some are, and havn't been able to find out yet.

[Tokelil]

Well many processes is a relative thing I guess... I think I have about 35-40 when booted, but I really haven't done much to cut down on them. There's a website with info on all know processes... I'll try digging up a link, else do a google.

[Shewolf]

I found some software to help me tell what the processes are.
You shouldn't have that many running. I've always been concerned with the number I have.

[Shadowraven]

I run a computer with only 256MB of RAM and have had few problems, and with a slower processor than you have.

I found the services running to be the main problem for me. I can suggest 2 different sites for you to look at that may be of help to you.

1) Mirror of Black Viper's Services Configuration
http://www.dead-eye.net/WinXP%20Services.htm

2) Beemerworld's Guide to XP Services.
http://www.beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm

Hope these will help you. They made a big difference for me!

[Tokelil]

Yer I have a lot of services running, but with Norton AV, cvs, trayit, hiddenmenu etc. there's really not much to do about it. (Disabling spool server etc. isn't worth the hassle IMO)

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

To make it easy work to see what processes you dont want running go to www.windowsstartup.com and download the latest version.

Tokelil, is it beneficial to turn off indexing service? Does it make the computer faster?

[Shadowraven]

To make it easy work to see what processes you dont want running go to www.windowsstartup.com and download the latest version.

Tokelil, is it beneficial to turn off indexing service? Does it make the computer faster?

Check out those links I posted above, Rex and they will show you what a useless service that is. It hogs the resources too. My machine is faster without it, and I don't miss it either.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

Check out those links I posted above, Rex and they will show you what a useless service that is. It hogs the resources too. My machine is faster without it, and I don't miss it either.

Like turning off the protected recycle bin from the evil clutches of symantec, aye ;)

EDIT: Just read about what it does. Since my 2.8GHz computer isnt exactly slow i guess i'll leave it on because it would allow me to do file searches faster. This is one of those things i dont know if i really need it or not. If my harddisk were running in any mode lower than UDMA5 i guess i would disable it...

Indexing Service extracts information from a set of documents and organizes it for easy access through the Windows XP Professional Search function, the Indexing Service query form, or a Web browser. After the index is created, users can query the index for documents that contain key words, phrases, or properties. For example, a user can query all documents containing the word "product," or query for all Microsoft® Office documents written by a specific author. Indexing Service returns a list of all documents that meet the search criteria.

Although you can run Indexing Service on volumes formatted using any supported file system, Indexing Service works best on NTFS volumes because it uses several NTFS advanced features.

[Shewolf]

ShadowRaven...how much pressure do you put on your PC?
I run a lot of programs that take up lots of space and power, I have a HUGE collection of photos and images stored on here, plus my music library and the I have quite a few games installed at any one time.

[Shadowraven]

I have about 35GB of storage space containing about 1200 MP3's, 20,000-30,000 images, and loads of program set-up files. With many more of each on CD archives.

I often run PaintShop Pro, IrfanView, DreamweaverMX, QCD, ZoneALarm, ConnectPal, The Proximotron, Opera, NoteTAb Lite, MS Word, and several other small programs all at the same time. It can slow down then, but has been better under WinXP so far, and is due more to my video card. It seems to make room in the memory when you open more programs. I'm sure there is a limit, but I haven't reached it yet.

I've also run the games Planescape: Torment, Diablo, and Arcanum on it. But I usually run them alone, as it is otherwise way too hard on my video card.

[Todd The Kiwi]

why hasn't anyone mentioned WINTASKS (http://www.liutilities.com/) yet ?
i have my free ANTIVIRUS (http://www.free-av.com/) and my not so free FIREWALL (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp) booting on startup (by choice) nothing else.
and no i don't use wintasks i was just wondering why it wasn't mentioned.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

why hasn't anyone mentioned WINTASKS (http://www.liutilities.com/) yet ?
i have my free ANTIVIRUS (http://www.free-av.com/) and my not so free FIREWALL (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp) booting on startup (by choice) nothing else.
and no i don't use wintasks i was just wondering why it wasn't mentioned.

Actually there is a much better programme than wintasks called "what's running". It will also show ALL your network connections, incoming and outgoing. It's free for non-commercial use too. Go here (http://www.topshareware.com/What's-Running-download-19898.htm) for a download mirror. Strange how i forgot to mention this earlier.

[Tokelil]

and is due more to my video card. It seems to make room in the memory when you open more programs. I'm sure there is a limit, but I haven't reached it yet.Running a lot of programs doesn't stress the videocard much more than the basic desktop. Though drawing is hardware accelerated, Windows is a 2D interface and almost all graphic handling (besides games and apps that takes advantage of DirectX) is done on the CPU. (This will change with Longhorn if you have a DirectX9 card or newer) What probably slows you down is lack of RAM and it begins to swap to the harddrive!

About indexing service, I have seen it take 100MB+ under certain conditions. I can see the point of the feature and the tech is the future. (look at Apples Tiger for example) But personally I dont need it and would rather not run something that indexes all my files when they are written to.

[Rex_Mundi_Incarnit]

About indexing service, I have seen it take 100MB+ under certain conditions. I can see the point of the feature and the tech is the future. (look at Apples Tiger for example) But personally I dont need it and would rather not run something that indexes all my files when they are written to.

i see what you mean. Where do i find this 100MB+ file? Is it called anything?

Last time i decided to clear all my system restore points just because i am running a little low on harddrive space. I freed a whopping 2.5GB. I went straight to the system restore settings and shut it off. :ninja:

[biggman15]

I have a 56k modem, 40 gig hard drive, 256k DDR RAM, 1.8 Athlon processor and my OS is Win XP home.

I'd Blame the Modem!!!!! Hehe... :bandit:

You should probbly buy more ram.... Windows XP will use 300 Mbs on it own... with nothing Extra running....

[Shewolf]

Please ignore the modem thing.
I don't have it anymore lol

I know I need more RAM..I also need a bigger hard drive *Sigh*
Tell that to my bank though...

[Shadowraven]

Please ignore the modem thing.
I don't have it anymore lol

I know I need more RAM..I also need a bigger hard drive *Sigh*
Tell that to my bank though...
Bankers never have a sense of humor either... :cheeky:

That's the same situation I'm in right now. I need more RAM but can't afford it yet. Of course if I had more money I'd probably also have cable and NOT dial-up like I do! :ermm:

The next computer I get will hopefully have plenty of hard drive space (as in 3 120GB drives), at least 1GB of RAM, and a much more serious processor! :)

Good luck to you on getting more!

[biggman15]

It took Me a while to Buy An Extra Stick of Ram.... In Fact I sortof Cut out Snacks to Get it... It was well worth it though... Possibly lose weight And only one program capable of Maxing My ram... Although, Now Everything else goes towards Paying My Student loans... So I will Have This computer for a while...

Edit: although With a little work and some Help... You can reduce the load on your ram.... I got My best friend's computer Running Xp home down to around 192Mbs of ram Used.... Didn't need to.... He's got 768Mbs Ram With room for more... But It's running smoothly....

[Shadowraven]

I removed a lot of crap and services I don't need or use in XP, and even now, with all my internet software up, I'm only using about 187-193MB of RAM according to Rainmeter.

[Shewolf]

I just need to check how much I can fit into my PC.
I figure I can get my RAM after festival season. Thanks to a link from Sheepeh :)

[Shewolf]

LOL I just noticed that this thread has messed up a little. MY post is not he starting post.

Is this happeneing randomly on the board or just here? How odd.

[Toe]

Probably just Roj 'accidently' abusing his mod powers again... :P