Memory Managers.

[toetoe (Peter)]

I remember some time back when using the "DOS" operating system, one would type "memmaker" and it seemed to sort out your memory for you. Do i have to run a Memory Manager program for XP to sort out my memory problems or is there something i could do with out the aid of a program. This laptop has 1gig of memory but realy lags with more than one thing going at a time. If i need software, any help would be welcome to point me in the right direction.

[vindictive666 (John)]

go into task manager and see what is running ?

could also be some spyware ect ect ? run defrag ?

try task manager first though

[g__day (Matthew)]

And in task manager go to the processes tab and then View -> Columns, check a few extra tabs, I use Virtual memory size, CPU usage, CPU Time, Memory usage, Peak page usage, I/O Writes. I/O Write Bytes, I/O Reads, I/O Read Bytes and User name.

Also select view processes from all users down the bottom of the View window, then sort by CPU usage or CPU time.

You need to find what is swallowing memory and CPU time.

[sheeny (Al)]

Originally Posted by vindictive666

could also be some spyware ect ect ?

All good advice, but the spyware is something a lot of people don't know about. Download Adaware and run it if you don't have anything to find and get rid of spyware. I run it whenever my PC or lappy starts going slow or doing funny things... it's usually spyware that's the cause in my experience.

Al.

[IanW]

Originally Posted by toetoe

I remember some time back when using the "DOS" operating system, one would type "memmaker" and it seemed to sort out your memory for you. Do i have to run a Memory Manager program for XP to sort out my memory problems or is there something i could do with out the aid of a program. This laptop has 1gig of memory but realy lags with more than one thing going at a time. If i need software, any help would be welcome to point me in the right direction.

One of my notebooks was running like a dog, taking ages to load applications and to close down and it couldn't run more than a couple of apps etc. The problem turned out to be a hard disk that was failing.

Depending on the application(s), you may need to check their memory management settings (PhotoShop for example allows you to configure how much RAM you wish to allocate to the program).

A few more ideas and tips:

Run Disk Cleanup from the Accessories - System tools menu and delete all temporary files, temporary internet files etc.

Lobotomise MSN Messenger if it's installed and you aren't using it. It's a thread hog and slows down a machine considerably.

[toetoe (Peter)]

Thanks for all the tips, i do run Ad-Aware each time i get on the laptop and there are always a few files to get rid of. The task manager has quite few things running but i am not sure what they are all for, i must add that most of them are using very small amounts of memory but i guess if you add tham all up this may cause a bit of a problem perhaps. Defrag hasn't changed anything. I will keep playing around and see how we go.

[vindictive666 (John)]

i run 2 antispyware one is adaware and the other is spy bot search and destroy this one catches what the other doesnt

http://www.spybot.info/

i run xp pro withh 1gig of ram on a 3400+ amd 2.40ghz

i run boinc, plus so much other stuff u dont wanna know plus i play quake 4 and doom3 at max settings without slowdowns (all other stuff is still running in the background) so i think if youve a got a nasty on your computer somewhere
its not getting too hot is it ? i had that problem when i first got mine not the right fan and heat sink on the cpu ec ect plus the had to add a few extra fans as well i couldnt play one game without the damn thing locking up

http://www.spybot.info/

might be worth checking out ?

[toetoe (Peter)]

When you think about it, there can be so many things that can cause problems like this, it can be frustrating at times having a computer.. I will give spybot a go as well as Ad-Aware, thanks John.