Computer Experts - HELP!!!!

[downside]

Hi Erin

Type them out in Notepad if it is not too much hassle.

Start->Programs->Accessories->Notepad

Save the file when you have finished typing in all those entries.

When it comes to posting it on rootschat:

Select all the lines of text in the document and press Ctrl C (copy)
then click on the rootschat post and press Ctrl V (paste).

That should keep you busy for a while. 

downside

[erin21]

Downside

Is the tif file no use. I can post the other two pages.

Erin

[tomkin]

Hi Erin,
               Post them,
Tomkin

[RJ_Paton]

Does anybody else have any opinion on Michael's suggestions above?
Quote
'Startup Inspector'.

'Safe XP'.

Mary

Startup Inspector is safe to use, it allows you to look at the information without having to actually make any changes

[downside]

Hi MaryA

You have touched on an interesting point.  I recently obtained a Pentium III compter with only 128MB of RAM in it.  When I booted it up I sat there and waited 10 mintes after the desktop appeared before I could actually do anything.  Finally I managed to bring up Task Manager and found that 48 processes were running.

Eventually, I put another hard drive in and reinstalled Windows XP and Task Manager revealed there were less than 12 processes running.  I also doubled the amount of RAM.  I could actually do something after a few seconds of the desktop appearing!

I have added various applications and hardware since then so that I now have about 26-30 processes just after I boot the PC.  Even so, I am able to start doing something within seconds of the desktop appearing.  It illustrates just how much garbage was using up precious amounts of RAM the previous owners had to put up with.  No wonder they threw it out!

This PC happens to be a Packard Bell and unfortunately a lot of people buy them as they are easily avaliable from Dixons/PC World/Curry's and other high street outlets.  Packard Bell tend to overload their PC's with failsafe, user friendly features all of which use up loads of RAM.  How they manage to get away with selling a PC with only 128MB of RAM to run all these RAM hungry features is beyond belief.

As you can see from my example most of those features are totally unnecessary.  The PC's performance actually increases without them.

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[tomkin]

I have got 55 processes detailed on the task manager at the moment
without the slightest problem, but my computer is powerful enough I suppose.
 Of course the only addition to a computer that I would recommend would be an increase in RAM and to check that my hard drive never got more than 75% full.
  If it's to do with the CPU or motherboard I would probably buy a new computer.

     I shall have to dig deeper into the meaning of the memory usage on the task
manager. For example a process which I am guessing deals with the usb connections
climbs continually even if I am not using the computer. At the moment it stands at
10,000kb. I'll check it when I switch off ( if I remember) At the rate of climb by the
time I switch off the figure will be many times what my RAM size is.
      I think that the clue is in the word usage.It probably means that it is the amount of ram it has used over a period and not at any one time.

   Interesting,
Tomkin

   P.S. it's now 13,500kb and still climbing.

[Michael72.]

I'm no expert so I'm a big believer in keeping things simple......this 'Copy/Paste/Notepad' etc., stuff might seem pretty complicated to someone trying to get to grips with PCs....

With 'Screenhunter' the process of selecting all or part of anything you care to put on your Desktop and posting, can be done in about ten seconds........why get lost in the 'Fog' or make your brain hurt...

Not that it proves how easy it is...I've included a 'Screeny' of part of this window....

Michael72.

[tomkin]

I'm no expert so I'm a big believer in keeping things simple......this 'Copy/Paste/Notepad' etc., stuff might seem pretty complicated to someone trying to get to grips with PCs

  Only refreshing Erin21's memory with regard to their computer course.

Tomkin

[downside]

Hi tomkin

Yesterday, I booted-up Windows and opened Task Manager and then clicked on the Performance tab.

I watched the graphs for about 10 minutes.  Most of the time it was flat-lining - especially the Virtual Memory as nothing was actually running appart from Windows.  Occasionally though there would be a 100% spike every 2 minutes when Norton Anitvirus did something or other.

I did a big download of 650mb yesterday and kept Task Manager open.  I noticed the amount of free physical RAM kept dropping from 80mb to about 25mb and then would write 50mb to disk and the amount of free physical RAM would go back up to 80mb again and repeat the process until the end of the download.

I doubt if your process will use up all of your free RAM, it will reach a point where it will dump the contents to disk, i.e. the pagefile.sys.

I think we must get out more. 

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