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placidarc
Joined: Nov 03, 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Scottsdale Tasmania Australia
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 Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:26 am Post subject: RAM v Virtual Memory |
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| Am running XP Pro SP2. Intel Celeron 2.6. 1G Ram.
Have been experiencing a slow down when loading programs. When clicking "Start" "All Programs" and selecting a program it can take up to 20 seconds which is more than twice as long as before. I have monitored the RAM usage and I have about 35% available. Is this all Ram or part virtual memory. How low does Ram have to go before the PC switches to virtual memory. I have done all the normal adware,spyware and virus checks.
Regards
placidarc
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drwho07
Joined: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 1134
Location: Central FL, USA
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| Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2007 11:08 am Post subject: Re: RAM v Virtual Memory [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Allo Placidarc!
If you're running Windows XP, any version, you should have at least one gig of RAM.
If you've not changed anything, Windows will manage the Pagefile and adjust it as required. (virtual memory)
Windows is designed by its very nature to use virtual memory (a pagefile on the hard drive) for almost every program, to some extent.
So, keeping your hard drive as clean and defragged as possible can only HELP your system to run better.
Another thing you may be experiencing is CPU overload. That happens when programs you've added to your PC install TSR's in your Startup list. Many of those TSR's are shown as icons in your system tray.
Schedulers, reminders and auto-updaters and MSMessenger can take a terrible toll on CPU time and just eat up ram.
Going into MSCONFIG and de-selecting everything that you don't absolutely NEED, can go a long ways toward a better running PC.
Try those things I've mentioned and let us know how you're doing.
Happy New Year
Doc |
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placidarc
Joined: Nov 03, 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Scottsdale Tasmania Australia
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| Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:11 am Post subject: Re: RAM v Virtual Memory [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Hi drwho07
Sorry for the delay in replying but I've been away. Other than those rquired by Windows the only programs I have running on start up are fire wall and real time virus scanning
Regards.
placidarc |
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goretsky
Joined: Dec 07, 2002
Posts: 8733
Location: Southern California
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: Re: RAM v Virtual Memory [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Hello,
Have you tried temporarily disabling or even uninstalling your security software for testing purposes? If so, did that make any difference?
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky |
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placidarc
Joined: Nov 03, 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Scottsdale Tasmania Australia
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:59 am Post subject: Re: RAM v Virtual Memory [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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Hi goretsky.
Have cleared all records, run chkdsk and defrag. Also at your suggestion I uninstalled firewall and realtime virus scanning all to no avail.
Regards.
placidarc |
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greyknight17
Joined: Feb 03, 2003
Posts: 5058
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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| Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:57 am Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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| What kind of antivirus and firewall programs do you have? Do you have more than one of each by any chance? |
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placidarc
Joined: Nov 03, 2006
Posts: 29
Location: Scottsdale Tasmania Australia
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| Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 12:57 am Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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| greyknight17 wrote: |
| What kind of antivirus and firewall programs do you have? Do you have more than one of each by any chance? |
Windows firewall. Avast anti virus. Only 1 of each |
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greyknight17
Joined: Feb 03, 2003
Posts: 5058
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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| Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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| Does this problem also occur if you try using Safe Mode? |
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Baby_Tux
Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Posts: 808
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| Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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I had one computer that kept getting slower & found out that I had a bad HD - the SMART alert was my first conformation (or should I say clue as to what was actually wrong) - you may want to check your EVENT LOGS as well.
EVEREST - gives a pretty good rundown on this. (FREE download)
get it here |
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rovingcowboy
Joined: Jan 26, 2003
Posts: 1217
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| Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:17 am Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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go to majorgeeks.com
find the ncleaner program its free.
use it to your advantage and do it carefully
as it will delete any file you tell it to.
then also look for winXp Sp 3 beta 1 link on majorgeeks.com
its over 330 mb's in size so get on broadband to get it.
but sp 3 will speed up your system somewhat.
set your swap file to a fixed size. i use min1249 and max 1250
just to give a little flexiblity in it.
find a free ram cleaner/ defragmenter on majorgeeks.com
make sure it is one for xp.
the old win 9x ones mess up on xp.
find the free version of xteq and get it or buy the pro version.
best tweaking program for windows there is.
set up timers in the task scheduler to remind you to run maintance programs weekly.
make sure you get that registry cleaned out weekly. nomatter how fast your system is the more mucked up your registry is the slower it will run the computer.
stay on top of maintance and have a more enjoyable time surfing the web.
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Baby_Tux
Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Posts: 808
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| Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:46 pm Post subject: [Login to view extended thread Info.] |
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rovingcowboy brings up a very good point. Files, such as TMP, can eat up speed as well, cleaning them out can make a noticeable difference. Make sure you empty them from the RECYCLE BIN if you dump them there.
I say IF because if you hold down the shift key as you click delete you bypass the bin & do a PERMANENT(?) delete. |
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