What clogs a computer up...?

Question

I recently went to Norton to view a Tutorial
and even though I had shockwave, and had
nothing particularly running, with 128 megs of
Ram and a Piii on an XPST500, I was told I was
low on memory resources...I was on modem with
a 40kbps connection...

I began thinking about this...I have done
all I can to keep the maximum memory
resources I can. I have a lean startup,
I only run Norton AV, I try to not keep
more than 2 windows open simultaneously,
and like I said, have the above resources.

Yet, sometimes the machine seems clogged.
I daily clean out temporary files, even cookies..
and I don't think anything accumulates, since
I am stern about the maintenance, even
defragging pretty often.

I noticed that it seems clogged when I
am running the programs for its upkeep
in SYSTEM INFORMATION...
Particularly it seems bulky with the DirectX
Diagnostic running.

What could be wrong here?
What could I set on my SYSTEM MONITOR
to watch and gauge what is happenning?
What graphs and what do I need to watch?
When I had NORTON SW installed,
all seemed okay...hardware and memory
wise....I figured uninstalling this choker,
the machine should fly again...I let
MS manage my swap file, btw....What
could it be??? (Oh, only about 13% of my HD
is filled...)

ONE OTHER question?
Please? How do I find if I have
possibly conflicting software before the snafu?
Trying to learn about MP3,
I downloaded PAM, a neat player, looks like,
then realize I have Music Match Jukebox 4.
Is this a problem?
What about having both quicktime and windows
media player (oh, and real player)....
Is this a problem?
I have none of them running at startup.

Thanks for much needed information.

Randall T

RandallT · Answer

Hey shanman, I appreciate it. Resource meter... Okay! randallt

RandallT · Answer

Okay, shanman,
with just one window
open and Norton
antiVirus disabled,
all I can get is a
reading of 73%...

Now I am on a modem
connection, and using
the resource meter
down on the task bar,
right?

I have no other things
running...

Okay? What now?

RandallT

P.S.
Would not starting
my AntiVirus give
me 20 or 25 %?

As a matter of fact, enabling it again, made no
difference??? WHAT IS A GDI???

shanman · Answer

run the resource meter you find in system tools...mine typically showed 80%....i stopped running all the stuff in the taskbar and now i typically show 94%.....all that stuff clogs the machine up little by little....now all i have when i boot up is a clock in the taskbar......hope this helps.

RandallT · Answer

Shanman,
with just the resource meter running,
and with just the Norton AV resident
in the background (enabling or disabling apparent
has no effect since it is not doing anything other
than is ready),

My readings with no modem on, no program
running, other than the above, is 75% Sys
75% User res
and the GDI is 94%

VinTek directed me to a site that
says having Copernic 99 and Winzip
can be affecting my scores...

So absolutely doing nothing, I am using up
32MB of RAM....
WHAT???? Just looking at the booted up screen
with AV and the resource meter running,
I need 32 MB of RAM?

WOW...WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE
EXPLAIN THIS...???
I have windows 98SE, by the way.

Thanks for getting me this far...

RandallT...

thumperdj · Answer

Hi Randallt
Let me try to take a shot at explaining..First there are two different things ..
one is installed RAM it is the amount of memory that you paid for.When you run a program it uses a lot of ram,sometimes more than you have installed.This "extra" memory is called virtual memory and this type is much slower than installed RAM..Lets say you do large graphics mixing,more installed RAM will make the job faster....The second thing is {are] RESOURCES..This is a fixed amount 640K..very small about 1/2 meg..
Everything that is running in the foreground and in the backgroung uses a part of this 640K..when you use the resource meter to view this number it to uses a piece..[it's a hog]...The best thing to do to make the most RESOURCES availlable is to follow Dan B"s advise and post your start-up list...
Note:you can view your resources anytime by right clicking on MY COMPUTER and then the performance tab
Why bother with the meter??
Hope this clears [un-clogs]things up a byte..
Don
r450 p2 128meg's and a very short start-up list

RandallT · Answer

thumperdj,
by now you have seen my incredibly
long list at startup...HAHA....
so I guess you see why I am concerned
now...
I will try to find out how to get those
numbers without running the meter...
Okay, booted up, went to Yahoo with
modem on...
Open to your letter so I have two
links open...
And my performance with 128 megs
of SDRAM is 69% memory free...which
should mean, by simple math, that it
is taking 31% of this XPST500 to do
this...
So, I could not have come here and
even responded, with just 32 megs of
ram, right?
I know, resources versus physical
memory, but I am just trying to put this
in terms I can understand...
Or give you guys enough to work with
that you can explain it to me in terms
I can understand.
Is Copernic 99 being on my machine
doing a significant drain, even though
it is not checked on startup and really
is integrated with the browser?
Does anyone know? Would 2000 be
an improvement, and should I upgrade?

I know this is not the ideal spot to ask
this, so feel free to send this to another
forum, if you know someone who might
know....

Thanks, guys,
and I got up early
to start and end this thread today
if I could...

RandallT

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What clogs a computer up...?

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