256mb is not really enough memory for XP anymore,  512mb minimum, 1gb preferred.

256 is really less memory for XP.. how ever you could try

 

clearing the start up.. prefetch folder .. temporary internet files and cookies and even decrease the wait to kill time to "20" .. this would probably increase the start up and shut down speeds.. ad you could even search for " normal.dot" files and delete them all.

 

regards,

 

Xydon.

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alanrnovice wrote:

i appear to be very short of memory ( between 75-80% ) but am running virtually nothing.could this be why my system is so slow .I seem to be spyware and virus free, and this has been building up for a few weeks now.I have a dimension 4550 with a 256 memory .( forgive me if i have posted this on the wrong board )

 

"Building up for a few weeks now"...  What does that mean.  Memory is cleared each time you reboot. 

 

If your computer is a 4550 and USED to run fine, then it's likely that you have something loading you don't want to have.

Start, Run, Msconfig. Click on Startup Tab. Uncheck everything that this site says you can: www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php. When the computer reboots, check the box that says don't show me this again. If it's X or N, uncheck it.

when i said this has been building up for a few weeks i meant i had noticed the system progressivly getting slower. it finally came to a head when using a right click ihad made a cup of tea before it was actioned. ihave cleared out the start up list and got rid of alot of unwanted programs.i have also downloaded  (as sugested ) maxmem , this has helped some but still leaving things very slow