New XP user questions.

Question

I had Windows 98 for 6 years and just recently upgraded to XP when I bought my new Dell Inspiron 5100.

When windows 98 would get slow or stangnant while i was connected to the internet i knew I could always hit CONTROL+ALT+DELETE and close any Applications/Processes that i did not want running...With XP that seems to be extremely difficult since I do not understand what most of the PROCESS descriptions mean. At any given time I usually see 40+ processes listed in the Task Manager under the PROCESSES tab.

What processes can be shut down and which ones cant/shouldnt?

Also...When i run MSCONFIG...it also seems quite different than Win 98. Can anyone give me a general guideline?

Thanks all...

Denny Denham · Answer

DiamondGenius,

The use of msconfig to reduce the number of programs starting with Windows is far less important in XP since the operating system makes all installed RAM available to applications rather than limiting you to 64K of resources as Windows 98 did. The programs which were not necessary under 98 are still not necessary however and can be unchecked on the Startup tab.

You can get an idea of what many of the processes in XP do at this site. Bear in mind that the site provides only suggestions and as a rule it is safer to allow XP to manage the processes that run rather than modify its performance.

msgale · Answer

Let me amem to that. 32 Bit O/Ss are not the same as 16 bit O/Ss.  The rules have changed dramatically.  Typical a Windows XP PC has four or mor times memory.  My laptop (Windows XP Pro) runs with a minimum of 32 process listed in the task manager.  My desktop (Windows XP Pro) runs with a minimum of 41 processes

DiamondGenius · Answer

So there should really be no reason that I should stop certain startup items then?   I have 384MB memory.

mattcowger · Answer

No reason to stop them unless they are causing a problem.

Windows General

New XP user questions.

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