Low Memory!?! Again!?!?

[Banzai]

I think my computer is out to drive me insane. It just loves to play games with my head. That Christmas we had a ton of memory added into it. Now, it is running low again, or so the PC claims. I have 192.00 Megs installed, but my PC has only 14% Recorces Free

How, some programs wont work right. Internet Explorer's hotbar is gone now, and i dont have a forward button. When I reboot, it comes back, and my recorces jump high again. Does anynow know about how to save memory or how to maxamize how my PC uses it?

Brad

 

[Banzai]

By the way, I just rebooted, and I have 76% free resources.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Which OS do you have, ME?

 

[Tina]

You have a memory leak - or a program you're using does. Here's what's happening: When you access a program, the computer knows how much memory to allocate to that program and does so. When you close that program, it is SUPPOSED to release the memory for other programs to use. The program you are using is not doing this and the computer believes that the memory is still in use.

So for example, let's say AOL is doing this on your computer. You open the program once, memory is allocated. You close the program, the memory is not released. You open it again, more memory is allocated. You close it, the memory is not released. And so on. Eventually, you'll get a "low resources" message. Get the picture? If you don't know which program doing it, just reboot at least once a day.

 

[Banzai]

Dan, I have 98SE. Tina, I have to reboot at least once an hour!

 

[Dan Murphy]

I had these problems with my ME, but absolutely none since I upgraded to XP last year. Only time I usually reboot is if a new software or upgrade requires a reboot. I have gone 2 weeks without, whereas before, I was like you, Brad, several times a day.

 

[HorizonsFan]

It could be a memory leak, but unless you're using some shareware or freeware that you downloaded, memory leaks are pretty rare these days. I did a little searching and here's some things you might want to look at...

Use the System Configuration Utility
(Start/Run/MSCONFIG.EXE) and look on the startup tab. I'll bet there areprograms loading there that you didn't even know about. These programs areconsuming resources too, but more importantly, they're also consuming CPUcycles and main system memory. Get rid of the toys you don't need and you reclaim these resources early on in the game, when it does you the most
good.

The number and type of applications running determine what portion of System Resources are being used. Known Resource "hogs" include:

"Eye/Ear Candy"--Active Desktop View as Web Page, themes which use sound effects, animated mouse cursors and desktop icons, and elaborate screen savers.
Multiple Web browser windows.
All multimedia applications.
System monitoring utilities (including the Windows Resource Meter which on my system drops resources by 5%)
Applications that have the ability to "preview fonts in font list" such as Office 2000, which load all installed fonts into GDI resources when the application is launched (requires 1% of GDI resources per 64 fonts).
If any 16-bit applications (Windows 3.x) are running Windows 9x/ME will treat the System Resources allocated to all of these apps as one block and won't release them until all 16-bit apps have been closed.

When applications are loaded, it is common for them to require additional Windows components to be loaded as well. When the application is closed Windows will retain those components because they are likely to be needed again, so that resources initially allocated when an application is opened will not all be released when it is closed, although most will.

In essence, take a look at what's running in the background coupled with the programs you're using on a regular basis. The combination may be causing your problems.
A format and reinstall couldn't hurt either, but it's kind of a pain.

 

[HorizonsFan]

Dan has the right idea. XP is built on the NT kernel and uses memory in a different way than Windows 9x/ME. ME was a horrible mistake and anyone running it should abandon ship ASAP!
Of course, you could always try Linux. It's free, and I have a computer running Linux Mandrake that's been up for about 4 months now.

 

[shep]

Maybe I should get XP..It seems like I have to reboot every day with ME..

 

[Dan Murphy]

Nice to see you, Dave.

 

[helenabear]

Shep, I'd get rid of ME if I could if I were you

 

[shep]

Originally posted by helenabear
Shep, I'd get rid of ME if I could if I were you

You want me to get rid of you???
Wonder if I can upgrade for free on my Windows Update...there was a XP upgrade that took like 45 minutes....

 

[browneyes]

Ever since I had major computer problems and had to reinstall XP, I get that stupid low memory message every hour or so. I didn't like ME, but XP is another kind of pain in the butt, imo. My brother, my sil, a lady I work with, and a friend of mine are all computer problems since we've installed XP.

 

[HorizonsFan]

Nice to see you too, Dan!

 

[HorizonsFan]

Shep, Microsoft doesn't give ANYTHING away for free. What you saw was an upgrade for users who already have XP installed...

Browneyes, did you do a clean install of XP or did you do an upgrade to your ME system?

 

[shep]

Thanks HF..I just noticed that...Looks like i'm gonna stick with ME..

 

[browneyes]

Clean install. The first time I installed it took 9 1/2 HOURS! ME just wouldn't let go!