I'm intregued by your sig Matty.

I have same processor (only mines 3.2) and version of XP as you, and I have a gig of RAM, and yet after running for, and I quote, 7 hours, 48 mins, hardly running any apps or services, its used 514mb of RAM, and yet yours has been on 6 days 7 hours and its only used 251mb!

How do you cope with such little memory? lol

Ive totally mashed this version of windows, played about with everything to try and keep memory leakage low.

I am surprised its still running so sweet tbh though as I have had CS3 running quite a few times in the last few days and that usually inspires memory to leak lol.

Ive only got about 7 tabs in IE7 open, Outlook Express, MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger, Winamp 2.91 and a few folders open atm, but the memory is kinda weird today, sometimes its as low as 199MB other times its as high as 280MB when using these core apps.

Its the main reason I wont upgrade to Vista - NT5 and previous can be tweaked to fook to use hardly any RAM (i think mine uses ~57MB at startup), id rather the memory went to apps then the OS (Vista will eat almost a gig before you even loaded IE7 sometimes).

I have a P3 850Mhz/512MB and I suppose I learnt a lot of tweaking on that, it is running sweet as well, the longest I have had that machine on with XP was around 14 days, but with 2000 I once had it on for 26 days a few years back lol. The XP OS on that system has been installed for over 5 years and still got no problems, runs like a dream.

One thing is though, I dont think this sig thing reports swap memory usage, so it could actually be higher then what its reporting, but of course not in system RAM.

I used to have 1GB, but 512MB died on me, and it was stuff I had added so Acer wouldnt cover it on the insurance. Ive never got more cos it keeps going up in price and cant justify the cost atm as I very rarely need more then 450MB.

The funny thing is this system is a laptop, so its just proving people wrong who say you cant leave a laptop on for too long or it overheats, i mean CPU's dont come much hotter then the Northwood P4 at 3.0Ghz/800Mhz lol.

Of course theres only so much one can do to keep the system running sweet, and in light of the new sig I will see how long I can keep it running for lol. Its not running slow in the slightest yet (CS3 still loads up in seconds and IE is having no probs browsing), so I will say it has at least another few days left in it yet.

BTW, theres no Antivirus or software firewall running on the bitch (well there is Windows Firewall), that may be helping??

probably, I use AVG (which has quite a few services and processes) and Zonealarm.

Bloody amazin spec for a lappy that - just shows you!

are you running XP visual effects for performance and not appearence?

Is your memory usage set to programs or system cache?

Aye Zonealarm can sometimes be a bit too heavy on memory and CPU, thats why I dont run it (or any firewall software except windows firewall).

AVG is usually quite sweet but can be a bit mem intensive on occasion.

Visual Effects is set to custom ("show shadows under menus", "show window contents while dragging", "smooth edges of screen fonts", and the bottom 3 are the only options turned on).

Using the stadard XP theme, sometimes people drop themes altogether to save RAM, i used to but it dont actually make too much difference tbh.

Both CPU scheduling and Memory Usage is set to programs and the system has 768MB of swap assigned to it.

The CPU has HT turned on, which is good when running newer apps like IE7, CS3 etc, but if ya running older apps its not so good.

Aye the laptop was top end at the time i bought it (mid-2004), has the P4 of course, 512MB, 60GB (now upgraded to a 120GB though) DVDR/RW+/-/DL and a 128MB ATi Mobility Radeon 9700 (which takes the strain off the CPU and memory that many laptops suffer from cos of their integrated crap lol).

It was only about £800 when I bought it (a bargain at the time), I wanted a desktop replacement (basically all the power of a desktop but in a laptop - mainly to stop me from spending stupid amounts of money [~£300 a month] constantly upgrading my old desktop) it was a choice between the P4 or an AMD Athlon 64 at the time so I went for the P4 as its best for encoding audio/video, has HT which i knew would become better and better as apps began making use of it and also because I like the raw power of the P4. Also, the Athlon had a WXGA screen, and I wanted an XGA+ lol.

Its nothing special nowadays of course, its 3 years old, but it does me fine, its probably faster then what I need to be honest, so long as it runs all me business apps and the likes of CS3 fine im not bothered hehe.

Ive grown out of my overclocking and gaming days, the gaming days were already numbered before I bought the laptop (thanks to the Radeon the laptops no slouch at gaming, but I just have no interest in it anymore), the overclocking days got killed off by it lmao!

Oh I also have the likes of disk indexing and system restore turned off - they are nigh on useless imho, but waste resources as they constantly monitor changes on your system.

I only have the bare essential services turned on to run the net basically, and themes, I think Windows Installer is turned on atm cos I needed it to install Safari, but other then that everything is disabled.

Think I might have to do that with mine. Is it in the BIOS? An is it off by default?

It depends who the manufacturer is. The easiest way to find out is to open up task manager and check is the CPU usage monitor displays one or two CPU's.

1x CPU = HT is off
2x CPU = HT is on

well, me thinks i turned it off cas it used to, but now I only have one?? lol

Ye can enable it in the BIOS fella.

10 days now and still running sweet. Was a bit worried the other day, seemed to have a few minutes where it slowed down, thought it was in need of a reboot, but it went back to running fine again not longer after.

Still loading up CS3 quite fast and having no problems multitasking (also should add that I have been running Ubuntu Linux in Virtual PC 2007 on it as well yesterday and the day before), so I rekon theres plenty of life in it yet!

Im aiming for 21 days atm, looking good for it so far

Well nearly 11 days, but its having problems atm, it is stalling randomly for a split second every now and again.

Im not sure why at this point, but I did bend the wifi card this morning by accident, and I am not sure if it is related to that.

So im gonna try my spare wifi card when i cba installing it lol.

well, it seems the problems were down to the bent wifi card, put me spare one in a few hours back and its been rock solid since.

Er..yeah, sure its simpler to have 2 gig of ram, but thats only if your existing hardware supports it.

For those of us who don't have that much money to buy a top of the range comp every 12 months or so, we have to try and use what we've got and adjust software to help.

Also, laptops are difficult to expand (hardware wise) due to physical space and compatability issues with standard desktop hardware.

It is simple to have 2GB memory, your right. However, this doesnt help your system in the long run - unless you keep a control of what memory is being used where, and you keep the usage by Windows down, you will find even 4GB will become bogged down in hours.

Windows "leaks" memory, this something that has always happened due to the openess of the windows code, and something that will probably always happen in the future.

The real problem starts when it starts leaking to the swap (thats actually a Linux term, so as know in windows systems, the virtual memory). Its okay and quite acceptable for Windows to use a considerable amount of swap, due to the way it handles the commit charge (in Linux its different, if its using swap, there something running that shouldnt be). But once it starts leaking on the swap, you will find the system will become slower and slower due to the fact the hard drive IO is then crippled.

Now some people say, when you have 4GB of RAM, turn off the swap, but when you do this, it can have counter effects, not only can it cause system instability, but Windows likes to have adecent swap in the background just for its own comfort, some things are best left running in swap.

Tbh, if we were all running SCSI (especially on the Ultra360 interface), it wouldnt be so much of a problem, but the limitations of IDE can cripple windows over time (ie. SCSI can read and write at the same time, IDE cant, SCSI has a much wider bandwidth and more responsive IO).

These are some of the reasons Joe is surprised I have had this laptop running for nearly 12 days, because on 99.9% of Windows systems, they start running slow after a couple days, sometimes even a few hours, and need a reboot.

My laptop can take upto 4GB (i had 1GB until a memory module died), but as you can see from my strictly controlled memory usage in my sig, it isnt required, the highest I ever use really is around the 450MB level, its usually around the 250MB level.

So having an overhead of 1.7GB wouldnt help things or make things run smoother/faster.

I'll be definately be making sure that my computers clear of unwanted items. Its got quite alot of things on it but its what's useful to me now and again. I've have mine running for about 32 hours before and its been alrite with the odd moments of signs showing slowness when i load more then one progam then usual but then it comes back to being normal again so it seems like its all going well.

Should of seen my old pc with the specs of:

Windows 98 (Upgraded to Xp but then downgraded to Windows ME now)
Pentium 3, 600MHz clock speed
191mb of RAM loool
Standard graphics card
20Gb of Harddrive.

You just cudnt load more then 2 applications on that.

Believe it or not that pc spec costs £900+ back in 8-9 years ago and its priceless in this day and age! So the things we pay now we may think its gd but another 8-9 years the specs prob are priceless.



How would you deal with this kind of problem then if the system starts to become slower and slower?
Just asking as it might help some people who are experiencing this effect on their computer.

Reboot

Easiest way and quickest.

I don't arse around with the services, and i can keep my
main pc on for a month or more with out a reboot.

Its Microsoft and its updates in the night that
re-boot my machine.

problem for me is, with this dodgy version of xp, after around 20 hours, nothing will load or close, not even task manager.

just get memory errors.

and then when it restarts, i get the good old BSOD, into safe mode, wait for HDD activity (must load somethin...but I have no idea what!) then restart and boot up normally.

Has vista improved on memory leakage compared to xp?

There are some people that may not have the knowledge of pc's but then futher into a couple of years into use of the pc, even starting up the pc, it loads up very slow so what can be done to deal with it.

I've been using some pc's which have been said to be running gd and smooth the day they were purchased but couple years into using it, it starts up slow and applications load up slow. so even with a reboot this cannot solve the problem. As the above question what can be done?

its normally due too too many services and applications running at startup.

It is explained how to stop these from starting up in previous posts (msconfig - for xp)

Another good tool is Windows Startup Inspector.

None of the items in MSConfig and Windows Startup Inspector need to be there (therefore, they can all be unchecked and won't cause problems).
They are additional to the critial system processes which start up automatically.

system de frag
reduce items sitting in your start up menu.

Trust me i'm keeping it simple

I've already mentioned this and as matty has already mentioned too, it doesn't really improve start up time or performance, and I'd have to agree with him.

Hence the best way, it to minimise the amount of applications running at startup (which may be secretly running from something called the registry)

Windows Startup Inspector or MSConfig finds these applications and allows you to prevent them from starting up.

As I've already said, a lot of lame viruses and trojans use these methods to continue being opened on your computer everytime you restart.

Trust me it does on a machine that's never ran a defrag.
Over time your start up programs can get out of hand,
even redundant programs still sitting in there.

I would check those pomp before going in to the msconfig
and switching off items you dont know what and why there are there.
At least if you remove them from your start up programs list
in your menu your playing it safe

Extra Fonts installed cause a machine to slow at start up.
Low disc space, Anti virus programs, spybots etc
A million reasons why.

It doesnt on an NT OS, especially if you are running on NTFS.

If you really think it does, then its a placebo im afraid. I defragged my HP earlier this year, hadnt been defragged in about 4 or 5 years, and it made such little difference it is not worth the time it takes to defrag.

Windows NT was designed not to need defragging, as it's background is WFW and that showed Microsoft that things like fragmentation needed work doing because of its close relation to 3.1 and MS-DOS, which is what the 9x background was built upon.

Windows NT Web Servers never get defragged, and they do a hell of a lot I/O work then a user PC, and are running 24/7, sometimes without reboots for months.

They also get a right hammering from constantly changing files etc...

If a web server doesnt need defragging, or has very little gain from doing so, a user computer will never need it.

I disagree totally.
I have seen massive improvements to machines. (yes the first can take a while)
I don't make this shit up its from personal experience.
If its no use then why does windows have defrag then?
By the way were talking desktops to help pomp, not web servers.

Defrag can help your machine start up quicker and if your lucky
perform a little better too.

I usually notice small improvements in my servers in work.

tend to notice some improvements on my home computer when playing games.

i tend to do defrags 2 times a month on my home computer and 2 times a week on my servers.

Nice i will have to stick on the gd old defrag, its free and got nothing to lose lol.



Not just for me but for anyone else who has the problem also, nice tips to keep my system running smooth everyday then

OK pomps happy with the Simple version

Matty you can now go technical

What services do you switch off ?
And Why

Why do motherboards still have memory hole at 16MB? Why does Windows XP still have Media Player 5.1?

Its because they dont instantly drop something, it can take them years, decades even to remove software. A lot of the legacy features found in software are due to lazy coders. Its not just Windows, the brand new cPanel 11 has "Addon Scripts (Depreciated)", it was replaced a few months back by something called cPaddons, yet the old service is still in there, even though you cant use it anymore.

And sure, defrag does make a very slight difference. But as proven by my HP, the difference is so negligable its really not worth it.

Im talking about web servers, because you need to remember they have a much higher I/O load then any home machine, if a server that is 10x more likely to suffer fragmentation of files doesnt get defragmented and doesnt slow down, why should a home user be doing the same thing for no gain??

Defrag "can" make your system very slightly faster, but its not worth the time it takes. And Windows Help files are merely there to explain what defrag is intended for, and they themselves are legacy and many of the articles are years out of date.

I dont make this shit up either, its from personal experience, as a Windows NT technician a few years back, a personal user of Windows NT for almost 10 years, a user of 3.1 and 9x previous to that and as someone who is involved in the server industry.

If you are so certain it makes the world of difference, why isnt my laptop running bog slow, the amount of file changes this bitch has had in the last few months is silly, and why wasnt my HP before I defragged it (the OS was 5 years old install in March) and why was the difference in speed negligable??

Ye get more speed and performance by going into MSCONFIG and ensuring there are no rogue services starting up with Windows that you dont want.

Note to myself : Never ever say Go Technical to matty lol

such little memory?
What services do you switch off ?
And Why

This topic makes no sense unless you can advise
members what services can be turned off?

I cant advise users as to what service they can turn off as they can damage their systems if they turn something off that they need, that they use.

It depends on their setup and what thier using the pc for and what services are used by the programs on their PC.

In the past whilst playing about and finding out what does what, I have turned services off on my HP that have kackered me internet connection, I have also turned the wrong service off before today and had to fix Windows via the command line to get it to load up again.

There is always a way to say, just turn off things like terminal, because 99% of people never use it, but some programs still make use of silly outdated things like this lol. If I were to write out a list and give instructions on how to do it etc, and then it messed up someones PC in whatever way, it comes back on me then, and its not something I will risk.

i was posting for the pomp factor.
Start>>All Programs>>Startup

And i'm also surprised that its taken how ever many posts
above to actually mention that its not the safest route
and can cause all kinds of problems to your system.

I personally think that should have been made aware of
as soon as "Turning Off Services" was mentioned.
But thats just me.

Well the thread isnt to teach users how to turn off services, it is about how I cope with such little memory lol.

I dont like to advise people to turn services off unless they know what they are doing and understand what they are turning off. You will be amazed at how many people have seen me do it in the past, tried it and then phoned me up cos summit isnt working on their machine.

There is a bit more detail in Waddi's thread of how to keep your system running smooth, turning off certain things etc. But this thread was originally about my stupid memory usage hehe.

In MSCONFIG, if you click the startup tab, thats where you can disable programs from starting up, which is the way most additonal software are started up (as opposed to services).

within the startup tab, you can disable as many or as little of these in the list that you want, but it will not cause problems.

The more you turn off, the better as there is less to load at startup, and therefore, less running from then on and less memory usage

Joe come on...
By turning of my
antivirus
Firewall

And all kinds of Mini Managers looking after graphics
wifi and blue tooth printer spooler and loads of
other stuff wrapped up in my laptop manufactures stuff.

You cant honestly say by turning off as many of those as
you want is safe?

Its not.
And will cause problems.

To offer this kind of advice there has to be warning too
of potential problems and risks.

Someone reading this could follow your advice and never
see the sun again lol.

I bet your start up lists isnt fully turned off Joe?

Mine is, including MS Text Services

Yours would be

Lol

Actually Mark, you're right, mine isn't, but thats because I have the following still ticked (this is just in the STARTUP tab only)

MSN
Zone Alarm
AVG

and thats it

because thats all I need

and I think you'll find..it is safe as the items in the list are only optional, additional programs ontop of your services (which are shown in the....you guessed it - SERVICES tab)

As I've said, you'll find a lot of viruses, trojans and spyware can be disabled by unticking them from the STARTUP list

I do agree with mark, i think desktop/tower pc's will be best for msconfig but
laptops on the other hand will have the manufacturer's applications
also running such as wireless etc so you'll need to know what your disabling.

Yeah, you do need to know what you're disabling, but its clearly there stating what it is and where the file is located...

so if you use your bluetooth for example....

you just dont untick the one that says "Bluetooth"

simple.....surely pomp??

Most manufacturers software isnt needed to start up, its only for quick access to changing things like display settings e.t.c which 99% of the the time can be accessed from the control panel anyway.

Well look at it this way Joe:

The average person wouldnt know what the likes of these are for:

- hpztsb11
- hphmon06
- Ltmoh
- SynTPEnh
- Ati2mdxx
- jusched
- atiptaxx

But these are all examples of common services that people have running on their computers and none are actually needed, but their not very clear as to what they actually do or are for unless ye have quite a good knowledge of computers.

Also, some people might find the likes of the ATi quick panel handy. Me and you probably wouldnt as we know how to navigate Windows perfectly to get to the things we want to, but we have to remember that to the average user, control panel is something they very really step into.

Thats why I suggest using Windows Startup Inspector - It tells you what the programs actually are and do so you can decide if you want to enable or disable them.

Basically, if you're using MSCONFIG in the first place, you must have some idea of what you're doing lol

and I think you mean "rarely"

Unless of course the person has seen a thread like this and decided to have a go lol.

Well... 14 days uptime now, or for the benefit of any pomps reading this post, thats 2 weeks or a year minus 50 weeks.

Lol

Well... am into 15 days now! But there was an issue that nearly forced me into rebooting.

The only bug I have found in CS3 came back to haunt me. The easy way to fix it is to uninstall, reboot and re-install, and I needed to use it lol.

But instead of doing this I used my nod and just installed CS2!

Works perfect and keeps me uptime

Well, into the 4th week now and still going strong on me lack of memory lmao!

Hmmm theres some weird shit goin on now haha, me forum signature software seems to have jumped 7 hours ahead of itself, according to AIDA32 its still on 24 days, 22 hours at the time of posting this, but the forum sig is saying 25 days 5 hours.

AIDA is correct though, but the sig was fine yesterday, so I assume it has a bug because after a restart it hasnt fixed it.

Also, the uptime has a "-" before it now for some bizarre reason. I guess the program wasnt expecting such long uptimes on Windows lol!

The laptop itself is still running like a dream though!!

Damn I had to reboot the stupid fookin Championship Manager crashed

Windows was okay, but unable to get off the championship manager screen dump

I only went on to get some info too!

fookin unistalled the useless piece of crap now!!!

guuuuuuuuuuuuuuted!

Almost beat your 26 day record aswell!

Hehe I might as well have another try, see if it slows down any sooner this time??

Ill run some updates and get CS3 working first though.

Ill turn the sig thing back on after 7 days uptime.