Re: Slow Computer Response:

On Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:56:26 -0500, "Daave"
<dcwashNOSPAM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Robert wrote:
Would you suggest I remove the following? Avast, Kapersky free trial
versions, Everest, Hijackthis, HD-Tune, Java(6 update 3),
PRO200WL,Shockwave, Spywareblaster v 3.5.1, Hive Cleanup, Quicktime?

I fully realize the issue lies with only 256MB of RAM but I'm just
trying to lean out my computer of programs I don't really need.

Robert, the key is not uninstalling as many programs as possible, but
rather to uninstall programs that are running in the background that you
have absolutely no use for (or at least to configure them not to run
automatically at startup if there is a use for them... remember you can
always manually start any program *when you wish*).



Very well said.



If a program you
once installed isn't running, then it won't be requiring any memory.


I wanted to add a comment here, though. Strange as it sounds, even a
program that is *is* running may not require any (real) memory. That's
because Windows very quickly pages out any memory used by a running
program if that program isn't actively doing anything. So it will be
using virtual memory, but no real memory.

The penalty you pay for using virtual memory in the page file is when
that memory has to constantly be shuttled in and out of real memory
because there isn't enough real memory to accommodate all the programs
that need it at the same time. But some running programs sit in the
background, not doing anything until you use them, and therefore use
no real memory at all (until you use them).

A good example of that last kind of program is one that I keep running
here all the time: Allchars. AllChars lets me (in all applications)
type many common special characters (many of these are used in other
languages) by pressing the ctrl key followed by a two character
mnemonic combination. I need to do this seldom, but it's very handy to
have running for when I need it. But because I use it seldom, the
memory it uses is almost always paged out, and having it running in
the background has no effect on my performance. That's an example of
why I so often say "Despite what many people tell you, you should be
concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but *which*.
Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no effect
on performance."

That's also an example of why having programs starting automatically
can slow down your boot time (because they take time to load) without
affecting overall performance.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
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