freeware memory manager?

[geronimotwo]

any recomendations? my computer is running really slow. i have 512 mb of pc2700 ddr sdram (?) on my hp pavilion a1006n, and will get an out of memory message when trying to open an 856k photo file. i see a bunch of freeware out there, is one better than another?  also, i have over 70gb free on a 100gb hd, but i was going to run a defrag anyway.

is there anything else that could be needing attention?

[mtnbkr]

You don't need a memory manager.  They haven't been useful since the Win95 came out.  You have other problems.  Maybe a virus, maybe bad memory, maybe a system in need of rebuilding, etc.

Chris

[AJ Dual]

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

And/or using msconfig to review all your startup services that are running (and which are unwanted) would be where I'd start.

[go_bang]

This isn't a hard drive issue, this is an issue where you have too much stuff running in the system memory.  AJ's suggestion is good, but it's only a start.  Look over all the software you have installed and also have a look at the notification tray (the group of icons down by the clock in the lower right corner of the screen).

Also, you don't mention what operating system you are running.  Are you running XP or Vista?  Ever since service pack 2 512MB has been marginal for running XP and it's not enough to run Vista.  Especially if you're using a video adapter that is built into the system board.  Integrated video adapters use a shared memory system for their video RAM, which means they steal it from the system RAM.  If this is the case then out of the 512MB you have you're loosing 32-128MB to the video system.  That isn't helping your situation.

After you have cleaned up your system, I would recommend increasing the system memory.  If you plan on running XP until you replace the PC then I would increase it to at least 1GB.  If you ever plan on upgrading to Vista then go for 4GB if your system will take it, but depending on how old this PC is that might not be cost effective.

[geronimotwo]

btw, i'm running windows xp

You don't need a memory manager.  They haven't been useful since the Win95 came out.  You have other problems.  Maybe a virus, maybe bad memory, maybe a system in need of rebuilding, etc.

Chris

no mem manager?  

also, i did clean all the dust out a couple of weeks ago to try to alleviate any heat problems. it was nasty dusty, but still didn't seem to help.

[mtnbkr]

btw, i'm running windows xp

no mem manager? 

also, i did clean all the dust out a couple of weeks ago to try to alleviate any heat problems. it was nasty dusty, but still didn't seem to help.

The reason people used memory managers in the Dos/Win3.1 days was because DOS didn't handle memory over 640k well.  There's no need for that now.  Your problem is not enough memory for XP (it'll run nicely on a gig) and probably too much junk running in the background (what AJ and go_bang are talking about).  I've run XP on 500megs, it would not have the problems you're describing. 

Chris

[go_bang]

XP used to run well on 512MB of RAM when it came out, but in the years since service packs and application feature creep has pushed the amount of RAM needed to run it well to 1GB.

[mtnbkr]

The computer I'm typing this on had 512mb of Ram as recently as a couple months ago and ran just fine (got a little pokey if I had a bunch of stuff open at once). My company is fanatical about keeping machines up to date as well as running all sorts of stuff in the background (antispyware, antivirus, encryption, etc).  I didn't get a full gig of RAM until I had to start using some software that needed a full gig.

Anyway, the point is, if he's running XP on 512mb and running out of memory, he likely has other issues.

Chris

[Ron]

Running "Registry Mechanic" has virtually eliminated all my problems with speed.

Since I installed "Windows Defender" I use it to control what loads up when I start my computer. While being a realtime spyware program it has a nice interface for determining what all the programs are in my start up menu.

[geronimotwo]

thanks for these tips. it's funny how with all the "improvements" to the os systems, it seems i can do less and less. i used to delete and add lines to my startup in dos, and now i don't even know how to get to dos to do this.

my sys tray has half dozen things running besides my avg and print manager. i don't want to delete spybot, but i don't need it running allthe time with the new avg which has a spyware feature.

well i need to get some work done today, i'll try running some of these suggestion this evening.

thanks g2

[mtnbkr]

thanks for these tips. it's funny how with all the "improvements" to the os systems, it seems i can do less and less. i used to delete and add lines to my startup in dos, and now i don't even know how to get to dos to do this.

my sys tray has half dozen things running besides my avg and print manager. i don't want to delete spybot, but i don't need it running allthe time with the new avg which has a spyware feature.

well i need to get some work done today, i'll try running some of these suggestion this evening.

thanks g2

There is no DOS.  You remove things from startup in the registry. 

One location in the Registry is: My Computer\HKEY_Local_Computer\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\run

Anything in that "run" directory will be started when the computer starts.  Remove spybot from there and it won't run until you manually start it.  Conversely, you can add applications there to always start when you boot the computer...

Chris

[AJ Dual]

MSCONFIG's various tabs will give him some semblance of the DOS/Win 3.1 configuration experience he's looking for. Although there won't be much in WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, or BOOT.INI that will gain him any RAM back. It's all in the Services and Startup tabs...

One good hint when using MSCONFIG is to look at the Services tab, and check the little box at the bottom for "Hide all Microsoft Services". That will give you a list of all the third-party startup items, TSR's, drivers etc. you may not want loading.

[mtnbkr]

I keep forgetting about MSCONFIG.  Use that, it's easier.

I do very little, if any, Windows administration these days and it shows.

Chris

[geronimotwo]

MSCONFIG's various tabs will give him some semblance of the DOS/Win 3.1 configuration experience he's looking for. Although there won't be much in WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, or BOOT.INI that will gain him any RAM back. It's all in the Services and Startup tabs...

One good hint when using MSCONFIG is to look at the Services tab, and check the little box at the bottom for "Hide all Microsoft Services". That will give you a list of all the third-party startup items, TSR's, drivers etc. you may not want loading.

using msconfig (thanks aj), i went in and deleted about half the startup menu. found a neat site to check the programs i was unsure of:  http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php.  found a virus in the startups under "msmsgs" that has been removed. funny how avg didn't spot it.

thanks for the help, seems to be running better.

[lee n. field]

They haven't been useful since the Win95 came out.

Since DOS.  QEMM+Desqview -- magical.  Full preemptive multitasking in a DOS environment.  Ahh, well.

I've never heard of anyone running any kind of "memory manager" for the NT descended Windows versions.  I would view any such thing with a jaundiced eye, and likely more trouble than it's worth.

Prune your autostarting stuff, check your swap file size.

[Phyphor]

any recomendations? my computer is running really slow. i have 512 mb of pc2700 ddr sdram (?) on my hp pavilion a1006n, and will get an out of memory message when trying to open an 856k photo file. i see a bunch of freeware out there, is one better than another?  also, i have over 70gb free on a 100gb hd, but i was going to run a defrag anyway.

is there anything else that could be needing attention?

You said "memory manager" and I had sudden horrible flashbacks to the EMM386/386Max/QEM386 days...

How's your swap file settings?

[Phyphor]

The reason people used memory managers in the Dos/Win3.1 days was because DOS didn't handle memory over 640k well.  There's no need for that now.  Your problem is not enough memory for XP (it'll run nicely on a gig) and probably too much junk running in the background (what AJ and go_bang are talking about).  I've run XP on 500megs, it would not have the problems you're describing. 

Chris

Hell, I've had machines run fine on 256MB, once the bloat was trimmed out (excess services and such,)

Also, try to avoid bloatware like Symantec's offerings, they tend to eat system resources like candy.

[Phyphor]

thanks for these tips. it's funny how with all the "improvements" to the os systems, it seems i can do less and less. i used to delete and add lines to my startup in dos, and now i don't even know how to get to dos to do this.

You can't.  DOS was a 16-bit operating system and as of Windows 2000/XP/Vista, all 16-bit code has been trimmed from the core.  16-bit apps are supported in 2000/XP by use of a virtual machine, but the same can't be said for Vista.

That said, for XP you CAN configure your environment in a similar way to config.sys, you'll have to right click My Computer and hit properties -> Environment.

This only affects the VM, however.

my sys tray has half dozen things running besides my avg and print manager. i don't want to delete spybot, but i don't need it running allthe time with the new avg which has a spyware feature.

well i need to get some work done today, i'll try running some of these suggestion this evening.

thanks g2

[Phyphor]

Since DOS.  QEMM+Desqview -- magical.  Full preemptive multitasking in a DOS environment.  Ahh, well.

I've never heard of anyone running any kind of "memory manager" for the NT descended Windows versions.  I would view any such thing with a jaundiced eye, and likely more trouble than it's worth.

Prune your autostarting stuff, check your swap file size.

The only way such ancient memory managers would even have a prayer of working is if you created a VM under VMWare or Virtual PC, and installed DOS and it on the VM.

Of course, this would be little more than pointless nostalgia, given that DOSBox runs old DOS programs just fine without any screwing around with memory configurations.... (with one caveat!  I couldn't get Warlords 2 Deluxe to run on Dosbox if I had it emulate more than 8MB of Expanded memory, but it's not like most DOS games used much EM anyway....)

[Waitone]

MSconfig is a PITA to work with.

I found this freebee to be perfectly adequate.  When installed it resides in Control Panel.
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

[AZRedhawk44]

Check the size of your swap/paging file and increase it accordingly.

Right click on my computer, go to properties.  Select the advanced tab.  Hit the settings button for performance.  Click the advanced tab.  Click on the change button for virtual memory.

Chances are you have a system managed size for your paging file.

Change it so that it is larger than being reported in the white box above... a good number to start with is 2x the amount of RAM you have for the minimum size, with 4x your RAM for the max size.

If you're running 32 bit Windows XP though, it may cap the size below that.  Been awhile since I've played with it on 32 bit since I have been running 64 bit for the last 2-3 years.

It'll take a reboot to come into effect.  It certainly isn't as fast as actually adding RAM, but it's free and works right now rather than waiting for a hardware oriented solution.

[geronimotwo]

Check the size of your swap/paging file and increase it accordingly.

Right click on my computer, go to properties.  Select the advanced tab.  Hit the settings button for performance.  Click the advanced tab.  Click on the change button for virtual memory.

Chances are you have a system managed size for your paging file.

Change it so that it is larger than being reported in the white box above... a good number to start with is 2x the amount of RAM you have for the minimum size, with 4x your RAM for the max size.

If you're running 32 bit Windows XP though, it may cap the size below that.  Been awhile since I've played with it on 32 bit since I have been running 64 bit for the last 2-3 years.

It'll take a reboot to come into effect.  It certainly isn't as fast as actually adding RAM, but it's free and works right now rather than waiting for a hardware oriented solution.

thanks az, this sounded like a good thing to do. changed from 756-1512mb to 1512-4095mb (that was the max allowed by the os)

i'll wait and see how my 10:00am avg scan runs. lately it has been taking almost 3 hrs to run a complete scan on medium speed......

edited to add:

THANKS AZ! after rebootting with this change my web speed tripled. from 20 sec to download my local weather, to only 6 sec......

[go_bang]

thanks az, this sounded like a good thing to do. changed from 756-1512mb to 1512-4095mb (that was the max allowed by the os)

i'll wait and see how my 10:00am avg scan runs. lately it has been taking almost 3 hrs to run a complete scan on medium speed......

edited to add:

THANKS AZ! after rebootting with this change my web speed tripled. from 20 sec to download my local weather, to only 6 sec......

One other tip is to set the swap file size to a static number instead of a range.  This reduces the pace at which your hard drive becomes fragmented.  Running a defrag routine against the hard drive will help things run better as well.

[AZRedhawk44]

thanks az, this sounded like a good thing to do. changed from 756-1512mb to 1512-4095mb (that was the max allowed by the os)

i'll wait and see how my 10:00am avg scan runs. lately it has been taking almost 3 hrs to run a complete scan on medium speed......

edited to add:

THANKS AZ! after rebootting with this change my web speed tripled. from 20 sec to download my local weather, to only 6 sec......

Part of why it may have tripled has to do with go_bang's post... the swap file will expand and contract in a very annoying manner and will fragment over time.  Any time you change the virtual memory settings, the computer wants to reboot and delete the swap file, then re-create a new clean one.  This will defragment it as long as it can find a large enough section of disk to put it on.

Defragging and re-doing the swap file both at the same time can help in some situations.