help in managing Windows' memory

[private_ryan]

it's insane. I have to reboot every 5-6 hours because it
becomes slow and sometimes just 6-7% is left. 

It has 384 Ram (very good ram Rambus) and all I do is surf
(cut and paste) and maybe play a video or music. I do open
sometimes a dozen windows, but, even when I close them the
memory is not available /put back. I know windows is not known
for it, but is there a trick or program that helps?

I'm getting a brand new PC with 1 GB of Ram but that's coming
two weeks from now (the LCD monitor delayed it)...

[lcordero]

1. what extra stuff are you running in memory?

[private_ryan]

3. just a firewall

and the other stuff you need. With them, the system starts at 82% free, so it can't be them.

[NJCher]

2. this might help

Go get Rambooster. I got it at Cnet and it's free. It optimizes every three seconds.

I have 512 RAM and even with Rambooster I have to shut down every now and then because of the intense amount of Web surfing we do and also because of a lot of graphics work.


Cher

[private_ryan]

6. thanks

I will try that. It can't hurt

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. I think you have spyware.

Do you have ad-aware or Spybot? If not, download them (both are free), and run them now. You will be amazed at the crap that is running on your computer.

[private_ryan]

5. nope

no spyware. I run both of them and also defrag every 2-3 days, along with Window Washer.

[creativelcro]

7. My guess too....

You may have a ton of spyware trying to connect to some sites... Ad-aware works really well and it DOES find all sort of crap the first time you run it...

[private_ryan]

12. see previous post

I run that stuff religiously. I think the drive needs to be formated and re-installed (bought in 2001) but I can't do it until I get the new PC. Need to transfer the e-mail, passwords etc...

[LastKnight]

8. where can i get those?

i think ive killed alot of the spyware on my system but i cant be sure, got an address for those?

-LK

[Pale Blue Dot]

9. Ad-aware is the one I prefer.

It's at www.lavasoft.us

I'm sure you can find spybot in about 2 seconds on a google search.

[Abaques]

10. This depends alot on which version of windows you are running...

If you are using winME, win98 or win95, then just deal with it for two weeks.

If you have winXP, then run msconfig and disable all startup items. Run the winXP firewall and stop using 3rd party firewalls. Just buy a router, it will actually work and won't affect your system.

If you have win2k this gets trickier, but you can do the same thing through the registry.


My advice is to really just wait for your new system, from your problem description, it sounds like the real problem you have is some sort of windows corruption. That means re-install, so its probably not worth it if you have a new system on the way.


Oh, and stay the hell away from "ram doubler" style software. It really does not do much other then slow your system down.

[private_ryan]

11. I have disabled so many of those startup thing

and I have ME...I'm getting XP. I agree, I used to re-install everything every 6 months to speed it up but I want to wait and transfer the important files over ther first.

[ariellyn]

13. make sure you go to the microsoft site and download all updates

i have windows ME i had the same problem and it has stopped. you might alse try reloading java virtual machine. those are the two things i've done recently and noe my computer never freezes up.