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Hil R. - Apr 25, 2005 6:35:55 pm PDT #2600 of 10003
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l

SailAweigh, I was getting some stuff like that when there was some spyware on my computer. Have you tried running SpyBot and AdAware to see if they catch anything?


dcp - Apr 25, 2005 6:41:56 pm PDT #2601 of 10003
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

The number in the "CPU" column in the "system idle" row is the percentage you have to spare. Higher is better.

Each line in the display that shows a number in the CPU column is a program that is using CPU cycles.


SailAweigh - Apr 25, 2005 6:42:25 pm PDT #2602 of 10003
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

Haven't run AdAware for a week or more. Might have picked something up. I think I'll try that.


SailAweigh - Apr 25, 2005 6:43:06 pm PDT #2603 of 10003
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

"system idle" row is the percentage you have to spare

Then I should have plenty to spare, but it sure doesn't act like it.

ETA: jimi, I use Windows ME.


dcp - Apr 25, 2005 7:01:57 pm PDT #2604 of 10003
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

Windows' "System Performance" figure is based on more than just CPU use, but I don't know the details.

I can help translate some of the "gobbledy-gook" in Process Explorer if you like, but that's probably best done with IM.


SailAweigh - Apr 25, 2005 7:05:42 pm PDT #2605 of 10003
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

dcp, I think I'm too brain dead to talk coherently about this right now. I ran AdAware, there was only 4 files to get rid of (I'd emptied my internet cache earlier to see if that helped.) One interesting thing, you can pull up a view of the "system information." It says I've got a total of 130,256k (128M) of physical memory (which is right), but that only around 3M is actually available. Now, that just does not sound right. But I can't see any processes running that are taking up massive memory!


dcp - Apr 25, 2005 7:12:03 pm PDT #2606 of 10003
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

One other suggestion then, tomorrow you might run "msconfig" and have a look at what programs are being loaded at start-up.


SailAweigh - Apr 25, 2005 7:14:54 pm PDT #2607 of 10003
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

run "msconfig" and have a look at what programs are being loaded at start-up.

I think that's a lot of the problem. I've got a whole handful of things that load in the right hand corner of the taskbar when I start up the computer. I want to get rid of some of them, but I don't know how.


dcp - Apr 25, 2005 7:23:08 pm PDT #2608 of 10003
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

You get there with
Start-->Run
type in msconfig
click on the "Startup" tab
uncheck the programs you decide you don't want
click OK and re-boot.

Quicken, ZoneAlarm, PGP, McAfee, and FamilyTreeMaker all installed start-up stuff I didn't want, and multiple instances too, which caused resource problems and a few crashes. Took me a while and some tinkering, but I finally got it sorted out.


SailAweigh - Apr 25, 2005 7:31:25 pm PDT #2609 of 10003
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

Holy f**k. There's all kinds of stuff starting up I didn't realize. Crap like "Money Agent". Something to do with Microsoft Money, which I don't even use! I think I can uncheck a bunch of the boxes.

ETA: Huh, some of that stuff is registry stuff. I suspect I should leave those alone. However, there's a bunch of programs I don't need to start up with my computer, like Kodak Easyshare. I got rid of a few things, however, I'll wait til tomorrow to see what effect it has. I'm to bed.