Unwanted programs running?

George Wixon · Post by **George Wixon** » 16 Feb 2002 8:20 am

Currently I have about 20 different programs running in the background on the system and it is using a lot of resource. How can I turn these things off that I don't need. Other than going into the system by hitting control, alt, & del and then ending the task there must be another way to stop these programs from loading but I'm not sure exactly where to find them. I'm computer oriented and can find my way around files without problems and know enough to remark out a statement if I know where to look for it. Can someone help? My system is currently only running at 76% and I know it will run faster if my resources are better utilized by not running certain programs untill I need them.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 16 Feb 2002 9:10 am

Use MSCONFIG (it's accessed by clicking on Start then Run and entering msconfig and then click OK.

All the programs that load at startup will be listed in the startup section. However, some programs must be loaded so you will have to be careful you don't disable a needed program.

But, as a general rule programs such as RealPlayer, winamp, your ISP's "quick launch", ICQ and similar programs do not need to be loaded at startup. Many of these programs have options in the program options or preferences, or user settings - whatever they want to call it - to disable them from loading at startup which is preferred over disabling them in msconfig.

Some of the other programs you see in the task list are what Windows requires and starts, let them alone.

Once you are running and have started and exited programs you will see the system resources lessen. This is not a problem but just fragments of programs that were left behind when you exited the program, nothing you can do about that. If the PC has been on for quite a while you will also see the system resources dip relatively low, in that case you need to restart Windows. In fact some commercial companies that have PC's on for extended periods or on all the time have procedures to preiodically restart just because of the system resource issue.

You may also want to consider additional memory, if your PC will accept more memory. Although additional memory will not affect system resources it will improve overall system operation and allow more windows to be open at the same time. With WIN95 you should have 64Meg for good system operation. With WI98 or ME you should consider at least 128Mb and if you have XP 256Mb should be considered minimum.

George Wixon · Post by **George Wixon** » 16 Feb 2002 10:54 am

Thanks Jack.
That got me going and I'm planning to get more memory today as it is now inexpensive.

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 17 Feb 2002 4:00 am

George;
Download FreeRAM XP Lite from http://www.downloads.com With it you can free up some of the RAM. Handy if you want to start a new application.

I've been using it for about a week and (with the exception of me running it too many times back to back which bumped my connection - locked IE6 - to which I had to push the panic button,) it's been really great. It has two choices: 1 free up as much as possible and 2 free up what you tell it to. I've been using the second one most of the time, (at about 65.) You can put it down on the system tray and if your RAM starts getting used up it turns red.

------------------
My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 17 Feb 2002 5:25 am

Ernie, the one problem I see with that program is it uses system resources, being in the sys tray. That means it loads at startup. One of the things George is trying to do is free up system resources and that would be counter productive.

The memory thing is a side to his original problem. Additional memory, although increasing overall system efficiency does nothing for System Resources at startup. When I increased my memory from 128Mb to 256Mb free System Resources at startup (the only time that is really a valid reference) did not change. Several months ago I went from 256 to 384MB and again System Resources at startup did not change.

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 17 Feb 2002 1:27 pm

Jack;
It takes very little system resources and it doesn't load at start up. You have to turn it on and then it has the option of putting in down on the tray to keep it handy.
Another thing is you can sort of see what applications are using the most of the resources. Use it to free up some RAM and them start an application to see how much it goes down. Of course IE and Outlook use a bit, but not as much as I would have imagined.

------------------
My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 17 Feb 2002 3:17 pm

Ernie, I looked at the specs and saw that it was a relatively small program. I guess it would be something to consider as a "band aid" for an older system that couldn't be upgraded with additional memory. But for most they are better adding more memory if they need to run more programs (have more open) at the same time.

Jimmy Dale · Post by **Jimmy Dale** » 17 Feb 2002 5:28 pm

Ernie, I tried the download and it went through the whole process and when it was finished I got a flag that said the C:/windows etc etc, was not a valid font file. I click OK and nothing is there. I have seen this before on other things I have tried to download, like a user's manual of some kind. Jim I'D RATHER BE STEELIN'

George Wixon · Post by **George Wixon** » 17 Feb 2002 7:36 pm

Well,
I upgraded to 256MB and all my programs run faster which was obvious as newer programs want a lot of memory. I had so much garbage running in the background that was being loaded at startup that even after disabling what I knew I didn't need, I'm still running at a little over 90%, which is a lot better than it was. Next thing is upgrading to a newer mother board. I'm still running on a 486 which is slow by most of todays standards. This seems to be a never ending story because the second you upgrade, within 6 months something newer comes out and your right behind the 8 ball again.
Regards to everyone,
George

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 18 Feb 2002 1:56 am

Jimmy;
I don't know quite what to say. I didn't have any problems at all when I downloaded it and installed it. When you click on the download now link, save it to your computer rather than running it from it's current location. Then double click the saved file to install it.

------------------
My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 19 Feb 2002 3:45 pm

FWIW-- I downloaded and installed the FreeRam utility that Ernie suggested a little while ago. VERY GOOD!!!

The DL and install was quick and painless and does not require a reboot to use the program. Remember, though, that memory is only a part of the 'system rescources'. Simply looking at the 'performance' data from Control Panel/System will not show what this neat little utility accomplishes.

You must install the 'System Monitor' first. That is done through ControlPanel/AddRemove Programs/WindowsSetup. The SystemMonitor is within the 'accessories' group. Put a check mark by it and 'OK' to accept. You'll probably need the Windows CD available unless the cabinet files have been copied to your hard drive.

Once the System Monitor has been installed, you can access it from Start/Programs/Accessories/SystemTools. You will need to tell it WHAT to monitor by clicking the 'Edit' tab, selecting 'Add' and then making your choise(s) from the list.

For this example, choose 'MemoryManager' and 'Unused physical memory'. The system will begin displaying a graph.

I have 128MB of ram and upon booting up, System Moniter showed there was about 24MB still free (I have several things loaded at startup). I ran the FreeRam program (with System Monitor still displaying) and accepted the default of 'freeing as much RAM as possible. System Monitor showed almost no overhead from executing the FreeRam prog but DID show an immediate increase of available memory.

The FreeRam utility more than doubled it from about 24MB to nearly 60MB. That's pretty good!!! I've been running and doing all my normal stuff for a couple hours, now with no problems.

--Everett

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 20 Feb 2002 2:23 am

Ernie & Everett,
Is it OK, when FreeRAM is allocating and
freeing up RAMs, to go about 'business-as-usual' with the PC? Or do you have to let it do it's thing with no background stuff going on?

FreeRAM wasn't kidding when they said it
takes some time to do this allocating. It took close to 1/2 hr to freeup just 2MB.

But I noticed right away how much smoother the PC ran.

Thanks fellas,

ChipsAhoy<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by CHIP FOSSA on 20 February 2002 at 02:24 AM.]</p></FONT>

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 20 Feb 2002 4:16 am

Chip-- WOW!!! I have no idea why it took that long for you. When I first ran FreeRam, it took maybe 30 seconds - and I had my normal stuff plus SystemMonitor running.

And yes, you not only can run FreeRam while other app's are open, I did that on purpose. As has been posted in other threads, many app's don't release ALL memory back to the system when you close them. With both FreeRam and SystemMonitor going, it was very interesting to open something, do my thing with it, and then close it while watching the effect on memory.

Jack and I have a minor disagreement about 'virtual memory' allocation(the 'swap' file Windows maintains on the hard disc). I believe it to be more efficient to allocate a 'permanent' amount of space rather than let Windows continually adjust the size according to what it needs at the moment. Perhaps that has something to do with FreeRam running quicker on my machine.

If you're seeing this, Ernie, how did it run for you???

I forget how much RAM you've got, Chipper. As stated, above, my machine has 128MB and does pretty good. --Everett

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 20 Feb 2002 4:28 am

Jimmy Dale-- You didn't say what OS and browser you're using. It may not be so on the current setup's but that 'Font' problem used to occur if you had the browser set to use a non-standard size. --Everett

Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 20 Feb 2002 5:16 am

Everett;
It runs great for me. Takes about ten seconds to run it. I have 128 RAM. and it generally frees up about 70 or so. I've found if I use the other setting, (for an allocated amount) it works a little better. If you set it to release 50 it will still only free up as much as it can. I have run it and asked for 70 and got 62.
I use it mostly right before I start a new application. Especially image editing or web page editing.

------------------
My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Chip Fossa · Post by **Chip Fossa** » 20 Feb 2002 8:52 am

Well fellas, a curious thing just occurred.
I'm running 2 PCs that are networked together.
One is a Gateway [Windows 98 w/128RAM];
the other is a Hewlitt Packard [Windows ME
w/128RAM].

The primary pc is the HP. On the GW, when I would go to do something like print, scan, or
try to access the web, a flag would pop up and say the resources were too low for these operations and to try to shut something else
down so these would work.

Well I copied the FreeRAM download over to the GW and as soon as I opened it, the bar was already up to 54% and 69MB of RAM was freed up. I just clicked on it now, and the bar is still pegged at 54%/69MB.

In FreeRAM's info it says there is an 'OFF'
knob to shut it down, but mine doesn't have an 'OFF' switch. It looks to me like the program is constantly running within it's folder, located on C:\ drive.

I'm gonna fool with HP on the manual side of FreeRAM and see if I get better results.

Tom Diemer · Post by **Tom Diemer** » 20 Feb 2002 4:22 pm

I'd like to second what Jack said.

What those memory-freeing programs do, is allow unused memory to return to being usable by Windows, by defragmenting the memory after a program is done with it. In other words, a program is 'unloaded' but the memory isn't all returned to Windows use, because of it being fragmented, much like your hard drive will over time.

There are problems that can occur with this process, if you let it happen in the background while running programs. You can remove from memory, important variable settings and the like. Some programs will crash. It would be exactly the same as trying to defrag your hard drive while saving files to it.

Also, windows has a way of freeing the memory it needs, as it needs it. Not all of it, but most of it.

Better idea is to use the msconfig tool, and not load the things you don't use. Use the memory util, but use it wisely.

I use mine, manually, mostly when running very memory intensive applications, like my multi-tracking program. I close the program, free the memory, then rerun the program.

Fwiw,

Tom