Cannot Maintain System Resources 2

[cshajkur]

Installed max amount of ram memory and reduced number of programs running in the backround. Windows 98 System Resources are still at an extremely low 33%. What can be done to improve system resources and power management? Here is a snapshot of my system.

MemTurbo Startup Group "C:\Program Files\Silicon Prairie Software\MemTurbo\memturbo.exe" /starthidden
Autoload CS Startup Group "C:\Program Files\RoadSide Software\Cache Speed\RSSAD.exe"
Adobe Gamma Loader.exe Startup Group "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe"
ZoneAlarm Common Startup Group "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zonealarm.exe" -nopopup
Cacheman Registry (Per-User Run) C:\PROGRAM FILES\CACHEMAN\Cacheman.exe
RunFast Registry (Per-User Run) (kø¿@ýd\runfast.exe
CacheSpeed Registry (Per-User Run) C:\PROGRAM FILES\ROADSIDE SOFTWARE\CACHE SPEED\CACHESPEED.EXE
ScanRegistry Registry (Machine Run) C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
SystemTray Registry (Machine Run) SysTray.Exe
HPDJ Taskbar Utility Registry (Machine Run) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\hpztsb03.exe
EnsoniqMixer Registry (Machine Run) starter.exe
EM_EXEC Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRA~1\LOGITECH\MOUSEW~1\SYSTEM\EM_EXEC.EXE
bpcpost.exe Registry (Machine Run) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\bpcpost.exe
Synchronization Manager Registry (Machine Run) mobsync.exe /logon
Eac_Download Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\EACCELERATION\DOWNLOAD.EXE -k
Modem Booster Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRAM FILES\MODEM BOOSTER\ModemBtr.exe
TweakDUN Registry (Machine Run) C:\PROGRAM FILES\TWEAKDUN\tweakdun.exe splash
RAM Idle Registry (Machine Run) C:\Program Files\RAM Idle\RAMIdle.exe
SmartBooster Registry (Machine Run) C:\\smartb.exe C:\telepath Registry (Machine Service) TELEPATH.101\tpexe.exe
LoadPowerProfile Registry (Machine Service) Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
TrueVector Registry (Machine Service) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE -service
MiniLog Registry (Machine Service) C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\MINILOG.EXE -service

 

[Malakili]

Wow!!!, thats an awful amount of proggies you still have left running there. You really could afford to cut out most of those. The first thing i`d get rid of is the mouse software, they are a major pain, and you will notice a benefit by disabling it, (strange though that mouse software has such a detrimental efect on systems isn`t it) Another thing i noticed is that alot of the programmes you have running seem to be speed up proggies, whilst in theory these work fine, i think you have a case of `too many cooks`, try doing without some of them and you`ll probably notice more benefit than by using them. I also see that your using a dialup connection to access the internet, so i`ll presume that you on`t stay connected to the net 24/7, if this is thecase try only running your modem mananger, dun manager and firewall when you access the net, otherwise again yuo are using resources continually that only need to be run occasionally. If you want a super slim resource usage, win 98 only really needs Explorer to run nothing else. Alot of people favour systray too, but if you have nothing running out of it and your not bothered about the clock, its unneccessary.

Hope this helps you somewhat, and i`m sure some other more knoledgable users will be able to offer theere 2 pennies worth too.

Malakili

 

[reghakr]

Exactly right, your resources will not go down unless you remove unneccessary programms from starting up with Windows. My general tips include:

If it's running that poorly, right-click on My Computer, click the Performance tab and verify the File System and Virtual Memory are 32-bit.

Click the Virtual Memory button and make sure that Windows is managing the virtual memory.

If those are OK, try these steps to eliminate unecessary program running:

The things that make the computer slow are the many unecessary items that automatically startup when Windows starts.

Right-click on the icons in the tray area, open each, go through the options to turn off the "tray" or "run at startup" feature.

For the others, go to Start>Run, type msconfig. Leave systray, scan registry, Load Power Profile (both), your virus scanner and firewall if you have one.

Go to Start>Run, type sysedit. Look over the autoexec.bat for unneccessary lines, click the win.ini and check for programs loading here:
[windows]
load=
run=

Open Explorer and navigate to c:\windows\temp and delete all files here. Empty the Recycle Bin

Open Internet Explorer, go to Tools>InternetOptions, click the Delete Files and Clear History buttons.

Close all tray applications and hit Alt_Ctl_Del and end task on all items except for explorer and systray, disable your screensaver, then run scandisk, then defrag.

If you don't know what an entry is or what it does, post back.

reghakr

 

[Comtech]

reghakr, I have always mandated that removing both power profiles is the way to go, UNLESS you have a laptop, and need to conserve battery power.
Curious as to why you recommend leaving them both on? Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[reghakr]

Jim,

I hear you on that one.

I still don't feel comfortable telling the general public to remove both. Although I will change that answer to only leaving one if user profiles are not being used.
Here's what MS says:

LoadPowerProfile Starts Twice When You Start Your Computer

------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

------------------------------------------------------------
SYMPTOMS
When you view the programs that are loaded when you start your computer, you may notice that LoadPowerProfile is listed twice.

CAUSE
This behavior can occur because LoadPowerProfile is started twice to provide a power management profile before and after you log on to Windows. LoadPowerProfile starts as a machine service so that the default power management settings are available when Windows 98 starts. It is loaded again after you log on to Windows to process preferences for individual users of the computer.

STATUS
This behavior is by design.

I love that line, "This behavior is by design"

I've even removed the batmeter.dll, powerprof.dll, powerold.dll from the c:\windows\system directory, but then you have NO options for changing any settings in ControlPanel>Power Management and I believe it screws up the system tray area.

reghakr

 

[fenix]

Just 2 cents worth, I was getting an illegal operation(explorer related) error box after coming out of self induced standby when 'load power profile' was disabled. Reenabling 1 of them seemed to take care of this 99% of the time. After reading your post, I'm going to reenable the 2nd one and see if takes care of the other 1 % of the time the box still comes up.

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, what reghakr said about leaving them makes sense. Even though the user might have a desktop pc, he/she may still want to use power management to conserve energy. We know how much juice those monitors suck!

 

[fenix]

Another thing of note is something that I ran across yesterday at the compaq website which was written by Compaq.

They said that system resources are not related to the amount of RAM memory in response to someones similar inquiry. Anyone care to explain this or comment ?

 

[cdogg]

Well, that statement doesn't seem entirely correct. The percentage of system resources that are "free" is calculated using several components. I always thought RAM was one of those components.

It seems to me that when the amount of RAM in Windows 9x/ME gets to a certain amount (>= 128 MB), you experience diminishing returns when it comes to "System Resources". In other words, if you had 32 MB of RAM for example, adding 64 MB or more might present a large increase in the amount of S.R. free. But when you get above 128 MB, other factors play a role (swap file, fragmentation, the amount of apps running, etc...)

So, is the Compaq response correct? Yes and No.

 

[Comtech]

System resources are related to the amount of RAM and swapfile availability, NOT the amount of FREE PHYSICAL RAM.
Plenty more in the FAQ's, as well as at

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/tocache.htm

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[cdogg]

Jim,

Actually, consider this

Take a system with 16 MB of RAM, open a few office applications, then make a note of the system free resources.

Then, take the exact same system and add 64 MB (or more) of RAM, open the same office applications, I can more than gurantee that the system resources free will be much higher.

However, you are correct in saying that system resources are related to RAM and Swap File availability. In most cases, you are not going to notice much (if any) difference in system resources by simply adding more RAM. However, my point before was that in some rare situations when dealing with less than 128 MB of RAM, it will help.

 

[cdogg]

Of course, other factors such as the amount of apps that load with Windows or fragmentation of the swap file, play key roles...

The best way to avoid the latter is to assign hard drive space of 2 times the amount of RAM to the swap file. Windows management of the swap file is bad...

 

[NtelStomper]

Get rid of all the "accelerator" tweak programs except for download accelerator. Going too nuts on that kind of crapware is never a good thing. And I don't think anyone mentioned it in a reply yet, but you could have 512 RAM but if your free hard disk space is low you'll still have low resources.

 

[hotfusion]

I wouldn't agree with the download accelerator though, chances are it only modifies the MTU and then probably incorrectly for today's web conditions. Loose it. In msconfig/startup I would disable 'system tray'. I've done it, the clock still shows, as do the two icons I allow next to it - my anti-virus and firewall. I find allowing system tray to load adds a couple of seconds to the boot time. On the subject of letting Windows manage the swap file, I think reghakr was correctly playing safe with his advice but if you are comfortable changing the settings then set a fixed swap, after a defrag, so that min=max=300Mb. That should suffice for any eventuality. Andy. My suggestions are what I would try myself. If incorrect, I welcome corrections to my rather limited knowledge. Andy.

 

[reghakr]

Hello cshajkur, are you there?

reghakr