Windows question
 

I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing so I could use some help.

I am noticing that my PC is running anywhere between 45 and 50% RAM just doing basic stuff like typing this message. I'm running 1GB. I know that there must be stuff running in the background that is eating up RAM but 50% seems to be too much. So I want to know how to best shut down some stuff that is loaded up at startup. I'm assuming that most of it are displayed in the System Tray. For example I'm running an ATI utility, ActiveSync for my iPaq, Norton AV (Corporate Edition), and a few other things. I sometimes run Skype and uses up a fair bit of RAM it seems.

What I have done is get into msconfig and manually disable some programs. I did that and I'm still eating up RAM. Is the the best way to do this or is there a better way?

I am particularly sensitive to this because I got a sweet new keyboard that has a backlit LCD display and one thing is scrolls is CPU and RAM usage.

Yep, msconfig > startup is the area that you want to edit. As an example, I keep my machine really lean, and I usually only have 28-31 processes running, which includes explorer and outlook. My commit charge right now is 386M/2463M or 16%, this includes virtual memory of course. I also have 1GB of Ram.

When you see your list of startup items, type the process name into Google to ID what it is and whether or not it is safe to remove it. I have only 3 items checked in my startup list btw.

IMO, you should have less than 30 processes running after initial boot up of your computer and before opening any programs.

IMHO you've got a worm/trojan.

Delete all of your offline IE content and cookies, then do a full system scan with the machine in safe mode and not connected to the internet.

How does one check to see what RAM usage is?

I can't resist screwing around and seeing what's doing
in my 'puter. And, like SG, I want it running leano and meano.

SG, thanks for the tips on paring down the startup stuff.
BR,mD

Right mouse click on the task bar at the bottom of your screen > choose task manager > click on performance

I'd suggest doing a "Disk Cleanup". That will erase all of the offline IE content and temp folders (where spyware/malware likes to hide). Also run a spyware detection program like spybot to clean out any pests.

You never mentioned what version of windows you're running, and what service pack level. Also, switch to a non-IE browser like Firefox or Opera. You'll have much less problems with malware and Internet related pests.

Check out this article for more info, http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/index.php?p=733

For a full cleanup including your registry, I would recommend CCleaner. It will do a very thorough job, and it's free :).

Thanks, SG...
I have 59 "processes" running, :confused:
and 5%-8% CPU usage, bouncing around.

I gotta toss some stuff that I never use.

Edit & PS: the collective knowledge on this
Board never ceases to amaze me! :thumbup:

plus you want to check all the services you have running, and set them to not auto start if you don`t need them.

Holy crap, 59 is a boatload! My CPU usage is about 1-2% btw.