Is there a way I can speed up my computer? It lags when I have a song playing and I run a program. I also had several virtual memory warnings. How can I increase it without changing anything? I have 512 mbRAM.

Run some spyware scans, get a registry cleaner, use it, go through your startup and get rid of anything you don't need.

http://www.staredit.net/topic/3158/

You may also want a RAM-freeing program such as MaxMem. There are probably better ones out there today, but it's been a long time since I've even tried one.

Also, assuming you're running Windows, invest in disabling unecessary services using a guide such as BlackViper's. The services will suck up quite a bit of RAM for things you don't even need or use.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 21 2008, 4:48 am by Mini Moose 2707.

You seem to have no idea how to close programs. 512 MB isn't enough to run a bunch of junk on your computer. You have to use virtual memory, which is a swap file on your hard drive, if you use more than 512 MB. Since your hard drive is much slower than your RAM, you've got severe slowdowns.

What you want to do is get rid of most of your startup items, uninstall bullshit like iTunes/Quicktime, and use the better alternative of Winamp/MPC/QT Alternative. Ideally, your msconfig should only have maybe 4 essential items, like perhaps a sound device, and anything else you feel you can't live without.

You can also get rid of quite a few services, check out black viper's service guide, or www.tweakguides.com for more stuff. It's pretty dumb what windows puts on there.

To give you an idea, my desktop boots with 200 MB used, and has 20 processes running. To check it out, press ctrl alt del, and look at the "commit charge" number.

If you're running out of space frequently, consider increasing your pagefile, as detailed in tweakguides' tweaking companion. Personally, I don't use a pagefile on my 1 GB laptop, and I shouldn't have one on my 2 GB desktop, but I happen to have 600 GB, so an extra GB is easy.

If you want a very clean windows install, follow the tweaking companion. Otherwise, everything Falkoner told you is still a good idea. I recommend Ad aware, AVG, and regcleaner.

Please don't assume. And No, I use the minimal amount of programs. Winamp and the game I'm playing.

What OS are you using then?

Windows XP. The problem that I think it is caused from is that My computer was recently rebooted because of a virus and it has fake programs now which aren't properly installed to the new Drive.

The only thing anyone assumed was that you were using windows.

What's your commit charge with the game + winamp running?

What are you talking about? I'm saying my computer has been greatly slowed and I'm trying to fix that.
Here is a clearly insight.
I defragmented my computer
I used disk cleaner
I scanned my computer with a virus scanner
I lag when I have winamp ON and I'm trying to open another program. This is TWO programs.

Forget it, Case Closed. I'm going to follow Black Viper's Guide.

ctfmon.exe is a program.
svchost.exe is a program.
explorer.exe is a program.

You can't be running windows with two programs.

I'm saying your problem is probably due to your RAM being slow since you hard drive is slow. If your commit charge is above 500 MB when you run those two programs, your hard drive is being used, and thus, will be very slow.

For performance, I have the processor scheduling as this
Adjust for best performance of:
(O)Programs ( )Background services

For Memory usuage I have this

Adjust for best Performance of :
(O)Programs ( ) System Cache

Which one would be best suited for gaming?

Have you scanned for spyware? That could be a major problem if you just got a virus.

I used Ad aware pro and cleared it.
Now about my other question.

I'd like to note that you don't want something that clears the ram to "free up" memory. The memory serves as the cache so it actually speeds up the computer the more non-free it is.

As for speeding it up, I can only suggest removing start up apps and related things. 512 mb is kind of small for newer applications.

Lulz, I wanted to check mine, and I pressed Ctl+Shift+Esc four times before it occurred to me I'm booted into Linux right now

Quote

I'm saying your problem is probably due to your RAM being slow since you hard drive is slow. If your commit charge is above 500 MB when you run those two programs, your hard drive is being used, and thus, will be very slow.

I seem to remember something where Windows actually starts writing to your page file and swapping it before all your RAM is used up, but maybe this was a superstition..

Quote from Echo

For performance, I have the processor scheduling as this
Adjust for best performance of:
(O)Programs ( )Background services

For Memory usuage I have this

Adjust for best Performance of :
(O)Programs ( ) System Cache

Which one would be best suited for gaming?

Uhh..

Optimizing your processor scheduling for "Programs" will cause your applications (programs) such as games to run faster, if that was actually a serious question.

As rockz said several times, you should report on your memory/pf usage when you are experiencing this "lag". If the game you are trying to run is recent, 512MB will likely not be enough space to adequately run it. I presume you don't have integrated graphics or a configuration that grabs RAM for VRAM, right?

If you're feeling adventurous, you can always delete random processes. It's a learning experience, like seeing the effect of unexpectedly terminating svchost.exe

Yes, Windows will use the pagefile on some programs, generally the low priority ones which aren't used. I don't know what those are, but they don't really slow the computer down, since they're used so infrequently. The only way to force windows to not use the pagefile is to not have a pagefile.

Which I do. It seems stupid to have Windows swapping data off my disc when my commit charge never exceeds 1200M (I have 2GB of RAM).

I opened all my programs including SC, D2, and any other game I could minimize, and I got to around 1.5 GB. I suppose I could have opened up my 10000x10000 jpg in GIMP, but that's just overkill.

Some programs use the page file because they are programmed to. It's not necessarily Windows doing it. Don't use memory cleaners/optimizers. They are often detrimental to speed. source

Try installing WinAmp Lite as detailed here. Link Or Songbird.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 23 2008, 3:32 am by dumbducky.

Upgrade your RAM