Guest Paul Randall Posted August 31, 2007 Posted August 31, 2007 Hi, Due to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease or whatever, I find it very helpful to have many windows open (my substitute for poor short term memory). I seldom shut my computer down and after a period of a few weeks I typically have a total of around 45 windows open. Its a mix, like 20 to 30 windows explorer, a few HTAs, 10 or more internet explorer, a couple Firefox, some notepads, hex editor, script editors, etc. Anyhow, at some point the system becomes unstable and new windows won't open. Or, if I close some windows, then I can open new ones, but within a couple of weeks the system will typically crash when I try to open something. I've got a 1.7GHz Celeron with 1GB Ram (none shared with video) with WXP SP2 but few or no updates. I'm hoping someone will share info on how to view the resources that may be in short supply and how to increase them, so that I can make changes, see that the system is using those changes, and then test that I can open more windows without problems.
Guest R. McCarty Posted August 31, 2007 Posted August 31, 2007 Re: Need help increasing resources There are physical limitations within Windows that you may be running up against. I know that especially web browsers have limitations on the number of instances ( not TABS ) open at the same time. You're likely getting close to limits on File Handles and Virtual Addressing Space. It's not really so much a CPU/Memory capability/capacity as it is with the Operating System itself. I can't offer any specific advice other than you may want to look into trimming back Windows services that your hardware/software may not require. A 1.7 Ghz Celeron isn't bad, but has limitations with it's onboard L2 Cache memory size. You would probably benefit from a Dual-Core CPU which can share/distribute the processing load. Process Explorer from SysInternals is a good tool to analyze the load on a PC. http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx Startup and Watchdog applets are another area where the machine may be using more resources than are necessary. "Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message news:OK5UuTA7HHA.4660@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > Hi, > Due to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease or whatever, I find it very > helpful to have many windows open (my substitute for poor short term > memory). I seldom shut my computer down and after a period of a few weeks > I typically have a total of around 45 windows open. Its a mix, like 20 to > 30 windows explorer, a few HTAs, 10 or more internet explorer, a couple > Firefox, some notepads, hex editor, script editors, etc. Anyhow, at some > point the system becomes unstable and new windows won't open. Or, if I > close some windows, then I can open new ones, but within a couple of weeks > the system will typically crash when I try to open something. > > I've got a 1.7GHz Celeron with 1GB Ram (none shared with video) with WXP > SP2 but few or no updates. > > I'm hoping someone will share info on how to view the resources that may > be in short supply and how to increase them, so that I can make changes, > see that the system is using those changes, and then test that I can open > more windows without problems. >
Guest Paul Randall Posted August 31, 2007 Posted August 31, 2007 Re: Need help increasing resources Thanks for the info. I will try process explorer and try to understand what is happening. My biggest problem is not knowing what limitations there may be, how close I am to reaching those limitations and how to change those limitations. If I know what limitations there may be, perhaps I could find a scripting way to log this info and perhaps pop up a message box before the limits are reached. I've closed a few windows. Only about 39 open now. The performance tab of Windows Task Manager shows Totals: Handles 19235 Threads 770 Processes 46 Physical Memory (K) Total 1048048 Available 440636 System Cache 534520 Commit Charge (K) Total 979408 Limit 2523732 Peak 1338536 Kernel Memory (K) Total 219584 Paged 71124 NonPaged 148468 -Paul Randall "R. McCarty" <PcEngWork-NoSpam_@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:OgvSbZA7HHA.3900@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... > There are physical limitations within Windows that you may be running > up against. I know that especially web browsers have limitations on the > number of instances ( not TABS ) open at the same time. You're likely > getting close to limits on File Handles and Virtual Addressing Space. > It's not really so much a CPU/Memory capability/capacity as it is with > the Operating System itself. > > I can't offer any specific advice other than you may want to look into > trimming back Windows services that your hardware/software may not > require. A 1.7 Ghz Celeron isn't bad, but has limitations with it's > onboard > L2 Cache memory size. You would probably benefit from a Dual-Core > CPU which can share/distribute the processing load. > > Process Explorer from SysInternals is a good tool to analyze the load > on a PC. > http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/ProcessExplorer.mspx > > Startup and Watchdog applets are another area where the machine > may be using more resources than are necessary. > > > "Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message > news:OK5UuTA7HHA.4660@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >> Hi, >> Due to the early onset of Alzheimer's disease or whatever, I find it very >> helpful to have many windows open (my substitute for poor short term >> memory). I seldom shut my computer down and after a period of a few >> weeks I typically have a total of around 45 windows open. Its a mix, >> like 20 to 30 windows explorer, a few HTAs, 10 or more internet explorer, >> a couple Firefox, some notepads, hex editor, script editors, etc. >> Anyhow, at some point the system becomes unstable and new windows won't >> open. Or, if I close some windows, then I can open new ones, but within >> a couple of weeks the system will typically crash when I try to open >> something. >> >> I've got a 1.7GHz Celeron with 1GB Ram (none shared with video) with WXP >> SP2 but few or no updates. >> >> I'm hoping someone will share info on how to view the resources that may >> be in short supply and how to increase them, so that I can make changes, >> see that the system is using those changes, and then test that I can open >> more windows without problems. >> > >
Guest Zilbandy Posted August 31, 2007 Posted August 31, 2007 Re: Need help increasing resources On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:47:08 -0600, "Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote: >I've closed a few windows. Only about 39 open now. The performance tab >of Windows Task Manager shows Sorry I can't help with your problem, but if you have 39 or more windows open, I don't see how you can keep track of what's open or not open. Wouldn't it just be more simple to reboot every few days and start from scratch? If you can keep track of 39+ open windows, surely you can reopen a window if you need it. Just my 2 cents worth.... -- Zilbandy
Guest cmcanulty Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 Re: Need help increasing resources If you can use firefox download the addon session manager. The you can save all your current session and set it to reopen to that session. You'll have all your open tabs but by shutting down daily will regain some RAM
Guest Paul Randall Posted September 2, 2007 Posted September 2, 2007 Re: Need help increasing resources Thanks for the replies. I will try the suggestions. -Paul Randall "cmcanulty" <cmcanulty@gmail.com> wrote in message news:1188647585.156705.18470@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com... > > If you can use firefox download the addon session manager. The you can > save all your current session and set it to reopen to that session. > You'll have all your open tabs but by shutting down daily will regain > some RAM >
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