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WINDOWS

If you wish to skip this information and you want to know what you can and cannot disable in System Configuration Information/Utility to increase your system resources visit: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php this link will open in a new window.


Many confuse hard drive room/space with computer memory and system resources.  Windows Memory & Resources are two entirely different things. Main memory or RAM (Random Access Memory) refers to physical memory that is internal to the computer.  Virtual memory is a portion of Free space of your hard drive acting as RAM for Windows and programs to run faster.  Depending on amount of physical RAM, 64, 128, 256, 512 MB installed, Operating Systems Win98-XP requires a certain amount of this RAM, programs as opened require a portion of this RAM.  A Word processor and Web Browser program i.e. may use 32 MB of RAM or more.

System resources are areas of memory that are used by the input manager (USER.EXE) and the graphic display interface manager (GDI.EXE) for keeping track of all of the windows that are open in a session and for drawing objects on the screen. Owing to their fundamental nature, the performance of these programs has been improved by limiting their data to a single 64Kb segment of DOS memory (the Intel processors can access data from a 64Kb segment much faster than from a wider area). If either of these segments becomes full, programs may fail to load and Windows may become unstable - regardless of how much other free memory there is.

Each application that is loaded, and each window and child-window that is open, consumes system resources.  Typically an application consumes 2-8% of system resources, and each child-window consumes 1-2%.  Certain programs (eg Print Manager and some TCP/IP communication programs are particularly bad culprits) are much more greedy for system  resources than this.  Closing an application should release its allocated system resources, but some software is not as well behaved as it should be and this release may not happen.  If the free resources fall below about 10-15%, serious problems may be encountered and Windows should be restarted as soon as possible.

Windows Resource Meter (C:\Windows\rsrcmtr.exe) monitors your system resources in Windows 98 & ME. Fig. 1 - Resource Meter The figure given as system resources is the percentage free of whichever of the two areas is lower.  Windows Resource Meter can be accessed from the Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools.  It will run with an icon  Fig. 2 - Resource Meter in the Tray in your system tray and show you resources in little bars of green.  When it gets below half, it's time to be careful.  Bear in mind that that running this utility does use a small amount of resources itself.  Save your work often.

For Windows XP - Ctrl+Alt+Del

To free up resources you need to run MSCONFIG.EXE - The following is Windows ME's System Configuration Utility window.

Fig. 1 ME Configuration Utility Window
And if you click on the Startup tab, you view the following.

Fig. 2 Fig. 9 - System Configuration Utility

System Configuration's for

Index

Windows 98 System Configuration Utility

From Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information.  Or you can take the short cut, from Start select Run and type in MSCONFIG.EXE

Fig. 3 Fig. 7 - System Information

Fig. 4 Fig. 8 - 98 Configuration Utility Window
 
Fig. 5  See Fig. 8 for more items/programs that may not be shown below.

 Fig. 9 - System Configuration Utility

Items you should never uncheck are,

ScanRegistry       SystemTray       TaskMonitor    LoadPowerProfile

To further find what can be disabled to free up system resources http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php this link will open in a new window

Index

Running ME on a Compaq, you receive the Startup Resource Manager Warning message

Fig. 6 Fig. 1 - Start Up Resource Manager

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I click OK, it took me to this screen.

Fig. 7 Fig. 2 - Start Up Resource Manager Knowledge Center

If you click next you get the screen below.

Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information.  Or you can take the short cut, from Start select Run and type in MSCONFIG.EXE

This a compiled list of one computer.


Fig. 8 Fig. 3 - System Configuration

Now the decision is what can be enable or disable to regain the most system resources and not experience any difficulties.  Some are self explanatory and others such as LoadQm.exe or Hidserv.exe are hard to find out what their function is and if you can disable them?  You cannot find these files in Windows ME or Windows 98's Help files.  You can try search engines and pray to find the answer. 

Some are not clear on what their function is or as whether or not you can disable them.  For example loadqm.exe, I have tried searching Windows online support.microsoft.com/directory and the Compaq Microsoft Help and Support feature built in Windows ME.  To no avail, nothing mentions loadqm.exe

I have written Microsoft and was given this reply, Thank you for contacting Microsoft.  You may wish to contact MSN for information on the file, loadqm.exe.  For technical support for a MSN issue, please go to http://supportservices.msn.com

Now why would I want to contact Microsoft Messenger?  Is loadqm.exe contected to MSN?  At this point you do not know.

Where can I find at Microsoft or within Windows 95/98/ME, what can I enable or disable by name, description and or its
function?  Some are self explaining, but others are not, like loadqm.exe

Items you should never uncheck are,

ScanRegistry       SystemTray       TaskMonitor    LoadPowerProfile

To further find what can be disabled to free up system resources http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php this link will open in a new window

Index

Windows XP System Configuration Utility

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

System Configuration Utility (Msconfig.exe) automates the routine troubleshooting steps that Microsoft Product Support Services technicians use when diagnosing Windows configuration issues.  From Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Information.  Or you can take the short cut, from Start select Run and type in MSCONFIG.EXE

Fig. 9 XP - System Configuration Tabs

Fig. 10 XP - System Configuration Startup Tab

Now the decision is what can be enable or disable to regain the most system resources.  Some are self explanatory and others are hard to find out what their function is and if you can disable them?  To further find what can be disabled to free up system resources visit http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php  this link will open in a new window.

Index

Windows XP Resource Metering

Ctrl+Alt+Del and at the bottom you can view your CPU Usage

Fig. 11

Index

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