Windows grinds to a halt within minutes of starting

Over the past few weeks, the performance of my computer
has become progressively worse, to the point where I get
error messages about not having enough memory and am
forced to reboot just a few minutes after starting
windows. I have been running with two stacks of 128 mb of
ram (for a total of 256). The funny thing is that it
seems to run just as well with only 128 megs plugged in
as it does with 256 plugged in. Also, I recently tried a
new 512 meg memory card and the computer gave the memory
error messages just as fast. So windows is having memory
problems seemingly regardless of how much or what kind of
ram I have plugged in. Can I get a little help?

Thanks,

Andy

How are resources when this happens ?

No maximum on swap file and enough free disk space?

"Andy" wrote in message
...
Over the past few weeks, the performance of my computer
has become progressively worse, to the point where I get
error messages about not having enough memory and am
forced to reboot just a few minutes after starting
windows. I have been running with two stacks of 128 mb of
ram (for a total of 256). The funny thing is that it
seems to run just as well with only 128 megs plugged in
as it does with 256 plugged in. Also, I recently tried a
new 512 meg memory card and the computer gave the memory
error messages just as fast. So windows is having memory
problems seemingly regardless of how much or what kind of
ram I have plugged in. Can I get a little help?

Thanks,

Andy

How are resources when this happens ?

No maximum on swap file and enough free disk space?

"Andy" wrote in message
...
Over the past few weeks, the performance of my computer
has become progressively worse, to the point where I get
error messages about not having enough memory and am
forced to reboot just a few minutes after starting
windows. I have been running with two stacks of 128 mb of
ram (for a total of 256). The funny thing is that it
seems to run just as well with only 128 megs plugged in
as it does with 256 plugged in. Also, I recently tried a
new 512 meg memory card and the computer gave the memory
error messages just as fast. So windows is having memory
problems seemingly regardless of how much or what kind of
ram I have plugged in. Can I get a little help?

Thanks,

Andy

-----Original Message-----
How are resources when this happens ?

Resources drop all the way down to 0%

No maximum on swap file and enough free disk space?


17 gigs of disk space available, but I'm not sure about
the swap file.

-----Original Message-----
How are resources when this happens ?

Resources drop all the way down to 0%

No maximum on swap file and enough free disk space?


17 gigs of disk space available, but I'm not sure about
the swap file.

Hi Andy,

This along with your reply to SFB you indicate a loss of resources,
and plenty of free disk space.

First of all adding RAM will NOT increase resources.

The only way to increase resources is to reduce the amount to applications
running at the time. Here's an article that will step you through the
process.
Clean up your system!!!: http://users.westelcom.com/rogersr/clean.htm

Another possible cause is virus infection and or Spyware.
I would suggest you start by doing a virus scan with up to date virus
software, then scan for and removing any installed spyware.
If you are in need of virus software, here are a couple to choose from, for
free.
Download the software, and in Update Manager run Update
then do a complete virus scan.
Free Offer: eTrust EZ Armor Security Suite from Computer Associates
http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/index.cfm

Search and destroy any installed SpyWare/malware/adwa
Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans
your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware
components and lets you remove them safely. After installing
Ad-Aware make sure to run the update feature before scanning.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ For large amounts of installed
spyware and such, it may be necessary to run Ad-Aware several
times to clear them all.

Here are a couple more removal tools that should also be run.
CWShredder: http://aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#cwshred

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

SpywareBlaster:
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html
SpywareBlaster doesn't scan and clean for spyware - it
prevents it from ever being installed. SpywareBlaster is
a non memory resident utility. It works by setting a "kill bit"
for the CLSIDs of spyware ActiveX controls, it prevents the
installation of any of them from a webpage.

For more information:
The Parasite Fight:
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Darnit:
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm#tshoot

Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive softwa
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;827315

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/
How to Configure Outlook Express for Internet News:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=171164


"Andy" wrote
Over the past few weeks, the performance of my computer
has become progressively worse, to the point where I get
error messages about not having enough memory and am
forced to reboot just a few minutes after starting
windows. I have been running with two stacks of 128 mb of
ram (for a total of 256). The funny thing is that it
seems to run just as well with only 128 megs plugged in
as it does with 256 plugged in. Also, I recently tried a
new 512 meg memory card and the computer gave the memory
error messages just as fast. So windows is having memory
problems seemingly regardless of how much or what kind of
ram I have plugged in. Can I get a little help?

Thanks,

Andy

Hi Andy,

This along with your reply to SFB you indicate a loss of resources,
and plenty of free disk space.

First of all adding RAM will NOT increase resources.

The only way to increase resources is to reduce the amount to applications
running at the time. Here's an article that will step you through the
process.
Clean up your system!!!: http://users.westelcom.com/rogersr/clean.htm

Another possible cause is virus infection and or Spyware.
I would suggest you start by doing a virus scan with up to date virus
software, then scan for and removing any installed spyware.
If you are in need of virus software, here are a couple to choose from, for
free.
Download the software, and in Update Manager run Update
then do a complete virus scan.
Free Offer: eTrust EZ Armor Security Suite from Computer Associates
http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/index.cfm

Search and destroy any installed SpyWare/malware/adwa
Ad-aware is a free multi spyware removal utility that scans
your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware
components and lets you remove them safely. After installing
Ad-Aware make sure to run the update feature before scanning.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ For large amounts of installed
spyware and such, it may be necessary to run Ad-Aware several
times to clear them all.

Here are a couple more removal tools that should also be run.
CWShredder: http://aumha.org/freeware/freeware.php#cwshred

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/

SpywareBlaster:
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html
SpywareBlaster doesn't scan and clean for spyware - it
prevents it from ever being installed. SpywareBlaster is
a non memory resident utility. It works by setting a "kill bit"
for the CLSIDs of spyware ActiveX controls, it prevents the
installation of any of them from a webpage.

For more information:
The Parasite Fight:
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Darnit:
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm#tshoot

Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive softwa
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;827315

--
Regards,
Bert Kinney [MS-MVP DTS]
http://dts-l.org/
How to Configure Outlook Express for Internet News:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=171164


"Andy" wrote
Over the past few weeks, the performance of my computer
has become progressively worse, to the point where I get
error messages about not having enough memory and am
forced to reboot just a few minutes after starting
windows. I have been running with two stacks of 128 mb of
ram (for a total of 256). The funny thing is that it
seems to run just as well with only 128 megs plugged in
as it does with 256 plugged in. Also, I recently tried a
new 512 meg memory card and the computer gave the memory
error messages just as fast. So windows is having memory
problems seemingly regardless of how much or what kind of
ram I have plugged in. Can I get a little help?

Thanks,

Andy

wrote in message
...

-----Original Message-----
How are resources when this happens ?

Resources drop all the way down to 0%

Thought that might be the problem.
Memory is probably fine.
Need to find out what is consuming your resources.


No maximum on swap file and enough free disk space?


17 gigs of disk space available, but I'm not sure about
the swap file.

wrote in message
...

-----Original Message-----
How are resources when this happens ?

Resources drop all the way down to 0%

Thought that might be the problem.
Memory is probably fine.
Need to find out what is consuming your resources.


No maximum on swap file and enough free disk space?


17 gigs of disk space available, but I'm not sure about
the swap file.

It turned out to be the MyDoom virus. Thank you for all
the help.

Andy