I don't understand the System Resources

[Crash7]

Can someone help me out here?

How should I interpret the System Resources value? I've seen values ranging from 54% to 93%, yet I really don't see much of a difference in overall system performance.

What exactly is the System Resources function telling me? How can I keep the value high w/o rebooting or going into Ctrl-Alt-Del and ending some of the tasks?

 

[piku]

I don't think Microsoft really does either.

But from what i've gathered, the system resources is the room your computer has to remember all the windows that you have opened and such like that. Its SUPPOSED to delete the information when it doesnt need it anymore, but it usually doesnt. So each thing you do keeps up eating more and more of the RAM (it is a set number) that is alloted to it until there is no more, and a crash probably happens.

At least thats what I THINK it is, anyone acctually know?

 

[eraser]

System resources simply put are stacks that are alotted to hold information that is need for programs that are running on the computer. Yes sometimes information that is no longer needed is to be removed from the stack. But sometimes inefficiently written applications do no remove stuff from the stack as they should, and system resources are never freed up to be used by other applications that need it, the result lower system resources.

To keep system resources as high as possible you could do the following. Select run from the start menu, and type msconfig. This should bring up a system configuration box. Select the startup tab. From there you should see a list of things that are running in the background that are taking up system resources. Remove the check from the box on the left next to the applications that you know you do not need to run automatically on start-up. After making changes click apply, and then the windows will need to be restarted for the changes to take affect.

You will have to experiment with what you do and do not need running in the background so go slow at what you choose not to have running in the background.

Eraser

 

[xtreme2k]

i thought resources are the icons and screen visual that you use

more you use, the less left

anyway win2000 dont have that limit i just find out

does that mean win2000 have unlimited

 

[hubbs]

If your system resources are way down like under 50 and you don't have A LOT of programs open. You more than likely have a memory leak. And I am about possitive I do because I have had my resources in the 30%. YIKES

 

[mjquilly]

The % of resources free is basically telling you how much ram is being eaten up. Right when you start up your computer, check it out. Lets say it's 93%. Now open a few browser windows and maybe a image editor or something and check out the number. It should be quite a few points less. Close everything down, and check it again. You may or may not see the same number you did right when you started up your machine. Like other's have said before, Windows isn't the best operating system ever, especially when it comes to memory management. When you close programs down, sometimes part of them stay running in the background of you system. This could be becuase you didn't exit the program properly, or just becuase Windows didn't unload the program completley. If this number gets too low, you can just restart and the memory will be cleaned out, good as new.

 

[pylorns]

Your system resources are your GDI, your System, and your memory. Your GDI is your screen pointers - if your running any program, the buttons, the icons, etc, each have a certain amount of pointers to tell the computer where to draw them. With windows 9x systems you only have 32k to use. With NT an win2k, you have unlimited. Your system is how much your processor is being bogged down with system processes. And your memory is your ram and your virtual memory, all these are what make up your system resources on a 9x machine.

 

[xtreme2k]

i do not think resources has a relation to the amount of memory you have free

even if u got 1G ram
doesn't mean u cannot run out of resource just running a few small programs

wat i know is RESOURCE DOES NOT MEAN RAM

so u guys dont take it as

i dont have much resource left meaning u dont have enough ram

THAT IS JUST PURELY WRONG i think

resource doesn't mean ram

 

[eraser]

Read this article it explains system resources in depth.

http://www.infinisource.com/techfiles/win-resources.html

As for keeping system resources as high as possible read the second half of my initial post.

Eraser

 

[Psychoholic]

Why is it every few weeks someone makes posts with the misconstrued conception that system resources is tied to RAM??

Here's a pretty good series of articles on System Resources and finding/stopping memory leaks.
http://www.winmag.com/columns/explorer/2000/11.htm

 

[Crash7]

Thanks for all the input. I'll be sure to read the links. As little as I know about the subject I didn't think the RAM was tied to the System Resources, at least not very much. I use a RAM optimizer and vitually every time I run it to restore my RAM the System Resources remains mostly unchanged.

Eraser: Thanks for the tip on MSCONFIG. Didn't know about that but it definitely made a difference.