PC displays "90% of resources in use" message with no activity

[kjacobs]

My PC is just sitting there with no apps open and I get the "90% of system resources are in use; please close some apps" type of message.

What could cause this?

Ken

 

[kjacobs]

Anybody wanna take a shot at it?

 

[ProviaFan]

<< My PC is just sitting there with no apps open and I get the "90% of system resources are in use; please close some apps" type of message.

What could cause this?

Ken >>


Throw out Windblows 98 and put a nice OS, like Windows 2000 or Windows XP Pro on there. Systems based on the NT kernel (like Win2k and XP) don't have the system resources issue (which is a holdover from the DOS/Win3.1 days), and will not have this problem
Failing that (if you just don't want to be up-to-date), try cleaning out your startup items (easiest way is "Start > Run > msconfig.exe") and rebooting.

 

[trenchfoot]

you might think about dl'ing/installing the free utility taskinfo 2000. it shows you real-time system resource usage. maybe it'll show you what app is causing a memory leak or other such unwanted behavior? 🙂

 

[AGodspeed]

1. Reboot your system, then see what percentage of Window's resources you have left.
2. Go to the control panel (settings --> control panel) and double click the "system" icon and you can uncheck items that normally are automatically started when you boot up your computer. This will free up a lot of system resources.
3. If you can, upgrade to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. That'll save you time and trouble.

Good luck. 🙂

 

[volfan]

Also in Windows 98, they have a great utility called "msconfig". Click on Start -> Run -> Type in 'MSCONFIG' and then go to the StartUp tab. Uncheck all the unecessary items you have starting up. That should help free up a lot of resources.

 

[Lanyap]

Win9x and WinME have a finite amount of space within the OS to keep track of system resources for the programs you run. Even though you close your programs they can leave system resources allocated. If a program crashes it can leave all of its system resources allocated. After a period of time more and more of your system resources are used up as you start and stop programs until you reach a point where there is not enough system resources left to do much of anything. The only way to free up the dead system resources is to reboot.

I did some research in this area awhile back. I was using a Win98 PC at work and I had a lot of programs open. Even though I shutdown all the programs at the end of each day I could only go a few days before I had to reboot because of the lack of system resources. I ran X-terminal software, Outlook, Vantive, IE and TN3270 clients (I had three monitors). I have a new work PC now running Win2000 and I don't have system resource problems anymore. WinNT and Win2000 handle system resources differently.

Run "Resource Meter" in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and you can see the amount of resources you use.

 

[Dreadogg]

Stop slammin older operating systems some of us dont have lots of money or access to warzes groups to give us the option to change our OS like the weather . 😉 Ok now for kjacobs take the other peps advise and run msconfig and uncheck all unnessary programs, dont check antivirus software if you dont have antivirus software get some trojan's could be the problem also. Then post back your results so we can all see the changes.

 

[kjacobs]

Thanks dreadogg! I have three kids and a dog to feed! So I'll stick to win98!

Ken

 

[Muadib]

Before you run msconfig, hit ctrl + alt +del and see what's currently running. If you have anything other than systray and explorer, then you are running other apps and just don't know it.

 

[madthumbs]

This problem can also be caused by running ram at the wrong cas or CL setting in the BIOS. For that matter it could possibly be incompatable ram. I wouldn't doubt that overclocking could be another factor, "if" it's not one of the problems listed above.