XP and the MEM hog processes
 

ctrl=alt=delete I have 28 processes I am sure I don't need them all wasting memory.

What gives? How many processes do you have running?
I could take 5 away from my list of processes because they are programs I am running. Still 23 does that seem like allot?

I have only heard that XP has some .exe that just waste memory.

What’s your experience?
Do you know where I can find a console that will monitor CPU, MEMORY and Disk usage.

Have a look at em all

I just bought an extra 512 MB stick of RAM and said screw it. They must do something... :D I have 30 processes now, but I have a few programs open. Have you been to http://www.tweakxp.com/ before?

I am gonna try that now thanx

Well I D/L it and I Wouldnt pay for it. It only saves you some time, other then that it's not worth $29.99 :eek: It real doesnt do anything I am looking for. The only thing was th reg edit for start up, and that was kinda weak.

I just D/L Xteq and it seems 100times better and its free! plus it doesnt limit you to just windows I can't speak much on it yet.

check it out here http://www.tucows.com/system/preview/219636.html

I just use tweaks posted on their site. Never downloaded the software. Xteq is a great program though. I've used it quite a bit.

I noticed that you had mm_tray running. Can I assume that is music match? You should disable junk like that. Start -> Run "msconfig". Uncheck all the junk in startup that you don't need. (leave stuff alone if you don't know what it is) You can do the same thing in the registry if you prefer.

It looks like Win9x runs fewer "useless" processes than WinNT/2k/XP but it's only an illusion. Some of the processes that XP is running, for example the print spooler (spoolss) and the logon service (winlogon), are embedded into the Win9x kernel so it doesn't appear on the Win9x task list. It bloats up the kernel; you just don't see it and have no idea how much memory it eats up (and no control over its priority).

Yeah I used it alot the other day (music match), I just didnt bother to change it.
I did know it was there.





Xteq Has to be the BEST DAMN TOOL FOR CUSTOM I have ever used.
I am still tweaking stuff from the last post untill now I have been tweaking. Its been atleast a few hours.
If you guys havent used it DO IT, It has a wizard to change everything with out diging into the reg. The Wizard shouldnt even be called that. More like GOD or Bringer of Happy to Windows OS.

Being able to add Commands to my right click menu is way to cool.
Besides being able to erase and change the factory set Computer manuf
and everything eles. This computer now belongs to me and runs and looks the way I want it.
You can change so many things in no time with Xteq.

:up:

I am so serious when I say its the best util I have ever used and now the only!

well another cool thing is that i can change the exe's to run or not.
I can also channge the boot status from user to system or system to user now. also remove anything I need. I think I can also remove any app that would normaly run and change it to run only when needed.

I am just so FREAKIN happy with Xteq I could kiss the developer.
It'll even change the Registration info for windows to think that it has already reg. This allows you to get updates with out registration with sending info to MS.

Damn cool :cool:

If we had a best and worst Products sticky this would be next to winamp. :D

I have 36 proccesses running. I use Customizer XP. I am downloading Xtwq right now. :)

On average I have about 20 processes running (which use ~110 MB) including 3-5 IE windows, Winamp, 1-2 instances of FlashFXP, Windows Explorer, NAV, Firewall.

That's pretty good, I think :)

Does anyone know of a WinNT4-style Task Manager that'll work with WinME? I hate the crappy prog list on Ctrl+Alt+Del, I want more control over my system processes. Is there anything that'll emulate it?

Here's one http://www.niresoft.com/tm.asp looks cool

this what they say on the first page:

Windows 9x/ME Task Manager is a performance, process, and application viewer all rolled into one product. This product is almost identical to the wonderful Task Manager you receive with Windows® NT and 2000. In this product, you can view, Physical, Virtual Memory usage, CPU Usage, Threads, Handles and processes running. The "Performance" tab displays your CPU and Memory usage in a histogram style graph. Both CPU and Memory usage are also displayed in a usage meter. The "Processes" tab displays all running programs on the current machine. The "Applications" tab displays each application running, as well as hidden applications. This program is freeware, but the software comes with no warranty and no support. View some of the many features built into this program:

On the question I asked about cpu & memory monitor I have been doing some research and here are the links:

http://www.tenebril.com/products/memboost/index.html
With this prog you can acctualy set the amount of free memory you would like to have or set how much is used. However you look at, then when you get to the point of full memory usage it boosts your memory.


http://casemods.pointofnoreturn.org/cpumeter/
This one is kinda neat, it monitors CPU,Memory,Net Work Bandwidth
Hard Drive Usage,OS information and Program information thru a bunch of LED's connected to your paralell port.

http://www.tiler.com/freemeter/description.htm
This one seems to coolest and most usable so far it monitors Drive Space, CPU, System Resources, Page File, Physical Memory, Network, Disk, Process, Network Ping and System Uptime. You can pick what meters to use How they look and the size. It also has a system tray meter and lcd support. I like this one! d/l it here http://www.tiler.com/freemeter/

only 17 processes but I have almost 800meg of ram so I don't really care :p

I thought I was ok with 288mb of ram :(
I am now trying to figure out how I am goona over clock my CPU.

I have an AMD K-7 slotA x86 family 6 model stepping 500mhz
My Mother Board is a compaq 5800 series
System bus is 200mhz
L1 cache is 128KB
L2 cache is 512KB

Now I just gotta figure out how to change my Bios to increase bus speed.

This is my first attempt any help would be nice.

I installed that, and it is fantastic. Thanks for the link, it's exactly what I wanted. It even looks 99% like the Win2K one, too. :) :up:

Glad I could help. :)

Well I am about to hit the restart and press f10. If you dont hear from me in awhile send help...wait...send new BIOS. ;)

Windows XP seems terribly bloated in it's System properties... :(

Its huge to many un-used apps goin on.

RM's link above is a pretty nice walk-thru.



I can't seem to get to my BIOS. Pressing f10 doesnt seem to work.

F2 and Delete are the usual keys* for opening the BIOS...

*on machines I've seen, mostly

You must mean K-6. K-7 was the codename for the Athlon. None were ever released under that name. You did say it was slot-A, though. Hmm.

You may not be able to change the bus speed on you computer. Most prebuilt computers don't use OC-able motherboards.

What brand is your comp?

What does svchost.exe do? I've got one instance using 15Mb and 3 others using 3Mb each! This doesn't seem right when winamp is only using 7Mb...

SVCHost is like a wrapper for other processes. It basically just runs other processes.

So what happens if I click here to end the proc










;)

curi0us its a compaq 5838

dylman follow the link that RM posted above it will explain stuff to you.

DJ Roach, I'll go off and do some reading now.

BTW I just killed svchost anyway and it did nothing, except the internet icon in the taskbar disappeared, which was a bit boring. I was expecting a crash or something....

EDIT: It's killed my soundcard drivers as well. Fingers crossed for the reboot...

ok, first lesson, never (and when i say never i mean never) try to overclock a amd, ask a pro overclocker and he'll say that a intel processor is easier to overclock, the reason: an amd processor get's very hot and you'll need a massive cooling system.

That was the dumbest post I've ever read...

The way it runs now it doesnt even get warm. It gets maxed easy though. I was thinking of cooling it with a 16" fan bllowing directly onto the mother board.

I have read a bit on Overclocking, The AMD shows to me to out perfrom intel in overclocking hands dwon. Also have read that AMD's are very under rated as to what they can do.

I'll be nicer than predator and simply say that you are "misinformed".

The multiplyers on Intel processors cannot be unlocked, therefore they are not well suited for overclocking.

All modern processors are hot. They all get hotter when you overclock.

P.S. All the Compaq's I've worked had "del" set as the "setup key". If that's not it, I dunno. Where did you get the "k-7" reading from?

On the four Compaqs in my haouse, all of them under 5yrs old, F10 is the BIOS setup key. Not likely that you'll be able to do much in there though; Compaq uses a severely neutered BIOS that needs a special board to change the heavy-duty settings; the user can't see much, and can't do much.

Well, I've only worked on two. :D

Funny you should post that while I am working around Compaq and with them let me just post a couple good links for you.

The first is SMBIOS very cool tool, it tells you everything about your computer with a click. So far I have figured out phoenix is th BIOS maker and its upgradable flash. Now I can get a flash tool and bios from Some place other then compaq.
Also found out The voltage, external clock speed max speed and current speed of my CPU along with all L1 L2 L3 cache sizes and info.
Basicaly those are a few of 30 important bios facts that it will tell you. get it here http://www.sudleyplace.com/ near the bottom of the screen where it says windows version.

My f10 bios is at the compaq screen I have to press f10 4 or 5 times.

Go here for Compaq support http://web14.compaq.com/falco/emailform.asp They get back to you in less then an hour. You can sak them about anything and they can tell you. I was shocked the first time I used it. I figured it would be just like their phone support SHIT. Very nice to use with any compaq questions. All though I did get an email back a few minutes ago on my bios questions that were not that great. I asked who made the bios, what vers it was, and if I could flash it. The answer I got was that compaq makes the bios. The flash utill is nothing more then the sofpaq bios upgrade I could get here.
http://web14.compaq.com/falco/sp_det...Software=33424 and that I need to check my system info in my bios. If you goto the link above you'll see the upgraded bios fixes lots of problems.

Go here http://www.unicore.com/biosagent/ and use the bios agent to tell you BIOS id, Bios Date, BIOS Signon,
Bios Type (Maker, Version, Release), Super I/O, Chip Set and OEM Signon. If your lucky and you have one of the big BIOS company chip sets simple searching will find you all kinds of flash utills and bios.

I'll let you know how it went when I am done.

What a HUGE pain in my azz!!!. I will never buy anything COMPAQ again.
Never after days of suffering have a been so let down! never never nevere never. The amount of time and research it took me to over clock my processor by 100mhz. I have a rated 499.mhz processecor I finally got to 600mhz after way to many days of testing. My out come was a faster CPU and a REAL fuct registry. My computer is now one big COMPAQ turd. If given access to MY!!!! BIOS like most computers I wouldn't have any problems at all this would have been a five-minute adjustment. I made it happen I have been able to do allot more then a basic COMPAQ user. It will never ever ever be worth your time anger management or patience to even try the things I have done. I ran faster, my startup was down to 5sec, my CPU@600mhz. My reliability was Stable. My frustration rate with the way my computer worked, UP 100%!!!! My computer ran Awesome and horrible at the same time. I hate COMPAQ and XP. XP gives you WAY WAY to much crap you don’t need, and CONPAQ gives you nothing YOU NEED. You end up with CRAP. Learn to build your own and be happy. NEVER NEVER NEVER BUY A NAME BRAND COMPUTER.

Uhh, I like XP :)

It works fine on my (heavily modified) Gateway, Athlon 800mHz, 386MB of RAM.

Well, they sold you a 500 mhz system. Can't really blame Compaq. Maybe there's a reason they don't let you overclock. Probably that cheap azz RAM they use.

XP good COMPAQ bad XP & COPMAQ GRRRR..
 

See that’s what pisses me off, COMPAQ just assumes everyone that buys a computer from them is computer illiterate. They give you shit for upgrading option(s) price(s) .

Its all preset to what ever they feel like you should buy from them or how you should use it. Your also held at their will for BIOS upgrades and product info and drivers. The older it gets the more fuct you become for support.
They take everything (even if they don't build it) and make it all proprietary to only COMPAQ shit.
God the biggest pain in the ass is all they did was stop the people who know what they are doing. If you don’t know shit about computers you won’t be getting in your BIOS.
If you do I doubt you would be able to change any thing HARMFULL.
I get so pissed it drives me nuts-o. I have a slot-A AMD Athalon and a bus speed capable of 200MHZ. L1 is 256 AND l2 IS 512 A VIA C686A South Bridge and an AMD chip set. The products I have on this board should be able to see close to a 1000mhz stable over-clock. This can all be done very easy in a REAL BIOS. Instead you get crap COMPAQ standards all preset and options that don’t mean shit. The sucky thing is the BIOS is made by another company that makes an awesome BIOS. The way COMPAQ uses it totally degrades the reason for having such a BIOS.

PHIS: I love XP too.....I hacked the registry hard. I got rid of everything and changed some of the most annoying things. Now it’s awesome! The only thing is most of the annoying shit could have been made removable or changeable by MS. Instead I have to spend hours messin with the freakin REG. Now I have to back up all my stuff (again) and re-hack my REG to finally get things working right.
After enough trial and error I got things UBER FUCT. So now its time to use all the good fixes and leave it alone. The only thing is it will end op being a LONG all day process. Its WORTH IT and at the same time it’s a waste of time. I guess its only a waste of time because I have a COMPAQ :D :p

I found a slot-A 700MHZ down the street for $65. I also found a much NICER motherboard for $120. So I am deciding if I should buy the AMD 700mhz or the motherboard and retro fit it to my COMPAQ case.
I have a $500 burning a hole in my pocket, of witch I can use $125 for computer stuff.

What do you guys think I should do?