New windows / menus won't open (out of resources)

I am running into a problem where, with only a few applications open, I run
out of some kind of Windows resource and can no longer open new windows.
This includes the ability to click on menu items and have them drop down. It
also includes the ability to click "Start" and have those menus appear. It
also includes the ability to do Ctrl-Alt-Delete and have task manager appear
(instead it just beeps).

I am running Windows XP with SP2. My computer has 512MB of RAM and 1000MB
of paging file space.

I have tried to examine and remove unnecessary programs being run at startup.

Any suggestions as to what to look for?

David Schreiber

David Schreiber wrote:

> I am running into a problem where, with only a few applications open,
> I run out of some kind of Windows resource and can no longer open new
> windows.
> This includes the ability to click on menu items and have them drop
> down. It
> also includes the ability to click "Start" and have those menus
> appear. It also includes the ability to do Ctrl-Alt-Delete and have
> task manager appear (instead it just beeps).
>
> I am running Windows XP with SP2. My computer has 512MB of RAM and
> 1000MB of paging file space.
>
> I have tried to examine and remove unnecessary programs being run at
> startup.

What does a scan with a current antivirus program (meaning a version not
earlier than 2003 using updated virus definitions) show?

Also, remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org and Ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com. Be sure
to update these programs before running them. These programs are free,
so run them both since they complement each other. It is best to run
antivirus and spyware removal tools in Safe Mode. You may also want to
run CWShredder and HijackThis from http://aumha.org/freeware.htm.
Although CWShredder is no longer being updated, it will still clean
older variants of the CoolWebSearch malware. A combination of
HijackThis and about:Buster (http://www.majorgeeks.com) works well in
removing homepage hijackers. Please read the instructions carefully.
Make sure you are able to see all hidden files and extensions (View tab
in Folder Options). Also, make sure you've visited Windows Update and
applied all security patches. Do not install driver updates from
Windows Update. Make sure you are running a firewall.

Malke
--
MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic"

Adjust your desktop heap size:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems.

The "Windows" value has a long string, including
"SharedSection=xxxx,yyyy,zzzz". The second number (yyyy) is the one that
you want to increase. It is probably at 3MB (3072) which allegedly supports
15,000 elements (windows, menus, etc.). While arbitrarily high values are
not recommended, other users found 8MB fixed the problem (8192).

While this may work, I cannot explain why your current value does not. I
have XP SP1 with 256MB and have never encountered this with a 3072 heap
size. Oh well. Hope it works.

---
You can have anything you want... you just can't have everything.
-e
"David Schreiber" <DavidSchreiber@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:C406A246-6793-49A9-B074-669927F6AB78@microsoft.com...
> I am running into a problem where, with only a few applications open, I
run
> out of some kind of Windows resource and can no longer open new windows.
> This includes the ability to click on menu items and have them drop down.
It
> also includes the ability to click "Start" and have those menus appear.
It
> also includes the ability to do Ctrl-Alt-Delete and have task manager
appear
> (instead it just beeps).
>
> I am running Windows XP with SP2. My computer has 512MB of RAM and 1000MB
> of paging file space.
>
> I have tried to examine and remove unnecessary programs being run at
startup.
>
> Any suggestions as to what to look for?
>
> David Schreiber

Eric,

I ran a quick test and this appears to have fixed me problem.

Thanks! I really appreciate your help.

David Schreiber

"Eric Hymander" wrote:

> Adjust your desktop heap size:
> HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems.
>
> The "Windows" value has a long string, including
> "SharedSection=xxxx,yyyy,zzzz". The second number (yyyy) is the one that
> you want to increase. It is probably at 3MB (3072) which allegedly supports
> 15,000 elements (windows, menus, etc.). While arbitrarily high values are
> not recommended, other users found 8MB fixed the problem (8192).
>
> While this may work, I cannot explain why your current value does not. I
> have XP SP1 with 256MB and have never encountered this with a 3072 heap
> size. Oh well. Hope it works.
>
> ---
> You can have anything you want... you just can't have everything.
> -e
> "David Schreiber" <DavidSchreiber@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message news:C406A246-6793-49A9-B074-669927F6AB78@microsoft.com...
> > I am running into a problem where, with only a few applications open, I
> run
> > out of some kind of Windows resource and can no longer open new windows.
> > This includes the ability to click on menu items and have them drop down.
> It
> > also includes the ability to click "Start" and have those menus appear.
> It
> > also includes the ability to do Ctrl-Alt-Delete and have task manager
> appear
> > (instead it just beeps).
> >
> > I am running Windows XP with SP2. My computer has 512MB of RAM and 1000MB
> > of paging file space.
> >
> > I have tried to examine and remove unnecessary programs being run at
> startup.
> >
> > Any suggestions as to what to look for?
> >
> > David Schreiber
>
>
>