thank you very much
:
-
You're asking about troubleshooting that is not well-suited to
novice.
In the end, you may find it worthwhile for your computer's health as
well as your mental health to hire someone.
To find out what is running on your computer, open Task Manager
[CTRL+ALT+DEL] and look at the Processes tab. Display the Processes i
decreasing order of Mem Usage. Now you can see what is occupying s
much
memory. If the processes aren't familiar to you, you can look them u
with a Google search.
If I were you, the first thing I would be concerned about is scannin
for and eliminating malware. This too is not well-suited to th
novice,
but here you go:
Make sure that your anti-malware software is running, then downloa
the
latest signatures and run a full scan.
Comprehensive anti-malware software scans for all types of malicious
software in the background, on demand and on schedule. If you don'
have
comprehensive anti-malware software, you're a sitting duck.
For now try scanning your system with /several/ of the better online
scanners, such as:
Kaspersky Antivirus (
http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner)
Panda ActiveScan (
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan)
Download HijackThis from
www.trendsecure.com. Run it, save a log, an
post the log at one of the many sites that support HJT, such as
spywarewarrior.com, bleepingcomputer.com, and
http://aumha.net -- bu
not here. Within a day you'll have step-by-step advice from an exper
on
cleaning up any malware infestations.
Even the best detection and removal software can't fix every malware
infection. If none of the above remove the infection, you may want t
show the computer to a professional. You might need to erase your har
drive and start over.
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est
Kaja wrote:-
Ok thank you very much that makes perfect sense but how do I tel
what
programs are running in the background and how do i know which I ca
stop and
how to stop them? I a a novice. Thanks
Kaja
:
-
The message means, very simply, that there is not enough memory fo
the
tasks your computer is being asked to perform. Your job is to figur
out
how to reduce the demands on your RAM. Here are two common things t
check:
1- Malicious software (malware) frequently uses up a great deal of
memory. You must scan for /all types/ of malware and remove what yo
find.
2- You may have too many memory-intensive programs running at th
same
time. Take a hard look at what programs start with Windows and run i
the background. Do you need to have all that? Can those programs b
set
to use less memory?
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est
Kaja wrote:
Hi I am a novice and cant afford a tech so I hope somebody can help
I will
try to post well. I am running a Dell Dimension with XP home editio
with
SP3 as my OS. Windows recently displayed a message that sai
"Windows is
running low on virtual memomy it is enlarging the size of the pagin
file"
and something to the effect of all programs might not function well.
Now
does this mean I need more RAM or more HD space? My specs ar
currently 512
mb of RAM and 44.3 gigabytes free on a capacity 70.9 gigabytes. An
help
would be greatly appreacited
Thanks
Kaja--
-
