XP keeps crashing

[Bully]

This sometimes happens, usually when multitasking and
using "MyComputer".

Task master shows that explorer.exe memory usage typically
shoots up to 70+ MB and PF usage increases to up to almost
1GB and everthing slows to a crawl, and eventually
crashes. If i "end process" on explorer.exe and then
restart it, things start working again, but only for a
short period and it happens again.

I think it may occur more frequently after shutting down
zonealarm, but that may be a red herring. I have 256MB DDR
RAM - do i simply need more memory? Any ideas appreciated.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Download Adaware from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ and use
it to remove parasites.

--
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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Stourport, Worcs, England
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[Rich Barry]

Bully, 256MB of Ram is just enough. Usually 512MB is the ideal amount. But
check your system for trojans and spyware.
You can use these sites to do the check
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

http://safespy.net/Spyware_Hunter.htm

http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/


http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=knowledgebase/threats

http://spybot-spyware.com/trojan.htm

 

[Bully]

Thanks for the replies, guys. However, it's a new computer
with XP Home SP1 preinstalled, and i've only ever gone
online with zonealarm active. I also run regular checks
with AVG A/V and Adaware, so i doubt if this is the
problem. Any other ideas?

Cheers

-----Original Message-----
Download Adaware from

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ and use

it to remove parasites.

--
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA
(e-mail address removed)
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Bully" <[email protected]> wrote in

message news:[email protected]...

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Look in Event Viewer at the logged errors and post them here and you may get some answers.

1. To open Event Viewer, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, double-click Event Viewer and select System for system errors or Application for application errors. Look for Error in the Type column and double click on Error to reveal a Description of the error. This can be copied by using Clipboard Viewer (see later).

2. Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you should double click for further information and you can copy using copy and paste.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

3. For some errors you will find "+ Related Knowledge Base Article", which if double clicked takes you to the Knowledge Base Article containing a suggested solution.

There always seems to be a step 2 but not always a step 3.

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports (Step 1). Run Event Viewer and double click on the error you want to copy. In the window which appears is a button resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer. Now start your message ( email )and do a paste into the body of the message. This will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report complete with links into the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from Event Viewer. It can be helpful to place a shortcut to Event Viewer on your Desktop.


--
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA
(e-mail address removed)
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Bully]

Thanks, i'll try to do this next time the problem occurs.

-----Original Message-----
Look in Event Viewer at the logged errors and post them

here and you may get some answers.

1. To open Event Viewer, click Start, click Control

Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, double-click
Event Viewer and select System for system errors or
Application for application errors. Look for Error in the
Type column and double click on Error to reveal a
Description of the error. This can be copied by using
Clipboard Viewer (see later).

2. Part of the Description of the error will include a

link, which you should double click for further
information and you can copy using copy and paste.

http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

3. For some errors you will find "+ Related Knowledge

Base Article", which if double clicked takes you to the
Knowledge Base Article containing a suggested solution.

There always seems to be a step 2 but not always a step 3.

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports (Step 1). Run

Event Viewer and double click on the error you want to
copy. In the window which appears is a button resembling
two pages. Double click the button and close Event Viewer.
Now start your message ( email )and do a paste into the
body of the message. This will paste the info from the
Event Viewer Error Report complete with links into the
message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting
from Event Viewer. It can be helpful to place a shortcut
to Event Viewer on your Desktop.

--
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA
(e-mail address removed)
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bully" <[email protected]> wrote in

message news:[email protected]...

 

[Alex Nichol]

Thanks for the replies, guys. However, it's a new computer
with XP Home SP1 preinstalled, and i've only ever gone
online with zonealarm active. I also run regular checks
with AVG A/V and Adaware, so i doubt if this is the
problem. Any other ideas?

I haven't - other than that I have been seeing something rather similar,
but less drastic, which I have I think associated with a fairly recent
Windows update: but not yet identified which. What I see suggests
that, as far as the page file goes, if the system has to increase the
actual size of page file *at all*, it is grossly overdoing it; I see
say a 7MB increase in file *usage* resulting in a 500 MB expansion of
the file. So setting a higher initial file size might help. Beyond
that, one possibility is a repair reinstall, and then install the
essential security updates but no more, and see.

But the expansion of the memory use by explorer (which I also see to a
certain extent) is very puzzling.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Are you using a Firewall?

If the log was running the last crash should say something. You need not wait until next time!

--
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA
(e-mail address removed)
Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~