XP uses HUGE amount of memory for five minutes after login

[David Pipe]

P4, 2.0 GHz, XP w/all patches, 650 MB RAM.

When I log in, memory usage is comopletely pegged with about 12 MB RAM
Available (task manager). Page file usage is also up to 950 MB

Then, mysteriously after a couple minutes, pagefile usage goes down to 300
MB or so and available system memory goes back to almost 500 MB.

This is ridiculous, and the computer is very slow for the first few minutes
while it works the problem out.

Anyone have any ideas?

Dave

 

[Guest]

How many applications do you have set to run at startup, have you done a virus check lately, did you do a spyware check latelly...

 

[purplehaz]

Look in task manager under the processes tab and see what program is hogging
all the memory. If the mem column isn't there enable it under view, select
columns.

 

[Alex Nichol]

When I log in, memory usage is comopletely pegged with about 12 MB RAM
Available (task manager). Page file usage is also up to 950 MB

Then, mysteriously after a couple minutes, pagefile usage goes down to 300
MB or so and available system memory goes back to almost 500 MB.

This is ridiculous, and the computer is very slow for the first few minutes
while it works the problem out.

The Task manager 'available' and 'page file used' figures can mislead.
(see www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm). But it sounds as if you have
something running automatically at startup that is a memory hog. Maybe
some auto AV scan; maybe malware. Run MSconfig and uncheck things
selectively on the Startup page to try to identify the culprit