It's just sad that folks are ok about "Wait; I gotta reboot." Three times I've seen that happen in Video Chat today.
I can prolly tell you why that always crops up:
How many icons are there in the system tray? (<sigh> the "system tray" is that part of the task bar with the clock in it.) What do they do? How many of them are communications applications [applications=programs]? All of them are in memory, right now, using up memory that could allow the application that you are using to run smoother. If they are communications applications (yahoo, icq, aol, aim, msn, cable/dsl connection) they are all listening for network traffic ... when they aren't checking in somewhere ... whether you are using them or not.
Please, it would be interesting to see what folks have running. If you would share a list of them in here, maybe we could work out some of the PC Problems that folks have. Let's Help Each Other!
How many processes are running on your computer right now? How many of them are running because you told them to? What are they doing? What do they do? How do you know that they aren't copying your keystrokes to an IRC server somewhere? How do you know that they aren't copying your keystrokes into a file that is gonna be sent out as soon as you log on? And if you have a cable or dsl connection, you are always logged on, so they can send anytime they want to.
Would it be so much more "inconvenient" to start ICQ, or AIM, or Yahoo Messenger or MSN when YOU get ready to use it? If you are not writing a letter or working in a speadsheet, do you need Office to be sitting there? You can start any of your applications from the Start Button ... or from the icon on your Desktop ... or from the Launch Bar (the area next to the Start Button). (and why does stuff need to be in all three places?! But that's a question for the "wise folks of Redmond" - almost makes me embarassed to live less than 25 miles from there! And his house [did you see that one in the news about all the features he had built into it?] is only another 20 miles or so further south!
) It only takes seconds longer for something to load into memory and start WHEN YOU NEED TO USE IT. It's like carrying everything with you when you leave home just because you might need to run your shirt through the wash if you spill some soup on it at lunch!
Take a look, folks: how much stuff is running in the background? And how much of it do you need to use RIGHT NOW?
That's why reboots are needed so often; because these things conflict with each other trying to the same resources at the same time! Even if you are using something, something else is trying to control/use it too! It ain't "angels on the head of a pin"; it's a bunch of cooks trying to work the same soup pot! And which one put too much of that seasoning in, and fer-gosh-sakes-WHY?
In 98, you can go to Startbutton -> Run, type in msconfig, go to the Startup tab and uncheck the stuff that you don't want to have running. Keep Explorer (this is the shell, not the browser), System Tray, Task Monitor and Power Profile. These are needed so that the system works; some of the rest are extra features that may be running to support some of your peripherals. At the very least, MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT THE REST OF THEM ARE!!!!!!!!!!
I'm mostly sorry that I don't know exactly how to do this in XP, but only because I am unable to tell you how to do the same thing. I'm not at all sorry that I haven't had the dubious pleasure of running XP myself.
Oh, and the firewall, virus scanner, other "protection" stuff ... <shudder> Totally scared of that keg of worms!
Windows is really a pain when one understands how these things should work. Seriously! But, of course, nobody is gonna take my word for it since "the man" done sold them this bill of goods! And we all know that the man is to be trusted in all things don't we? So why do you trust him in this one!!!
I can prolly tell you why that always crops up:
How many icons are there in the system tray? (<sigh> the "system tray" is that part of the task bar with the clock in it.) What do they do? How many of them are communications applications [applications=programs]? All of them are in memory, right now, using up memory that could allow the application that you are using to run smoother. If they are communications applications (yahoo, icq, aol, aim, msn, cable/dsl connection) they are all listening for network traffic ... when they aren't checking in somewhere ... whether you are using them or not.
Please, it would be interesting to see what folks have running. If you would share a list of them in here, maybe we could work out some of the PC Problems that folks have. Let's Help Each Other!
How many processes are running on your computer right now? How many of them are running because you told them to? What are they doing? What do they do? How do you know that they aren't copying your keystrokes to an IRC server somewhere? How do you know that they aren't copying your keystrokes into a file that is gonna be sent out as soon as you log on? And if you have a cable or dsl connection, you are always logged on, so they can send anytime they want to.
Would it be so much more "inconvenient" to start ICQ, or AIM, or Yahoo Messenger or MSN when YOU get ready to use it? If you are not writing a letter or working in a speadsheet, do you need Office to be sitting there? You can start any of your applications from the Start Button ... or from the icon on your Desktop ... or from the Launch Bar (the area next to the Start Button). (and why does stuff need to be in all three places?! But that's a question for the "wise folks of Redmond" - almost makes me embarassed to live less than 25 miles from there! And his house [did you see that one in the news about all the features he had built into it?] is only another 20 miles or so further south!
) It only takes seconds longer for something to load into memory and start WHEN YOU NEED TO USE IT. It's like carrying everything with you when you leave home just because you might need to run your shirt through the wash if you spill some soup on it at lunch!Take a look, folks: how much stuff is running in the background? And how much of it do you need to use RIGHT NOW?
That's why reboots are needed so often; because these things conflict with each other trying to the same resources at the same time! Even if you are using something, something else is trying to control/use it too! It ain't "angels on the head of a pin"; it's a bunch of cooks trying to work the same soup pot! And which one put too much of that seasoning in, and fer-gosh-sakes-WHY?
In 98, you can go to Startbutton -> Run, type in msconfig, go to the Startup tab and uncheck the stuff that you don't want to have running. Keep Explorer (this is the shell, not the browser), System Tray, Task Monitor and Power Profile. These are needed so that the system works; some of the rest are extra features that may be running to support some of your peripherals. At the very least, MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW WHAT THE REST OF THEM ARE!!!!!!!!!!
I'm mostly sorry that I don't know exactly how to do this in XP, but only because I am unable to tell you how to do the same thing. I'm not at all sorry that I haven't had the dubious pleasure of running XP myself.
Oh, and the firewall, virus scanner, other "protection" stuff ... <shudder> Totally scared of that keg of worms!
Windows is really a pain when one understands how these things should work. Seriously! But, of course, nobody is gonna take my word for it since "the man" done sold them this bill of goods! And we all know that the man is to be trusted in all things don't we? So why do you trust him in this one!!!
... please make yourself at home ... 