98 Gradual RAM Loss

[BobM]

I've read 'bout ME memory hog bug, but for years I've heard about a general problem with losing RAM over time due to TSR something or other. (Terminate-Stay-Resident) This prob must be so well known that I can't find a single post either complaining about or solving this problem (checked hundreds on this forum alone).

I boot with 92% resources, and after a few apps open and close, it's down to 72%. At mid-60's, it freezes. The older rigs at work **** everyone off from chronic locks. The common joke is, "Power off, - power on . . . Power off, - power on."

Is this the best Mr. Gates' team can do with their 70,000 billion quadrillion dollars of state-of-the-art resources and technical prowess?

signed, More confused than upset

[reghakr]

TSR's are associated with DOS applications. The only reference in ME is the Environment tab on the msconfig utility. The typical entry looks like this:

PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND
PROMPT=$p$g
TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP

Mine is an upgrade, so I'm not sure whether the path to C:\windows\Command appears on a clean install.

Here are some general speed=up tips:

First go to Start>Settings>ControlPanel>Automnatic Updates and turn off automatic updates. choose I will update my computer manually.

Then right-click on the icons in the tray area, open each, go through the options to turn off the "tray" or "run at startup" feature.

For the others, go to Start>Run, type msconfig. Leave systray, scan registry, Load Power Profile (both),*StateMgr, your virus scanner and firewall if you have one.

Go to Start>Run, type notepad c:\windows\win.ini and check for programs loading here:
[windows]
load=
run=

Open Explorer and navigate to c:\windows\temp and delete all files here. Empty the Recycle Bin

Open Internet Explorer, go to Tools>InternetOptions, click the Delete Files and Clear History buttons.

Close all tray applications and hit Alt_Ctl_Del and end task on all items except for explorer and systray, disable your screensaver, then run scandisk, then defrag.

If you don't know what an entry is or what it does, post back.

Take a look at Performance Tuning - WinME:
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.putergeek.com/performance_me/index.shtml>http://www.putergeek.com/performance_me/index.shtml</a>

reghakr

[RWSchlatter]

"...for years I've heard about a general problem with losing RAM over time due to TSR something or other..."
as reghakr reminded - TSR is a remains of MSDOS time (or are you referencing all applications started during boot as TSRs?). In Win3 memory management was still very open, more like a flat single address space, and TSRs could interact with running Windows apps (J remember there actually had been some very nice supporting features available in this form). If J remember properly, starting with Win3.1 and then in Win95, each app had its own 32bit address space and the 16bit TSRs could not interact any more with the apps. As of Win95 msdos type TSRs will only be fine when loaded in the same dos session as the app itself (in WinMe you will not have real dos mode to start TSRs anymore).

"...Is this the best Mr. Gates' team can do ...of state-of-the-art resources and technical prowess..."
It was never the intention of MS to carry on TSRs for long ! Usually the culprit for memory leaks would be the TSR for not using memory as defined in the Platform SDK. Why don't you blame the authors of these TSRs, they are not following up with the changing technology. History of modern forms of interaction between TSR-like programs and applications would be DDE / OLE / COM (sending keystrokes continues to be supported).

Anyhow development on Win9x/Me was completed some time ago (apart from ongoing support - bug fixing), so don't expect any further changes.

If you contact MS you may get some reply concerning TSRs in its new WinXP.

"...This prob must be so well known that I can't find a single post either complaining about or solving this problem ..."
The outcry must have been six to seven years ago when Win95 came to market.

"...can't find a single post ...checked hundreds on this forum alone..."
This site has started as a Registry Guide and discussion forum. The General Win sections are very new.

"...The older rigs at work **** everyone off from chronic locks..."
Probably you are one of those users that try to run "very old" apps using TSRs on "modern" Windows versions. Upgrade compatibility for TSRs was never promised.

______________
Regards - Richard

[Paul D]

I'll come in here with the observation that RAM isn't resources, and resources isn't RAM.
Resources is a fixed memory area that handles the GUI. It is 64kb. Full stop. End of Story. Doesn't matter how much RAM you have.
You don't leak resources to running programs (so-called TSRs or otherwise). You leak resources when you close a program and it doesn't release its resources correctly

Paul D