Here is what taskmanager shows:

Physical Mem:
total = 260m
avail = 80m
sys cach = 131m

Kernel mem
total = 86m
page = 68m
non-page =18m

Commit charge
total = 279m
limit = 1033m
peak = 292m

top mem users:
svchost.exe = 13m
smc.exe = 7m
explorer.exe = 5m

CPU usage is 95% system idol. Thats what is strange, even with 80=95%
idol, computer is still slow. I am not talking about IE or internet
download. Just local apps. Lauching any window is slow and slow to
redraw windows brought to the front.

I know 264 Meg RAM is not that much, but this computer ran very fast
last year. msconfig startup tab only has 3 items in it.



On Jun 29, 5:49*pm, "Gerry" <ge...@nospam.com> wrote:
> 256 mb RAM will normally not be enough to run WindowsXPand get
> satisfactory performance. The system starts using the pagefile over
> much. Using RAM is much quicker so it often advantageous to reduce
> pagefile usage by adding extra RAM. Ypu need to ensure that the Total
> under Commit Charge in Task Manager is less than the installed RAM. You
> need to base your assessment on typical usage ignoring peaks and
> troughs.
>
> Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
> Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?
>
> You can get more accurate information on pagefile usage using
> pagefilemon, a small freeware utility.
>
> Use page file monitor to observe what is the peak usage. Start it to run
> immediately after start-up and look at the log. Pagefilemon takes
> snapshots. You need to run it at the beginning of the session at then
> run it again at intervals throughout the sessions. The log is Pagefile
> log.txt. If you right click on the file in Windows Explorer and select
> Send to, Desktop (Create Shortcut). The same applies to
> XP_PageFileMon.exe.
>
> A small utility to monitor pagefile usage:http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm
>
> Note that programs using undo features, particularly those associated
> with graphics and photo editing, require large amounts of memory *so if
> you use this type of programme *check these first observing how the page
> usage increases when they start and whether the usage decreases when you
> close the programme.
>
> You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
> the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
> before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
> for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?
>
> Norton AV will be another thing to dump. Replace with a freeware
> antivirus. AVG 8 or Avast.
>
> Problems can also be caused by having too many Internet Explorer
> Add-Ons.
>
> - Show quoted text -