Monopolizing a forum with little forward progress becomes...mildly\r\nirritating after a while. And we've already got Boxley, DeSitter, and\r\nMarlowe for that. The niche is crowded.

Trying to "fix" minor variations in Win98 memory utilization with few\r\ntools and limited experience is like...trying to influence the onset of\r\nAutumn by rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The situation is\r\nuncontrollable, and the efforts are doomed even in their own context.\r\nIf you're going to insist on running a piece of shit operating system,\r\ndeal with the shit.

The people here who know legacy MS Windows well (I'm not one of them,\r\nthough I've used and even administered various flavors over the past\r\ndecade) are as good as any I've met on the Net, and the advice here is\r\nfar better than what you'll find on most legacy MS Windows dedicated\r\nsites. Grygus, Whysall, Norm, and Folkert have a lot of specific\r\nexperience and understanding of the beast. The fact that all of them\r\nmore-or-less despise Microsoft also speaks volumes. If they can't\r\nresolve your issues, you're not likely to have them solved by anyone\r\nshort of dedicated on-sight help. I've heard all of them claim that\r\nWin98 has a strong tendency to go to shit over time even if you leave it\r\nalone.

The question then becomes:

\r\n
• Do I just deal with it and continue to use Win98?
\r\n
• Do I use something else?
\r\n

If you chose another legacy MS Windows flavor, you're going to be\r\nstuck with the same or similar issues moving forward. WinME is worse\r\nthan 95/98 on any front. Win2K and WinXP offer a different underpinning\r\nkernel, but layer the same load of smoke and mirrors on top which\r\nultimately alienate you from what's going on: you can't see, and can't\r\ncontrol, what your computer is doing. Over time, you're going to be in\r\nthe same boat you're in now, only the old tricks won't work.

This largely leaves you with the option of going Macintosh or\r\nGNU/Linux.

I'm leaning slightly Mac: it's an easy-to-use system, now based on\r\nUnix, from which you may be able to make the transition to free software\r\nover time. Despite Apple's traditional "seal up the works" philosophy,\r\nMac OS X is far more open then prior Apple OSs, and offers much the same\r\nopportunity for low-level access, monitoring, and control as GNU/Linux.\r\nThe downsides are that Jobs remains a control freak, Apple remains a\r\nsmall player, hardware tends to be more expensive, and availability of\r\nproprietary software may be marginal.

If you were to go GNU/Linux, I'd strongly recommend you get a\r\npreinstalled system. That means either buying something preloaded, or\r\nhaving someone load up GNU/Linux for you. In the long run this may be\r\nyour best option, though short-term, there is a curve in getting up to\r\nspeed, particularly if you don't have someone who's keeping the box\r\nmaintained for you (this is where GNU/Linux IMO wins over legacy MS\r\nWindows in the workplace: you've already got admins, and\r\nGNU/Linux is more efficiently maintained -- in the home front, the\r\nsituation's somewhat different, though I know few legacy MS Windows\r\nusers who don't have a friendly guru to bail them out of trouble).

In terms of applications, think of functionality rather than specific\r\nprograms. For major applications: web browsing, email, office apps,\r\netc., free software offers replacements as good or better than the\r\nproprietary competition. In other areas, there are replacements, though\r\ncompatibility with proprietary offerings varies. This is mitigated by\r\nthe fact that much legacy MS Windows software will run on GNU/Linux via\r\ncompatibility tools (Win4Lin, WINE). This doesn't provide you a "clean\r\nbreak", but it does give you a clear migration path away from\r\nthe hegemony of proprietary software. It's not a decision to be taken\r\nlightly.

Suggestions:

\r\n\r\n
• Accept Win98's limitations. They're not going to go away. You've\r\nhad enough advice to deal with them to the extent they can be. If\r\nthat's not sufficient, more conversation is just noise.
\r\n\r\n
• Pick your subsequent poison. Again, if it's Win98, deal with it.\r\nIf it's another legacy MS Windows OS, realize you're going to get reamed\r\nby it one way or the other. If it's an alternative, realize it's not\r\nwhat you're using now, for better and worse. Demanding that it\r\nbe what you're using now will be frowned on. Asking how to do\r\nspecific tasks or improve performance is welcomed.
\r\n\r\n
• Realize that computers aren't easy. They're useful and powerful.\r\nThey make demands or take their tithing, and the coins of the realm are\r\ngenerally convenience (at the price of stability and security),\r\nflexibility (at the cost of initial accessibility), and ease-of-use (at\r\nthe cost of configurability). Microsoft maximises initial convenience.\r\nApple maximishes overall ease-of-use. GNU/Linux maximises flexibility.\r\nNone is impossible to use. None solves everyone's problems.
\r\n\r\n
• In addition to the above, a prime motivator of Microsoft is to lock\r\nyou into a system of upgrades which further strengthens their monopoly,\r\nfeeds their revenue streams, and ties you into digital restrictions\r\nmanagement schemes which prevent you from freely using and accessing\r\nworks for which you're already paid.
\r\n\r\n

There are very few hard and fast rules here. Mostly it's a matter of social norms. Which you can't be expected to know unless someone tells you. So I'm telling you. Several people have indicated agreement with my comments.

There are some who are under the mistaken belief that a spot on the top ten most prolific posters list is some sort of honor. It's not, and more likely indicates an inability to control output. Respect comes from beneficial participation.

You should also be aware that there are those of us with LRPD addictions (that's the "new post" indicator). Finding yourself the principle contributor with multiple new posts in a forum, spawning multiple threads (you are fond of forking new threads, I'd suggest not doing so), makes it harder for those not interested in the discussion to simply ignore it.

Please consider this a friendly nudge in the right direction.

Ego cleanup on isle three