Post #113,966
8/16/03 2:52:08 AM
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ME laptop CPU/mem oddity
My laptop started acting odd a few days ago after a mad string of pop-up ads caused me to have to reboot. It was super slow after that and I started getting "memory full" errors. I did a virus scan, and it found and removed two virii, but the slowness remains.
I downloaded 2 NT-Task-Manager-like share/try-ware utilities to see if I could find the offending process, but neither shows percent CPU by task/process (which NT does and 95 versions did/do). However, one util does seem to show a pattern of about 10-second intervals of maxed-out CPU followed by a more normal curve of about the same period. It seems something is alternating on and off.
IE is the slowest, showing the most symptoms. I am downloading Mozilla now, which is normally far slower than IE, but perhaps not this time.
Something has changed which is farking things up.
________________ oop.ismad.com
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Post #113,969
8/16/03 3:25:05 AM
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Re: ME laptop CPU/mem oddity
Questions about Windows ME will only earn you scorn. Upgrade, change, or shut up and die like a Windows user.
-drl
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Post #114,002
8/16/03 6:11:43 PM
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Choices?
Questions about Windows ME will only earn you scorn. Upgrade, change, or shut up and die like a Windows user.
What the fsck is my choice, man? At purchase time, they did not offer NT/2000, plus it would have required more memory. (Although I should look into an upgrade now perhaps.) And, my career (what is left of it) depends heavily on Microcruft, even though I tried to move to PHP and MySql. I would like to see a movement away from MS, but I don't want to be the sacraficial lamb or the pioneer who gets all the arrows trying to get Linux device drivers. I am not a rich man and I have a family stuffed into a tiny house. Plus, I spend all my rant units on OO :-)
PS, thanx for tips for those of you who didn't do the holywar shuffle.
PS2, what would you guys suggest WRT a "decent" RAM amount for XP-home?
________________ oop.ismad.com
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Post #114,004
8/16/03 6:25:46 PM
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RAM is cheap
Go 512Mb minimum. A gig is better. I would not build a machine with less than a Gb any more. The chips are cheap and they make a lot of bottle necks wider.
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Post #114,005
8/16/03 6:43:34 PM
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Doesn't more RAM eat up laptop batteries?
Plus, I accidently broke the motherboard the last time I tried to install RAM. I tried to be careful, but it did an el-snappo. Had to use rubber bands to keep it together.
________________ oop.ismad.com
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Post #114,050
8/17/03 9:53:36 AM
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I do tend to think more in terms of desktop machines
Batteries, for me, are just to keep going until I plug in again. If you really rely on battery usage, you should probably trade off performance (use less memory.)
Laptops typically have teeny (even though many gigabyte) single platter, single head drives that do not have great throughput. If you want your laptop to perform anything like a desktop machine, you really do not want it spapping to disk any more than necessary. Virtual memory with a slow disk is not your friend.
Just my opinion. Take with as much salt as necessary.
Hugh
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Post #114,054
8/17/03 11:45:10 AM
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Re: I do tend to think more in terms of desktop machines
I have a "high" RPM (5400) drive in my Thinkpad. It's not that bad.
And it's dead quiet. Spookily so.
-drl
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Post #114,064
8/17/03 1:14:22 PM
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Varying mileage :)
I have seen some decent IBM laptops. I don't deny that some upper level machines are quite nice.
I don't tend to use laptops as my real workspace. I normally use laptops as test machines, which accounts for my point of view. If I use a browser to download a large file, an ISO disk image for example, I notice that it takes about 10 minutes, literally, to copy the image in the tmp directory to the final destination. I put that down to having one platter and one head which has to scurry back and forth to do the copying. I am aware that extra memory would not help that situation particularly. I just used it as an example really poor performance of laptop drives. I try to avoid doing anything that requires any real performance on laptops. They are either target machines or a portable terminal to a machine that I can use to do serious work. They're not bad for catching up on e-mail during boring meetings.
Again, that's just me. Varying mileage, salt, etc.
Hugh
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Post #114,070
8/17/03 3:51:28 PM
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Re: Varying mileage :)
Don't know about Windows, since it's pointless to measure ANYTHING under Windows (there being no way to really change it) - but ext2 on this A31 is blazing fast due to intelligent caching. A global find command that returns 10s of thousands of files gets entirely cached and runs at processor and memory speed when executed a second time.
-drl
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Post #114,009
8/16/03 7:16:32 PM
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Re: RAM is cheap
512 is enough. It goddamn well should be.
-drl
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Post #114,008
8/16/03 7:14:30 PM
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Re: Choices?
You can buy an upgrade to XP Pro. It's life. We let this happen to us, now live with it.
Windows ME is without any doubt, the worst, most vile and greed-soaked release of Windows ever. Get it hence. Upgrade to Windows 2000 at least. Steal a copy.
-drl
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Post #114,011
8/16/03 7:35:06 PM
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Sheesh.
WinME isn't that bad. Win 2.11 and Win 3.0 were a heck of a lot worse.
Tab's problems aren't due to WinME, is my guess. Throwing more RAM or a new OS isn't going to keep multiple popups and spybots from gunking up his machine. SBS&D or AdAware will.
Cheers, Scott.
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Post #114,040
8/17/03 1:02:28 AM
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If it came pre-installed, it's fine.
Because whoever built the system image would have gotten all the right drivers et al. I know this because I, too, have a laptop with WinME pre-installed.
Of course, that will not rule out the odds that it has either eaten itself or been damaged. Which is what the Recovery CD-ROM is for.
Wade.
Is it enough to love Is it enough to breathe Somebody rip my heart out And leave me here to bleed
| | Is it enough to die Somebody save my life I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #114,041
8/17/03 4:10:19 AM
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No.
This is one of those rare occasions when I agree with Ross.
Windows ME is a big pile of arse, even by Windows' standards.
Peter [link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Blog]
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Post #114,045
8/17/03 6:40:55 AM
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and why?
..because the WDM driver model, which works "OK" now (relative to Windows), was immature when ME was released - so it's half 98 and half NT, with the worst aspects of both.
-drl
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Post #114,287
8/19/03 6:59:16 AM
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So sure are you...
When my laptop with Windows ME has been stable and trouble-free ever since I bought it over two years ago? :-) And I've never ever re-installed it.
However, I am aware that I do not maintain Windows PCs (apart from my own), either for a living or not, whilst I believe you do. Does you experience of pre-installed Windows ME on laptops match mine?
Wade.
Is it enough to love Is it enough to breathe Somebody rip my heart out And leave me here to bleed
| | Is it enough to die Somebody save my life I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #114,305
8/19/03 10:23:54 AM
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Re: So sure are you...
I've seen at least 5 or 6 ME desktops just go completely tits up, like no Windows I can remember after the jokes before 3.1. The only fix was to upgrade to something real. I don't even remember early NT as being that bad.
-drl
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Post #114,317
8/19/03 11:09:54 AM
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ME was pretty universally despised inside Microsoft.
General consensus was that it was a Turd, and the sooner it was disposed of and replaced with XP Home, the better.
A few people got lucky, though.
In that final hour, when each breath is a struggle to take, and you are looking back over your life's accomplishments, which memories would you treasure? The empires you built, or the joy you spread to others?
Therin lies the true measure of a man.
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Post #114,342
8/19/03 2:38:19 PM
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The first thing you do with Me . .
. . is turn off system restore (though some times it just won't turn off) to improve stability, performance and disk utilization. I have worked on Me machines with as many as 80,000 files in the system restore temp directory. As far as I've seen, system restore doesn't work on Me anyway.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #114,343
8/19/03 2:40:34 PM
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Au contraire...
The first thing *I* did with my new laptop, which came pre-installed with WinMe, was format the drive.
Individual circumstances may differ, however. ;-)
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #114,347
8/19/03 3:39:06 PM
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Yeah, but the clients get annoyed . .
. . if I hand them back a computer that boots toa a "No Operating System" message.
As I see it, Microsoft owes an operating system to anyone who got a computer with WinMe on it, but Microsoft and the BSA don't seem to agree.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #114,351
8/19/03 3:51:08 PM
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Yep.
I filled mine with RedHat after the drive format.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #114,398
8/19/03 5:55:09 PM
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*snort*
A friend recently bade me repair his home machine. I saw that baby-shit green and said without even looking farther "This shit must go."
-drl
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Post #114,402
8/19/03 6:06:26 PM
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ICLRPD (new thread)
Created as new thread #114401 titled [link|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=114401|ICLRPD]
In that final hour, when each breath is a struggle to take, and you are looking back over your life's accomplishments, which memories would you treasure? The empires you built, or the joy you spread to others?
Therin lies the true measure of a man.
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Post #114,408
8/19/03 6:40:30 PM
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Dunno what color it was.
I don't recall even booting it once.
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
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Post #114,418
8/19/03 8:31:35 PM
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Refund?
[link|http://linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7040&mode=&order=0|HOWTO].
--\r\n Karsten M. Self [link|mailto:kmself@ix.netcom.com|kmself@ix.netcom.com]\r\n [link|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/|http://kmself.home.netcom.com/]\r\n What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?\r\n [link|http://twiki.iwethey.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/|TWikIWETHEY] -- an experiment in collective intelligence. Stupidity. Whatever.\r\n \r\n Keep software free. Oppose the CBDTPA. Kill S.2048 dead.\r\n[link|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html|http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html]\r\n
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Post #115,228
8/24/03 8:31:55 PM
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Many thanks!! Karsten
This is EXACTLY the sort of info that I was having to triage (re the Dell Thing and a friend). Have sent her this perfect illustration of the er 'attitude problem' in dealing with a Small Claims judge.
It's a rare Jewel of a recipe, with the emphasis on what you Really [don't want to] do. Saved to disk.
It's also perfect timing: all the 'demand' docs. are now at Dell HQ, the local Tee Vee consumer-show folks waiting with bated breath for Next: which may well be CA Small Claims, if They can't induce action either.
..And a proxy kiss on both cheeks from L. Need any Feldenkrais work ?
Ashton
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Post #114,336
8/19/03 1:58:37 PM
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Windows ME and stability
Part of the stability is the hardware used, the drivers used, and the rest is just pure luck. My brother runs ME with no problems, has the latest updates, drivers, and has hardware that works well with it.
Other people I know who run ME have problems.
"Lady I only speak two languages, English and Bad English!" - Corbin Dallas "The Fifth Element"
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Post #113,974
8/16/03 5:47:46 AM
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Haha
/me points at tablizer, and laughs
1. You run Windows ME 2. You admit it
Peter [link|http://www.debian.org|Shill For Hire] [link|http://www.kuro5hin.org|There is no K5 Cabal] [link|http://guildenstern.dyndns.org|Blog]
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Post #113,982
8/16/03 8:53:47 AM
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Get SpyBot Search and Destroy. Get Mozilla Firebird.
It sounds like you've got a "spy bot" of some sort when you got the viruses. Download [link|http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=download|Spybot Search and Destroy] and run it on your system.
If you find Mozilla to be too slow, you might try [link|http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firebird/releases/0.6.1/MozillaFirebird-0.6.1-win32.zip|Mozilla Firebird (direct download link)]. It's a lot less piggy than Mozilla and works well in my limited testing.
HTH. Good luck!
Cheers, Scott.
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Post #113,995
8/16/03 4:16:18 PM
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Or, AdAware from LavaSoft or both.
Alex
"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." -- last words of Pancho Villa (1877-1923)
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Post #114,012
8/16/03 7:42:56 PM
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I'm seeing a lot of damage from scumware.
Not only does it slow the machines down, if often causes a lot of instability. I use Adaware (which has been greatly improved lately) to remove it.
Some infections, when removed, destroy your tcp/ip, so you have no network or Internet access. Just reinstalling Windows over the current install doesn't fix it. You have to go through the whole process of uninstalling tcp/ip, removing all it's files, and then reinstall Windows over the current install.
Attaching Windows to the Internet just gets more and more expensive by the month.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #114,037
8/16/03 11:20:03 PM
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seeing that a lot myself
most recently was over at a friend's and his roommate asked for help with his computer. [link|http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/|Ad-aware] found and removed over 400 things and cleared up the problem.
Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #114,436
8/19/03 11:23:10 PM
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current state of things
I ran spybotS&D, scandisk, and a few other things, and lappy appears better than before, but not completely back to normal. I found the utility I used to use with 95, "WinTop", and it shows IE is the bottleneck. (However, things used to be slow even without IE up, but I cannot recreate that so far.) I run Mozilla more now, but some sites only work with IE. Perhaps it is time to download a (fat) IE upgrade. Thanks for the suggestions.
BTW, why don't antivirus packs check for spybots and adware?
________________ oop.ismad.com
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Post #114,459
8/20/03 12:15:09 AM
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Licensing agreements.
Since most "spyware" is installed voluntarily, as part of another application, AV companies don't consider those applications viruses per se.
In that final hour, when each breath is a struggle to take, and you are looking back over your life's accomplishments, which memories would you treasure? The empires you built, or the joy you spread to others?
Therin lies the true measure of a man.
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