memory usage

[martin sanabia]

i need help in being able to control my memory usage when
my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using
about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what are
the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do that
i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run windows xp
home, and all its esential tasks, please help.

[Walter Clayton]

Are you actually having performance problems or do you simply think you have
a problem?

BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're looking at is pretty much
meaningless.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"martin sanabia" > wrote in message
...
> i need help in being able to control my memory usage when
> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using
> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what are
> the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do that
> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run windows xp
> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.

[Ken Blake]

In , martin sanabia wrote:

> i need help in being able to control my memory usage when
> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using
> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what are
> the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do that
> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run windows xp
> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.


There's nothing to help with. You apparently want to minimize the
amount of memory Windows uses, but that's a counterproductive
desire. Windows is designed to use all, or nearly all, of your
memory, all the time, and that's good not bad. Unused memory is
wasted memory. You paid for it all and shouldn't want to see any
of it wasted.

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all
the time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will
use that part for caching, then give it back when your apps later
need it.


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Martin Sanabia]

i went to my task manager and looked at everything that it
shows running. i don't know which of these are third-party
software and which come from MS and are essential for my
system to run properly. please let me know which ones you
know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows 2000
Professional (also include any services from MS that i may
be running that i wouldn't want to close).

thanks




>-----Original Message-----
>Are you actually having performance problems or do you
simply think you have
>a problem?
>
>BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're looking
at is pretty much
>meaningless.
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
ult.asp
>
>
>"martin sanabia" > wrote in message
...
>> i need help in being able to control my memory usage
when
>> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using
>> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what
are
>> the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do
that
>> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run windows
xp
>> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.
>
>
>.
>

[Walter Clayton]

I'll repeat the question.

Do you have an actual performance problem or do you simply think you have
one?

What problem are you actually attempting to address?

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"Martin Sanabia" > wrote in message
...
> i went to my task manager and looked at everything that it
> shows running. i don't know which of these are third-party
> software and which come from MS and are essential for my
> system to run properly. please let me know which ones you
> know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows 2000
> Professional (also include any services from MS that i may
> be running that i wouldn't want to close).
>
> thanks
>
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Are you actually having performance problems or do you
> simply think you have
> >a problem?
> >
> >BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're looking
> at is pretty much
> >meaningless.
> >
> >--
> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> insufficiently advanced.
> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
> ult.asp
> >
> >
> >"martin sanabia" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> i need help in being able to control my memory usage
> when
> >> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using
> >> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what
> are
> >> the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do
> that
> >> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run windows
> xp
> >> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[null]

Martin Sanabia wrote:
> i went to my task manager and looked at everything that it
> shows running. i don't know which of these are third-party
> software and which come from MS and are essential for my
> system to run properly. please let me know which ones you
> know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows 2000
> Professional (also include any services from MS that i may
> be running that i wouldn't want to close).
>

You can probably set the following services to Manual:

Distributed Link Tracking Client
Portable Media Serial Number
Remote Registry Service
Themes
Wireless Zero Configuration
World Wide Web Publishing Service


--
-the small one

All postings carry no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied.
Proceed at your own risk, and perform system and data backups prior to
making changes to your system, and on a regular basis, to protect your
system.

[Walter Clayton]

And what if the OP is using those services? Do you know that they aren't?

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"null" > wrote in message ...
> Martin Sanabia wrote:
> > i went to my task manager and looked at everything that it
> > shows running. i don't know which of these are third-party
> > software and which come from MS and are essential for my
> > system to run properly. please let me know which ones you
> > know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows 2000
> > Professional (also include any services from MS that i may
> > be running that i wouldn't want to close).
> >
>
> You can probably set the following services to Manual:
>
> Distributed Link Tracking Client
> Portable Media Serial Number
> Remote Registry Service
> Themes
> Wireless Zero Configuration
> World Wide Web Publishing Service
>
>
> --
> -the small one
>
> All postings carry no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied.
> Proceed at your own risk, and perform system and data backups prior to
> making changes to your system, and on a regular basis, to protect your
> system.
>

[Ron Martell]

"martin sanabia" > wrote:

>i need help in being able to control my memory usage when
>my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using
>about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what are
>the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do that
>i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run windows xp
>home, and all its esential tasks, please help.

Memory exists to be used. The Windows Memory Manager will always
attempt to find some use, any potentially beneficial use at all, for
every bit of RAM in the computer, rather than just leaving that RAM
sitting there idly going to rot. And just as soon as some better use
comes along for any of that RAM the Memory Manager will instaneously
drop the more trivial usages so as to free up whatever amount is
required.

Free memory should really be referred to as "useless memory" because
that is what it actually represents - memory for which Windows has so
far been totally unable to find any productive use for.

If you really want free memory then you could try taking the memory
chips out of the computer and mounting them on the wall.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

[martin sanabia]

let me refrase the question and no i dont have nor think i
have a performance problem. let me explain. I run a 2.6
pentium 4 ,512 ram 120 gigabytes of harddrive, when my
windows starst up it runs all the programs that came with
the computer including the essintials to run (Windows XP)
operating system and also other programs that i am not
fond of . like spamguard and windows messenger,yahoo
messenger etc. now what im tryin to do is let my computer
know that i dont want it to run these other programs that
are not essential to running my operating system for
windows xp. so that i have a faster start up and that it
is much runs much smother than before. but i dont want to
delete the programs themselves . know if i want to run the
program i woul like to do it on my own and then terminate
its process when i see fit. i understand that my computer
can handle more than 140-160mgb but i like to lower the
number so that i have more available memory when i want to
use it for bigger programs like dvd burmers or Playing
videogames, big programs that require alot of memory. i am
asking this because a friend of mine did this and he gets
better performance out of his pc, but he does not know
what tasks a essential and non essential siince a freind
of his that departed did it for him, now do you gys think
its possible or is he blowing smoke up my *ss
hopefully this clarified it a little more , and no i dont
have a problem now but like i said i dont want it to runs
progams/tasks that i am not using or dont need at the time
because they are just taking up my memory i could use for
something else. thanks sorry for the trouble

>-----Original Message-----
>I'll repeat the question.
>
>Do you have an actual performance problem or do you
simply think you have
>one?
>
>What problem are you actually attempting to address?
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
ult.asp
>
>
>"Martin Sanabia" > wrote in
message
...
>> i went to my task manager and looked at everything that
it
>> shows running. i don't know which of these are third-
party
>> software and which come from MS and are essential for my
>> system to run properly. please let me know which ones
you
>> know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows 2000
>> Professional (also include any services from MS that i
may
>> be running that i wouldn't want to close).
>>
>> thanks
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >Are you actually having performance problems or do you
>> simply think you have
>> >a problem?
>> >
>> >BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're looking
>> at is pretty much
>> >meaningless.
>> >
>> >--
>> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>> >Associate Expert
>> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
>> insufficiently advanced.
>> >http://www.dts-l.org
>>
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
>> ult.asp
>> >
>> >
>> >"martin sanabia" > wrote in
message
>> ...
>> >> i need help in being able to control my memory usage
>> when
>> >> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is
using
>> >> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what
>> are
>> >> the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do
>> that
>> >> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run
windows
>> xp
>> >> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.
>> >
>> >
>> >.
>> >
>
>
>.
>

[Walter Clayton]

You have a major misconception of how memory is managed in virtual OS,
especially one such as XP. First thing to do is ignore that number. It is
totally and completely irrelevant. Exactly how irrelevant I can explain in a
relative manner. Each process in and NT kernel is allocated 4G of virtual
memory. In a standard configuration 2G is allocated to the application and
2G is allocated to the OS for management purposes. Conceptually, ever
program you launch is running in it's own 4G address space. Worrying about a
mere 150M of memory is, literally, peanuts. As well, there's very few
applications or tools that reliably report the amount of memory in use by
the system at any given point in time. A lot of it is data buffers anyway.
Regardless, what's not need in real memory is paged out, if needed and
that's only if the page is dirty. Generally that's only data pages rather
than code, so attempting to reduce the amount of code present in real memory
is really non-productive. The system simply invalidates the page and reuses
it.

Leave services alone, especially MS ones. Unless you're in the business of
doing nothing but booting the machine and get paid for the number of reboots
you make in a day, the amount of time saved by disabling services is
irrelevant. As well there is the issue of identifying what you need versus
what is truly optional without triggering a cascade effect that renders the
system non-bootable.

As for cleaning up start up, go into each application and see if there is an
option to stop it from running at startup. If there isn't, then use msconfig
(start->run->msconfig) startup tab to disable startup items.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"martin sanabia" > wrote in message
...
> let me refrase the question and no i dont have nor think i
> have a performance problem. let me explain. I run a 2.6
> pentium 4 ,512 ram 120 gigabytes of harddrive, when my
> windows starst up it runs all the programs that came with
> the computer including the essintials to run (Windows XP)
> operating system and also other programs that i am not
> fond of . like spamguard and windows messenger,yahoo
> messenger etc. now what im tryin to do is let my computer
> know that i dont want it to run these other programs that
> are not essential to running my operating system for
> windows xp. so that i have a faster start up and that it
> is much runs much smother than before. but i dont want to
> delete the programs themselves . know if i want to run the
> program i woul like to do it on my own and then terminate
> its process when i see fit. i understand that my computer
> can handle more than 140-160mgb but i like to lower the
> number so that i have more available memory when i want to
> use it for bigger programs like dvd burmers or Playing
> videogames, big programs that require alot of memory. i am
> asking this because a friend of mine did this and he gets
> better performance out of his pc, but he does not know
> what tasks a essential and non essential siince a freind
> of his that departed did it for him, now do you gys think
> its possible or is he blowing smoke up my *ss
> hopefully this clarified it a little more , and no i dont
> have a problem now but like i said i dont want it to runs
> progams/tasks that i am not using or dont need at the time
> because they are just taking up my memory i could use for
> something else. thanks sorry for the trouble
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >I'll repeat the question.
> >
> >Do you have an actual performance problem or do you
> simply think you have
> >one?
> >
> >What problem are you actually attempting to address?
> >
> >--
> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> insufficiently advanced.
> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
> ult.asp
> >
> >
> >"Martin Sanabia" > wrote in
> message
> ...
> >> i went to my task manager and looked at everything that
> it
> >> shows running. i don't know which of these are third-
> party
> >> software and which come from MS and are essential for my
> >> system to run properly. please let me know which ones
> you
> >> know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows 2000
> >> Professional (also include any services from MS that i
> may
> >> be running that i wouldn't want to close).
> >>
> >> thanks
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >Are you actually having performance problems or do you
> >> simply think you have
> >> >a problem?
> >> >
> >> >BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're looking
> >> at is pretty much
> >> >meaningless.
> >> >
> >> >--
> >> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >> >Associate Expert
> >> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> >> insufficiently advanced.
> >> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >>
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/defa
> >> ult.asp
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >"martin sanabia" > wrote in
> message
> >> ...
> >> >> i need help in being able to control my memory usage
> >> when
> >> >> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is
> using
> >> >> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know what
> >> are
> >> >> the nonesential tasks that i need running so that do
> >> that
> >> >> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run
> windows
> >> xp
> >> >> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >.
> >> >
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[john]

it sounds like the quetion was not asked right. it
appears that the person wants to speed up the boot
process. many people experience the same frusrations, as
they install many software programs which are
automatically installed to start up upon booting. not
many people are experienced enough to know how to disable
the unwanted programs during boot. Also msconfig will
allow you to disable a program during start up, but it is
more complicated to remove the item, and when they boot,
msconfig will popup and state there are changes, ask you
to confirm and exit with or without restart. A lot to
comprehend for beginners. I am far from an expert, but I
bet even though you disable something from starting
during booting, some services are still loaded
unnecassarily and may also be loaded onto the task bar
for faster access. It may help to explain how to remove a
program from the msconfig menu and the taskbar so that
system boot is faster. I understand that some things are
accessed in the registry upon boot, but some others may
not be.



>-----Original Message-----
>You have a major misconception of how memory is managed
in virtual OS,
>especially one such as XP. First thing to do is ignore
that number. It is
>totally and completely irrelevant. Exactly how
irrelevant I can explain in a
>relative manner. Each process in and NT kernel is
allocated 4G of virtual
>memory. In a standard configuration 2G is allocated to
the application and
>2G is allocated to the OS for management purposes.
Conceptually, ever
>program you launch is running in it's own 4G address
space. Worrying about a
>mere 150M of memory is, literally, peanuts. As well,
there's very few
>applications or tools that reliably report the amount of
memory in use by
>the system at any given point in time. A lot of it is
data buffers anyway.
>Regardless, what's not need in real memory is paged out,
if needed and
>that's only if the page is dirty. Generally that's only
data pages rather
>than code, so attempting to reduce the amount of code
present in real memory
>is really non-productive. The system simply invalidates
the page and reuses
>it.
>
>Leave services alone, especially MS ones. Unless you're
in the business of
>doing nothing but booting the machine and get paid for
the number of reboots
>you make in a day, the amount of time saved by disabling
services is
>irrelevant. As well there is the issue of identifying
what you need versus
>what is truly optional without triggering a cascade
effect that renders the
>system non-bootable.
>
>As for cleaning up start up, go into each application
and see if there is an
>option to stop it from running at startup. If there
isn't, then use msconfig
>(start->run->msconfig) startup tab to disable startup
items.
>
>--
>Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>Associate Expert
>http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>Any technology distinguishable from magic is
insufficiently advanced.
>http://www.dts-l.org
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
ault.asp
>
>
>"martin sanabia" > wrote in message
...
>> let me refrase the question and no i dont have nor
think i
>> have a performance problem. let me explain. I run a 2.6
>> pentium 4 ,512 ram 120 gigabytes of harddrive, when my
>> windows starst up it runs all the programs that came
with
>> the computer including the essintials to run (Windows
XP)
>> operating system and also other programs that i am not
>> fond of . like spamguard and windows messenger,yahoo
>> messenger etc. now what im tryin to do is let my
computer
>> know that i dont want it to run these other programs
that
>> are not essential to running my operating system for
>> windows xp. so that i have a faster start up and that
it
>> is much runs much smother than before. but i dont want
to
>> delete the programs themselves . know if i want to run
the
>> program i woul like to do it on my own and then
terminate
>> its process when i see fit. i understand that my
computer
>> can handle more than 140-160mgb but i like to lower the
>> number so that i have more available memory when i
want to
>> use it for bigger programs like dvd burmers or Playing
>> videogames, big programs that require alot of memory.
i am
>> asking this because a friend of mine did this and he
gets
>> better performance out of his pc, but he does not know
>> what tasks a essential and non essential siince a
freind
>> of his that departed did it for him, now do you gys
think
>> its possible or is he blowing smoke up my *ss
>> hopefully this clarified it a little more , and no i
dont
>> have a problem now but like i said i dont want it to
runs
>> progams/tasks that i am not using or dont need at the
time
>> because they are just taking up my memory i could use
for
>> something else. thanks sorry for the trouble
>>
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >I'll repeat the question.
>> >
>> >Do you have an actual performance problem or do you
>> simply think you have
>> >one?
>> >
>> >What problem are you actually attempting to address?
>> >
>> >--
>> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>> >Associate Expert
>> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
>> insufficiently advanced.
>> >http://www.dts-l.org
>>
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
a
>> ult.asp
>> >
>> >
>> >"Martin Sanabia" > wrote in
>> message
>> ...
>> >> i went to my task manager and looked at everything
that
>> it
>> >> shows running. i don't know which of these are
third-
>> party
>> >> software and which come from MS and are essential
for my
>> >> system to run properly. please let me know which
ones
>> you
>> >> know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows
2000
>> >> Professional (also include any services from MS
that i
>> may
>> >> be running that i wouldn't want to close).
>> >>
>> >> thanks
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> >-----Original Message-----
>> >> >Are you actually having performance problems or do
you
>> >> simply think you have
>> >> >a problem?
>> >> >
>> >> >BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're
looking
>> >> at is pretty much
>> >> >meaningless.
>> >> >
>> >> >--
>> >> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
>> >> >Associate Expert
>> >> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
>> >> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
>> >> insufficiently advanced.
>> >> >http://www.dts-l.org
>> >>
>>
>http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
a
>> >> ult.asp
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >"martin sanabia" > wrote in
>> message
>> >> ...
>> >> >> i need help in being able to control my memory
usage
>> >> when
>> >> >> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is
>> using
>> >> >> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know
what
>> >> are
>> >> >> the nonesential tasks that i need running so
that do
>> >> that
>> >> >> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run
>> windows
>> >> xp
>> >> >> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >.
>> >> >
>> >
>> >
>> >.
>> >
>
>
>.
>

[Alex Nichol]

martin sanabia wrote:

>i need help in being able to control my memory usage when=20
>my computer starts. when my computer starts it is using=20
>about 140-160 mgb of memory=20

That is nothing at all to be bothered with. Windows tries its best at
all times to find *some* use for *all* of RAM - if it has ever any left
itt is to be taken as RAM for which there is currently no possible use
whatever. Just after boot, it will be caching every file so far used.
Read up more at www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm


--=20
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K.

[Walter Clayton]

WiFi discovery not needed on a wireless network? Hmmmmmm.......... Are you
sure he's not running wireless? Although admittedly, some do and some don't
and it's not necessarily needed in all instances and in some instances must
be disabled.
Are you sure he's not doing web publishing?
How do you know he's not running themes?

etc.

In default configuration portable media serial number is already set to
manual.

You dodged the question rather lamely. Did you ask the OP what he was doing
with the machine? Remember that in this forum your assumption can be an
absolute disaster for the reader.


Giving advice on what services are not necessary without asking a single
question is extremely risky. Another issue is with cascading dependencies.
Disable/set to manual certain services and you wind up disabling more than
you bargain for with the possible result that the machine is not bootable.
And in some instances the loss of functionality isn't immediately apparent.
If you're into gaming, some games actually depend on the indexing service.
Although you can see *some* of the dependencies, not all are readily
apparent contrary to popular opinion. Disabling 3rd party services is
generally a non-issue, but start playing blindly with MS services and you're
begging for a world of hurt.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"null" > wrote in message ...
> Walter Clayton wrote:
> > And what if the OP is using those services? Do you know that they
aren't?
> >
>
> You can go into Properties of the service for a description of what it
> does, and click on the Dependencies tab to see what services are
> dependent on it and what services it is dependent on. If you shutdown a
> service and experience problems, restart the service and see if that
> helps. The services I listed are often not needed on a PC.
>
> --
> -the small one
>
> All postings carry no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied.
> Proceed at your own risk, and perform system and data backups prior to
> making changes to your system, and on a regular basis, to protect your
> system.
>

[Walter Clayton]

I've been trying to figure out exactly how to approach this. :-/

Yes, there was some major miscommunication at the top of the thread. Some
people erroneously think there is some hard and fast relationship between
memory usage and performance problems. They typically think that the only
way to maximize performance is to minimize memory footprint. And when that
happens, you'll see some posts pretty much like the one that started this
thread, or something related to 3rd party memory managers. The problem is
that given the original post there was no way of knowing that the request
was actually one of wanting to reduce the number of startup items. In this
instance msconfig is a very handy tool. That then segues into...

I'm still trying to figure out your issue with msconfig and why you're
equating services with, I'm assuming you meant systray items (right next to
the clock?), systray items. Not all services, in fact very few, have a
presence in systray and all of those are not OS specific. They are all
applications which can generally safely be disabled; the maximum risk tends
to be only with application usability, not system availability, stability or
usability. However the bulk of what is loaded in systray is found on the
startup tab, not the services tab and just about anything on the startup tab
is fair game to be disabled. MS services are the one the that has to be
approached very carefully and after doing a ton of research followed by full
state backups before the fun and games begin. And even then the consequences
of disabling system services may not be felt for days or weeks depending on
machine usage habits.

Your last statement is also rather puzzling. It's virtually impossible for
any application to run on an MS platform without the registry being
involved. If the application doesn't do it directly, the OS will on behalf
of the application when performing certain services. Simplistically, the
registry can be viewed as a central directory of where things are located on
the system and how they interact with each other.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"john" > wrote in message
...
> it sounds like the quetion was not asked right. it
> appears that the person wants to speed up the boot
> process. many people experience the same frusrations, as
> they install many software programs which are
> automatically installed to start up upon booting. not
> many people are experienced enough to know how to disable
> the unwanted programs during boot. Also msconfig will
> allow you to disable a program during start up, but it is
> more complicated to remove the item, and when they boot,
> msconfig will popup and state there are changes, ask you
> to confirm and exit with or without restart. A lot to
> comprehend for beginners. I am far from an expert, but I
> bet even though you disable something from starting
> during booting, some services are still loaded
> unnecassarily and may also be loaded onto the task bar
> for faster access. It may help to explain how to remove a
> program from the msconfig menu and the taskbar so that
> system boot is faster. I understand that some things are
> accessed in the registry upon boot, but some others may
> not be.
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >You have a major misconception of how memory is managed
> in virtual OS,
> >especially one such as XP. First thing to do is ignore
> that number. It is
> >totally and completely irrelevant. Exactly how
> irrelevant I can explain in a
> >relative manner. Each process in and NT kernel is
> allocated 4G of virtual
> >memory. In a standard configuration 2G is allocated to
> the application and
> >2G is allocated to the OS for management purposes.
> Conceptually, ever
> >program you launch is running in it's own 4G address
> space. Worrying about a
> >mere 150M of memory is, literally, peanuts. As well,
> there's very few
> >applications or tools that reliably report the amount of
> memory in use by
> >the system at any given point in time. A lot of it is
> data buffers anyway.
> >Regardless, what's not need in real memory is paged out,
> if needed and
> >that's only if the page is dirty. Generally that's only
> data pages rather
> >than code, so attempting to reduce the amount of code
> present in real memory
> >is really non-productive. The system simply invalidates
> the page and reuses
> >it.
> >
> >Leave services alone, especially MS ones. Unless you're
> in the business of
> >doing nothing but booting the machine and get paid for
> the number of reboots
> >you make in a day, the amount of time saved by disabling
> services is
> >irrelevant. As well there is the issue of identifying
> what you need versus
> >what is truly optional without triggering a cascade
> effect that renders the
> >system non-bootable.
> >
> >As for cleaning up start up, go into each application
> and see if there is an
> >option to stop it from running at startup. If there
> isn't, then use msconfig
> >(start->run->msconfig) startup tab to disable startup
> items.
> >
> >--
> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >Associate Expert
> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> insufficiently advanced.
> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
> ault.asp
> >
> >
> >"martin sanabia" > wrote in message
> ...
> >> let me refrase the question and no i dont have nor
> think i
> >> have a performance problem. let me explain. I run a 2.6
> >> pentium 4 ,512 ram 120 gigabytes of harddrive, when my
> >> windows starst up it runs all the programs that came
> with
> >> the computer including the essintials to run (Windows
> XP)
> >> operating system and also other programs that i am not
> >> fond of . like spamguard and windows messenger,yahoo
> >> messenger etc. now what im tryin to do is let my
> computer
> >> know that i dont want it to run these other programs
> that
> >> are not essential to running my operating system for
> >> windows xp. so that i have a faster start up and that
> it
> >> is much runs much smother than before. but i dont want
> to
> >> delete the programs themselves . know if i want to run
> the
> >> program i woul like to do it on my own and then
> terminate
> >> its process when i see fit. i understand that my
> computer
> >> can handle more than 140-160mgb but i like to lower the
> >> number so that i have more available memory when i
> want to
> >> use it for bigger programs like dvd burmers or Playing
> >> videogames, big programs that require alot of memory.
> i am
> >> asking this because a friend of mine did this and he
> gets
> >> better performance out of his pc, but he does not know
> >> what tasks a essential and non essential siince a
> freind
> >> of his that departed did it for him, now do you gys
> think
> >> its possible or is he blowing smoke up my *ss
> >> hopefully this clarified it a little more , and no i
> dont
> >> have a problem now but like i said i dont want it to
> runs
> >> progams/tasks that i am not using or dont need at the
> time
> >> because they are just taking up my memory i could use
> for
> >> something else. thanks sorry for the trouble
> >>
> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >I'll repeat the question.
> >> >
> >> >Do you have an actual performance problem or do you
> >> simply think you have
> >> >one?
> >> >
> >> >What problem are you actually attempting to address?
> >> >
> >> >--
> >> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >> >Associate Expert
> >> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> >> insufficiently advanced.
> >> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >>
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
> a
> >> ult.asp
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >"Martin Sanabia" > wrote in
> >> message
> >> ...
> >> >> i went to my task manager and looked at everything
> that
> >> it
> >> >> shows running. i don't know which of these are
> third-
> >> party
> >> >> software and which come from MS and are essential
> for my
> >> >> system to run properly. please let me know which
> ones
> >> you
> >> >> know would come w/ XP as a MUST-RUN for MS Windows
> 2000
> >> >> Professional (also include any services from MS
> that i
> >> may
> >> >> be running that i wouldn't want to close).
> >> >>
> >> >> thanks
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> >-----Original Message-----
> >> >> >Are you actually having performance problems or do
> you
> >> >> simply think you have
> >> >> >a problem?
> >> >> >
> >> >> >BTW: Memory is to be used and the number you're
> looking
> >> >> at is pretty much
> >> >> >meaningless.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >--
> >> >> >Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
> >> >> >Associate Expert
> >> >> >http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
> >> >> >Any technology distinguishable from magic is
> >> >> insufficiently advanced.
> >> >> >http://www.dts-l.org
> >> >>
> >>
> >http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/def
> a
> >> >> ult.asp
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >"martin sanabia" > wrote in
> >> message
> >> >> ...
> >> >> >> i need help in being able to control my memory
> usage
> >> >> when
> >> >> >> my computer starts. when my computer starts it is
> >> using
> >> >> >> about 140-160 mgb of memory i would like to know
> what
> >> >> are
> >> >> >> the nonesential tasks that i need running so
> that do
> >> >> that
> >> >> >> i can stop the rest,but i am still able to run
> >> windows
> >> >> xp
> >> >> >> home, and all its esential tasks, please help.
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >.
> >> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >.
> >> >
> >
> >
> >.
> >

[null]

I agree with your assessment of my post; it could have been better, but
unlike you I don't have the time to get that detailed. In retrospect, I
probably shouldn't have answered the post without getting more info or
providing more info.

Since you seem to believe you have all the answers, why don't you
follow-up with him about these services I listed?

--
-the small one

All postings carry no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied.
Proceed at your own risk, and perform system and data backups prior to
making changes to your system, and on a regular basis, to protect your
system.

[Walter Clayton]

If he's still reading the thread, then he's read the responses already. I
doubt he's around though.

--
Walter Clayton - MS MVP(WinXP)
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
http://www.dts-l.org
http://support.microsoft.com/servicedesks/fileversion/default.asp


"null" > wrote in message ...
> I agree with your assessment of my post; it could have been better, but
> unlike you I don't have the time to get that detailed. In retrospect, I
> probably shouldn't have answered the post without getting more info or
> providing more info.
>
> Since you seem to believe you have all the answers, why don't you
> follow-up with him about these services I listed?
>
> --
> -the small one
>
> All postings carry no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied.
> Proceed at your own risk, and perform system and data backups prior to
> making changes to your system, and on a regular basis, to protect your
> system.
>