Checking system resources

How do I check my 'System Resources' to see the percentage my Dell laptop uses after I boot up? Also I read on a web page that I can go into "msconfig" and click the 'Startup' tab and uncheck just about anything I want in Windows XP without any problem. is that true? Thanks in advance!

 

Hello albert,

How do I check my 'System Resources' to see the percentage my Dell laptop uses after I boot up?
alt+ctl+del OR ctl > shift > esc in that sequence is an alternative method - its faster - will bring up the Task Manager.

The processes will show what's running. The performance tab will give you resource info.


Also I read on a web page that I can go into "msconfig" and click the 'Startup' tab and uncheck just about anything I want in Windows XP without any problem
Problems may arise if disabling programs that you or a process may need to operate. A glaring example would be to disable a firewall or Anti Virus. Or disabling something that may cause not being able to print. This procedure should be used to stop unnecessary/rogue programs or for troubleshooting.

Regards - Charles

 

Or u can use MSCONFIG to limit the number of processes and programs that run on startup .. like if u use a file sharing program . These file sharing programs normally run on startup. Although not greatly memory intensive but then can lead to slow downs in performance so u can " uncheck" them from ur start up list.. but it is best that u actually know exactly wat u want to remove first b4 attempting anything .. and u actually are familiar with the environment.. cus removing certain process can lead to unstable system performance.

 

In Win98/ME and system resources refers to two single 64KB pages of RAM memory (One for windows and one for your video card) on which windows keeps track of what is running and what memory addresses it was assigned, which it can access and what other programs/ devices it can interact with. Basically everythign about what is going on. Now the problem is what happens when the page gets full of entries? You get low on system resources , there is not any more free space to add more entries and eventually windows locks up.
Normally, when you close a program, it releases its assinged resources and windows wipes the entry. But some programs do not , they tell windows to keep their entry just in case they get relaunched. Other times , disabling their startup entry incorrectly causes this when you use the program and close it.
In these cases, the only way to free up resources, is to restart your computer. The only way to have a lot of free resources is to keep things from loading automatically. The best method is always to use the tools/options or edit/ preferences or similar provided by the software author so that it corrects dependency calls and entry points rather than just removing one registry entry as unchecking things in msconfig does.

With XP, microsoft had a brain flash. Why limit windows to one page for keeping track of things. Although reality of the memory management of XP is more complex, you can think of it as, when one page gets filled, XP has the ability to just open a second page , something previous versions did not have. So , there is no longer a problem with system resources, windows just adds another pabge and corrects assigned memory based on what you are doing (shifting things to and from swap file etc). In fact while previous versions of windows had major problems with over 512MB and could even claim to be out of memory if you added to much, XP can easily handle 4GB of RAM.

So , since you are running XP, no need to worry about system resources. Just add another stick of RAM if you need it.


For controlling startup items which do not have an option in the program I recommend
Codestuf starter startup manager and process viewer
not using msconfig.
Not only does this startup manager / process viewer correctly identify dependencies, but you can double click any entry to see more information on what it is and much more.