Windows Vista Many crashes and "...stopped working" notices

Have Acer laptop Aspire 5050 w/ Vista Home Premium. AMD Turion 64 - MK-38. 768MB RAM. 80GB capacity which I have only about 2GB free space left.
Started getting "out of memory" notices, so I began deleting and burning off files - but then had more serious issues.

Started getting crashes in MS Windows and IE. Blank or black screens.
Couldn't use Windows to make data CDs.

Basically everything I tried would not run. Then on a restart, the system automatically ran a CHKDSK on C Drive to check for consistancy. It fixed the problem somewhat - but the situation is still critical. I am extremely limited to what I can run - how much I can open at once, etc.

Best Buy guys said they could make my computer run 60 times faster - but I figured this was b.s. I never had problems with other computers. Now I wonder if something had purposely been set to make you have to pay to fix the speed issue. Saw reference to setting pagefile size online somewhere. My computer always ran super slow and this was mentioned as one fix for that:
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Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced tab | Performance Settings > Advanced tab | Virtual Memory Change > UNCHECK "Automatically manage paging file size for all drivers

Select the drive where you would like the new page file to go and either fill in "Custom Size" or "System managed size" and click on "Set ".

Restart.

Select the drive where the present page file is (ie. C drive) and select "No paging file size" and click on "Set ".

Restart.
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I can't seem to update my AVG Free or Ad-Aware 2007. Don't want to remove and reinstall anything until I'm more comfortable with what the problem is and how to best fix things.

I never ran a System Restore and am not even sure if I have a good restoor point.

I had been concrened from day one about not being able to find my Temp. Internet Files and dbx files, which seem to be inaccessable unless I have made the wrong security settings somewhere (deleting old dbx files from newsgroups were always a quick way to free up a couple GBs).
This is my 1st Vista experience as well as my 1st Acer experience. I never saw the phone number for Acer Tech Support so I have been trying to figure things out myself and online (I'm under warrenty). With HP I had many good sessions with Tech Service - but not sure if Acer has this available. It appeared to be well hidden in the manuals and literature I got with the purchase.

Can anyone help me at this point before I completely mess things up?
Thanks,
charlie_c

 

The way I read it you have turned off the Paging File. You do not have enough RAM to do that and it is "unadvisable" even if you had plenty of RAM.

To turn the Paging File back on:
Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
Click the Advanced tab.
Under Performance, click Settings.
Click the Advanced tab.
Under Virtual Memory, click Change.
Click System managed sized. Click OK, click OK, and then click OK.
Restart your computer.

Check and let us know what happens.

Matt

 

So far so good. I burned a CD with ease. Played a video. Surfed around a bit and all without a problem. This was impossible or difficult before.
I didn't mess with the page file setting before - though some settings must have become corrupt somehow. I thought this was the problem - that's why I included the suggested pagefile fix for review.
Will test things out a bit longer and get back if problems occur.

But could you or someone explain how to access the TIFs and dbx files. I think extra hidden files are accessible by a registry setting change - but I am always wary about changing these and want a little "walk-through" of the steps, if possible.

Thanks for the help mattman,
charlie_c

 

I see my instructions were for Win XP, but you were able to work around that.

Getting down to 2GB free is a little concerning at this stage. You seem to be doing your best to make space, but re-enabling the Paging File will take up 1GB or so (and it might want to "expand" at stages).

I burn data to optical disks for backup, but am finding an external HDD is very handy.

You might find fighting to keep enough free disk space could continue to be a headache. Once it gets low, you will need it watch it carefully. Do you have any further long-term plans for allowing more space? Watching the free-space constantly and trying to find unnecessary files to delete would drive me a little crazy.

I ran Win 95 on a few MB of space for a long time saving for a new HDD and actually, I think you will be gaining a lot from being able to keep your drive "squeaky clean ".

Maybe a tip...
If programs have been installed using "normal" installation. Look at uninstalling and reinstalling as a custom installation. A lot of unnecessary "add-ons" can be avoided.

Matt

 

Acer Tel No.

Hi

Don't know if this will help, got it from Acer website

End User Technical Support and Service (USA only)
For end user technical support, spare parts and service: 1.800.816.2237

Bubs