alt.certification.a-plus - Re: Virtual Memory in Windows XP (Mike Meyers almost done with book)

Author

Re: Virtual Memory in Windows XP (Mike Meyers almost done with book)

Sundog1966

2003-05-29, 7:23 am

I have this issue on a Celeron 500 with Windows ME on it. I am fairly
certain that what I am seeing is some adware (probably Gator) updating
itself and scanning my cookies, dowloading new ads and doing all sots
of other spyware stuff. The symptoms are similar. I have 256Mb RAM
in this machine so It may explain why I do not see the virtual memory
warning as often. The activity shows up as high memory utilisation
and High CPU usage but there are no takss lsitd as running.

Given 10 or 12 minutes it eventually settles down and goes away.
It only starts happening after I log into an account on the machine.
It does not trigger at boot until I log in.

I have tried uninstalling gator, but the activity still happens (I
suspect that is it leaving software embedded to monitor, scan
cookies). The only solution that I know of would be to format and
re-install windows on this machine. tp give me a certified clear
state.

Suggestions?

On 28 May 2003 23:32:26 -0700, stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote:

>Hello,
>
> Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
>as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
>When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
>problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
>let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
>like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
>this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
>the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
>small.
> This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
>to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
>settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
>changed it to 600/1200 MB.
>Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
>to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
>everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
>normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
>whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
>
>Thanks for your time.
>
>Bryan

earstone

2003-05-29, 8:23 am

Go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
and download the free version of ad-aware.
It will scan your registry and hard drive for spyware, and give you the
option to remove it.
Make sure you use this programs live update to get the latest ref. files.

"Sundog1966" <sundog1966@sympatico.com> wrote in message
news:41sbdv0nr26e4f05eosbv4ij9
r8tqlm427@4ax.com...
> I have this issue on a Celeron 500 with Windows ME on it. I am fairly
> certain that what I am seeing is some adware (probably Gator) updating
> itself and scanning my cookies, dowloading new ads and doing all sots
> of other spyware stuff. The symptoms are similar. I have 256Mb RAM
> in this machine so It may explain why I do not see the virtual memory
> warning as often. The activity shows up as high memory utilisation
> and High CPU usage but there are no takss lsitd as running.
>
> Given 10 or 12 minutes it eventually settles down and goes away.
> It only starts happening after I log into an account on the machine.
> It does not trigger at boot until I log in.
>
> I have tried uninstalling gator, but the activity still happens (I
> suspect that is it leaving software embedded to monitor, scan
> cookies). The only solution that I know of would be to format and
> re-install windows on this machine. tp give me a certified clear
> state.
>
> Suggestions?
>
>
> On 28 May 2003 23:32:26 -0700, stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >
> > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> >as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> >When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> >problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> >let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> >like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> >this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> >the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> >small.
> > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> >to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> >settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> >changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> >Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> >to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> >everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> >normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> >whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> >
> >Thanks for your time.
> >
> >Bryan
>

stang67

2003-05-29, 2:23 pm

My stats on my computer are as follows.
Dell 1 GHz
384 MB Ram
2 40 Gig hard drives
dvd drive
cd burner
64 MB Nvidia geforce 2

If this matters.

stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote in message news:<4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com>...
> Hello,
>
> Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> small.
> This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
> Bryan

stang67

2003-05-29, 2:23 pm

Hello me again,

I ran Spybot search and destroy software and found a few things I
deleted. I'm running right now the Ad-Aware 6.0 personal to see if
this picks up anything the other didn't.

BUT!!! while I was running the virtual memory balloon came up again
saying the minimum was too low. So I upped it to 800 MB. Should I
set this back to the let Windows manage setting?

Bryan

stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote in message news:<4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com>...
> Hello,
>
> Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> small.
> This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
> Bryan

BobZilla

2003-05-29, 3:23 pm

Just a thought here,
How many patitions? Is there enough room on the "C" drive if you have your
HD sliced up too much, and if that is where your VM is set on?
"stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
news:4855b2ec.0305291114.2c7593be@posting.google.com...
> Hello me again,
>
> I ran Spybot search and destroy software and found a few things I
> deleted. I'm running right now the Ad-Aware 6.0 personal to see if
> this picks up anything the other didn't.
>
> BUT!!! while I was running the virtual memory balloon came up again
> saying the minimum was too low. So I upped it to 800 MB. Should I
> set this back to the let Windows manage setting?
>
> Bryan
>
>
>
> stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote in message
news:<4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com>...
> > Hello,
> >
> > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> > as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> > When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> > problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> > let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> > like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> > this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> > the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> > small.
> > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> > to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> > settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> > changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> > Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> > to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> > everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> > normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> > whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> >
> > Thanks for your time.
> >
> > Bryan

Serial # 19781010

2003-05-29, 8:23 pm

On 28 May 2003 23:32:26 -0700, stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote:

>Hello,
>
> Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
>as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
>When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
>problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
>let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
>like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
>this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
>the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
>small.
> This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
>to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
>settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
>changed it to 600/1200 MB.
>Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
>to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
>everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
>normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
>whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
>
>Thanks for your time.
>
>Bryan
Hi
What i think is that you have a virus thats causing your system to
think it has low memory. i';m a computer tech and ive seen it before.

Huck Palmatier

2003-05-29, 9:23 pm

....are you running Norton Real Time virus protection?

"stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
news:4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com...
> Hello,
>
> Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> small.
> This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
> Bryan

stang67

2003-05-29, 9:23 pm

Hello,

I have 2--40 gig hard drives. Each seperate 40 gig partitions. C + D drives.
I have 24 gig on drive c which is where the virtual page file is located. VM?

Bryan

"BobZilla" <BobZilla10@HotmailNoSPAM.com> wrote in message news:<ZxtBa.130386$823.76341@news1.east.cox.net>...
> Just a thought here,
> How many patitions? Is there enough room on the "C" drive if you have your
> HD sliced up too much, and if that is where your VM is set on?
> "stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:4855b2ec.0305291114.2c7593be@posting.google.com...
> > Hello me again,
> >
> > I ran Spybot search and destroy software and found a few things I
> > deleted. I'm running right now the Ad-Aware 6.0 personal to see if
> > this picks up anything the other didn't.
> >
> > BUT!!! while I was running the virtual memory balloon came up again
> > saying the minimum was too low. So I upped it to 800 MB. Should I
> > set this back to the let Windows manage setting?
> >
> > Bryan
> >
> >
> >
> > stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote in message
> news:<4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com>...
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> > > as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> > > When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> > > problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> > > let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> > > like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> > > this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> > > the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> > > small.
> > > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> > > to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> > > settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> > > changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> > > Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> > > to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> > > everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> > > normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> > > whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> > >
> > > Thanks for your time.
> > >
> > > Bryan

stang67

2003-05-30, 2:23 am

Serial # 19781010 <MICKF77@comcast.net> wrote in message news:< xq7WPob+ydKSuY8jvDH+jgPn+XSh@4
ax.com>...
> On 28 May 2003 23:32:26 -0700, stang6767@aol.com (stang67) wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >
> > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> >as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> >When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> >problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> >let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> >like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> >this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> >the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> >small.
> > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> >to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> >settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> >changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> >Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> >to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> >everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> >normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> >whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> >
> >Thanks for your time.
> >
> >Bryan
> Hi
> What i think is that you have a virus thats causing your system to
> think it has low memory. i';m a computer tech and ive seen it before.

Hi,

I have Norton Antivirus 2003 with the most updated virus definitions.
Full system scanned 3 times in last 3 days and haven't found a virus.

stang67

2003-05-30, 2:23 am

I'm running Norton AntiVirus 2003 with all up to date virus
definitions.
Auto-Protect, email scanning and script blocking all turning as usual.
No settings have been changed even before problem.

"Huck Palmatier" <HuckP@kox.net> wrote in message news:<blyBa.131984$823.68815@news1.east.cox.net>...
> ...are you running Norton Real Time virus protection?
>
> "stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com...
> > Hello,
> >
> > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as best
> > as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY slow.
> > When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine, no
> > problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!! If I
> > let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going nuts,
> > like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy). And
> > this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am getting
> > the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is too
> > small.
> > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was set
> > to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking at the
> > settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB. So I
> > changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> > Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even went
> > to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> > everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go back to
> > normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> > whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> >
> > Thanks for your time.
> >
> > Bryan

2003-05-30, 9:23 am

If you have definitely eliminated spyware, virus, or trojan, and
defragged the drive(s), next thing is to make sure the indexing
service is turned off (in 2K it's on the search screen, probably there
in XP) and then take over managment of the swap file. Tell windows
you want to manage it manually. Then restrict it to the drive you use
least (the one that doesn't have the operating system on it). Then
size to to one and a half times the size of your memory. Reboot and
see if the nutty activity continues.

Also: Look in System Log at the time when the activity occurs, and see
if it has anything to say about what is going on. Check the
Apllication log as well.

And: when the activity is NOT happening, look in task manager to see
what Apps and processes are running.
Note them. Then look again when the activity is happening and see if
anything different is running. If anything different is running, stop
it and see if that stops the activity. Do the same thing in computer
management / services and applications / services. You should be able
to find out what's going on.

Mike

"stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
news:4855b2ec.0305292257.2ec4d61d@posting.google.com...
> I'm running Norton AntiVirus 2003 with all up to date virus
> definitions.
> Auto-Protect, email scanning and script blocking all turning as
usual.
> No settings have been changed even before problem.
>
>
>
> "Huck Palmatier" <HuckP@kox.net> wrote in message
news:<blyBa.131984$823.68815@news1.east.cox.net>...
> > ...are you running Norton Real Time virus protection?
> >
> > "stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
> > news:4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com...
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as
best[
color=darkred]
> > > as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY[/color]
slow. [colo
r=darkred]
> > > When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine,[/color]
no[co
lor=darkred]
> > > problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!![/color]
If I[col
or=darkred]
> > > let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going[/color]
nuts,

> > > like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy).
And[c
olor=darkred]
> > > this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am[/color]
getting
> > > the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is
too[c
olor=darkred]
> > > small.
> > > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was[/color]
set[c
olor=darkred]
> > > to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking[/color]
at the[c
olor=darkred]
> > > settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB.[/color]
So I[col
or=darkred]
> > > changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> > > Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even[/color]
went[
color=darkred]
> > > to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> > > everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go[/color]
back to[co
lor=darkred]
> > > normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> > > whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> > >
> > > Thanks for your time.
> > >
> > > Bryan[/color]

stang67

2003-05-30, 3:23 pm

Seems to be the Indexing service. I turned it off and hard doesn't go
nuts anymore. Wonder why it was fine before and all of a sudden over
the last few days it got posessed. I guess I should leave it off? I
thought that helps with file searches. Thank you for your help.

Bryan

"MF" <wallacestevens54@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<MxycnYyxoPc2-UqjXTWcoA@comcast.com>...
> If you have definitely eliminated spyware, virus, or trojan, and
> defragged the drive(s), next thing is to make sure the indexing
> service is turned off (in 2K it's on the search screen, probably there
> in XP) and then take over managment of the swap file. Tell windows
> you want to manage it manually. Then restrict it to the drive you use
> least (the one that doesn't have the operating system on it). Then
> size to to one and a half times the size of your memory. Reboot and
> see if the nutty activity continues.
>
> Also: Look in System Log at the time when the activity occurs, and see
> if it has anything to say about what is going on. Check the
> Apllication log as well.
>
> And: when the activity is NOT happening, look in task manager to see
> what Apps and processes are running.
> Note them. Then look again when the activity is happening and see if
> anything different is running. If anything different is running, stop
> it and see if that stops the activity. Do the same thing in computer
> management / services and applications / services. You should be able
> to find out what's going on.
>
> Mike
>
>
> "stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:4855b2ec.0305292257.2ec4d61d@posting.google.com...
> > I'm running Norton AntiVirus 2003 with all up to date virus
> > definitions.
> > Auto-Protect, email scanning and script blocking all turning as
> usual.
> > No settings have been changed even before problem.
> >
> >
> >
> > "Huck Palmatier" <HuckP@kox.net> wrote in message
> news:<blyBa.131984$823.68815@news1.east.cox.net>...
> > > ...are you running Norton Real Time virus protection?
> > >
> > > "stang67" <stang6767@aol.com> wrote in message
> > > news:4855b2ec.0305282232.41331777@posting.google.com...
> > > > Hello,
> > > >
> > > > Don't really know the cause of this but I'll try to explain as
> best
> > > > as possible. About 2 days ago my system started to be VERY
> slow.
> > > > When I boot up and get right into windows everything seems fine,
> no

> > > > problems with speed or anything related to my problem. BUT!!!
> If I
> > > > let it sit at idle for 4-9 minutes the hard drive starts going
> nuts,
> > > > like its looking for a file or defraging (that type of busy).
> And
> > > > this of course slows everything down. Now every so often I am
> getting
> > > > the little pop-up balloon saying my virtual memory minimum is
> too
> > > > small.
> > > > This kind of puzzles me because I always thought my system was
> set
> > > > to let windows manage virtual memory by itself. After looking
> at the
> > > > settings it said minumum was set to 576 MB and max is 1154 MB.
> So I
> > > > changed it to 600/1200 MB.
> > > > Still waiting to see if I get the pop-up balloon again. I even
> went
> > > > to the extent of doing a system restore back to 3 days ago when
> > > > everything seemed fine. Problem still exists.
> > > > Anyway, if I start using the computer everything seems to go
> back to

> > > > normal after a few minutes of the hard drive finishing up doing
> > > > whatever its doing. Wierd problem but any suggestions???
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for your time.
> > > >
> > > > Bryan

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