OT: Computer memory low

[clare]

go to free.avg.com and install the free basic coverage.

[benick]

No one uses OE...it is not supported and is an atrocity. Replace it.

Some people still call it OE even though it is called Windows Mail , myself included...Old habits are hard to break...No problems with it..Same for IE....Same for Norton...Despite all the horror stories...I even like Vista Home Premium...LOL..It all updates itself automaticly with no fuss or tweeking which is a good thing for us less techy folks...LOL...I even have all the maintance set to auto...

[Ed Pawlowski]

? "benick" wrote

I use and like Live Mail 2010. The newer 2011 version is not so good for newsgroups though. I tried it and went back to 2010 version. Use OE for years and found it better and easier to use than Agent and a few other newsreaders. Price is right too.

[Jeff Thies]

It doesn't catch everything. Nod32 does:

My IT buddy had a client into gaming and such (all the places viruses can be found) and he would have to clean up that machine every few weeks (tried AVG, Kaspersky...). With Nod32, no trouble at all for going on 2 years. He swears by it.

The OP may not need it, but it is arguable the best with a lower overhead. It's also not well known, which is why I mention it.

Jeff

[Bob Villa]

I run Avast Free with FF sandboxed (XP SP3)...it works for me!

[HeyBub]

Right-click on this post and pick "properties." You'll see I'm using Outlook Express (with Quote-Fix).

But of course I'm a Luddite.

[Bob Villa]

.

OE is a a huge piece of "Swiss cheese" as far as security is concerned. And most have changed because they dropped hotmail integration. being

[HeyBub]

If you value your life and those of your grandchildren, do not renew your Norton subscription.

Google "anti-virus reviews." There are many well-meaning people and institutions that have twisted them all assunder. The one I use, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is always in the top three or four.

I use MSE because I figure MS knows its own internal workings better than anyone else and their product, MSE, would stand a better chance of being unobtrusive. I have no proof for this belief, it just makes sense (to me).

Remember, no anti-virus program catches everything. And no, you can't use two at the same time.

[Kyle]

[snip]

OK, not knowing all the details, here are a few general suggestions. Most of these are things any PC user should do on a regular basis.

(1) As has been mentioned: HOUSECLEANING. Empty the Recycle Bin (how often we all forget to do this!) Go to Control Panel-->Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall any programs you don't use any more If you see a program you don't recognize, write down its name and Google it! Look at your System Tray (near the clock, near where you're getting the 'red flames': how many icons do you see? Click the little (>) or triangle (depending on your version of Windows) next to them if you see it, and see how many more icons there are. If there are lots, you've got WAAAAAY too much stuff "running in the background". Find out what program or application those icons may be associated with. In some cases those background processes are necessary=97like for your printer, perhaps, and in some cases they're a nuisance that needs to be turned off in the app's preferences (like Quicktime's launcher process). Go into your browser (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, all of 'em) and change your history storage to anything less than 15 days. Go through your files and folders and archive to CD or DVD storage anything you haven't accessed in more than 12-18 months, unless it's something you may need again. Yes, defragment your hard drive, but only AFTER you've cleaned house.

(2) Run multiple malware sweeper/uninstaller applications to see if you're infected. I highly recommend Malware Bytes' Anti-Malware, which has been stellar at removing infections I find on others' computers. (I'm the go-to guy for family and friends with computer problems primarily because I have been very good at keeping our system safe with multiple layers of protection.)

(3) How many extensions do you have enabled in Firefox? As an experiment, disable them all, then each day enable another one until you get that red-flames-of-doom warning again. Consider removing any extensions you don't use at least once a week/month. Alternately, back up all your Firefox profile (bookmarks, saved passwords, Chrome, preferences, etc.), uninstall Firefox and do a clean installation of the latest version.

(4) It may have been said before, but DITCH NORTON. There are a number of free, reliable, and much easier-on-the-computer protection suites: AVG, Avast!, and Comodo have all worked well for me with varying interface "issues" (my wife didn't like AVG grabbing focus from whatever she was doing every time it updated). Once you get them configured properly (which can take some patience on your part) they will run unobtrusively for you.

More advanced and more specific suggestions are going to have to wait until we know what kind of system you're running=85

[clare]

Not TOTALLY true. If, for instance, Rogers is your ISP they have antivirus protection you can enable online - and you can STILL use an installed anti-virus. It's called "belt and suspenders" when you use 2 different products end to end.

[Higgs Boson]

Somebody on a computer group also recommend Avast, free or paid.

I inquired there whether I need to Uninstall Norton while trying out Avast.

QUESTION: What is "sandboxing"? I am running XP, but don't know what "SP3" means.

TIA

HB

[clare]

Sand boxing is playing around - SP3 is service pack 3

[HeyBub]

You're thinking of a different kind of box to play with.

"Sandboxing" is a partitioning of resources (RAM, disk space), completely disconnected from the operting system or other resources such that if anything goes amis, its effects will be confined to the sandbox.

[clare]

Using virtual machine technology?

[Higgs Boson]

OK, here goes:

At least the HDD size and/or if you have two HDDs.

OK, here goes:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3

Computer Intel (R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.80 GHz

2.79 GHz 750 MB of RAM

Ext HD 160 GB

I lost track of the pie chart that showed C drive HD usage, but it was quite a bit -- maybe 75% or more. Wherethehell did I find that?!

Hope this is the desired info, and thanks for your patience; I have been running hard on some urgent stuff.

NOW Some q, which I also posted on alt.computer.workshop:

1. Can I install Avast -- the virus program people are recommending

-- w/o Uninstalling Hog Norton? Or will they fight and mess me up even worse? Avast says it only requires 100 MB of HD space. So can I install it alongside the Hog? Or could I install it on the External HD?

1. Somewhat like #1: Do I have to Uninstall Norton in order to try Avast?

1. Should I use the Avast FREE PROGRAM or spring a few bux for the paid one? I don't mind paying if I get a lot more for my money. Here's what they offer for the paid program:

Download avast! Internet SecurityInternet SecurityBest protection Antivirus with anti-spyware The minimum protection for every PC. Enjoy worry-free web surfing Innovative Sandbox technology protects you from dangerous websites. Safely shop or bank online Firewall prevents theft of your personal and financial data. Stop bothersome SPAM Antispam keeps unwanted emails out of your inbox. Protect up to 3 PCs in your home Best value offer =96 get your PCs fully protected only for $20 each!

Some of this stuff duplicates what is offered by Windows, such as Firewall. Can ANY Antispam really work? I only have one PC. Dunno anything about the Sandbox technology, which claims to "protect [me] from dangerous websites. Who decides what is "dangerous"? Sounds very general.

What do youse guys think about Free vs Paid Avast versions?

1. Norton does AUTOMATIC BACKUPS AND FILE RECOVERY. Those are valuable programs which I would be sorry to lose, as I have always been VERY stupid about backup and have lost valuable files as a result. Does anyone have recommendation for *idiot-proof backup/file recovery* that is not too fat?

1. Even if I go through all the clean up and discard steps that one of my honorable friends listed in such thoughtful detail, will that free up enough from my

6 year-old, underpowered C Drive HD? If not, what do I do? Buy another HD? Or use External HD as main drive?

1. What's the connection between HD RAM and Virtual Memory? I tried to read the WikiPedia article on Virtual Memory, but too technical for moi. It's VIRTUAL MEMORY that the "flame-like" pie charts in the lower r.h. corner of the screen have been threatening me with. What do I have to do to get more Virtual Memory? Is it a function of available HD RAM?

OK, that's a lot of questions. I am slobberingly grateful for the TLC..

HB

[HeyBub]

Uninstall Norton. It has so many hooks into the operating system that coexistence with another AV program is problematic. To uninstall Norton, you MUST use their Sooper-Sekret removal tool downloaded from their website.

The absolute answer is No, you do not. The practical answer is Yes.

Free is always better. Further, spam is a completely separate problem to be addressed after the anti-virus condition. Spam won't kill your machine - a virus will.

There are literally dozens. Comodo, Image for Windows, SyncToy, Macrium Reflect, and a simple batch file triggered by Windows scheduler come to mind.

You cannot (usually) use an external drive as the main drive. The system won't boot from a USB device (unless the motherboard is very new or you take other, convoluted, steps). Even if you could run the operating system from an external drive, you wouldn't want to. The transfer rate on a USB device is magnitudes slower than an internal hard drive (12Mbps vs 780Mbps -YMMV).

You can EASILY replace your hard drive. Forty gigabyte drives can now be found in the bottom of CrackerJack boxes! You can buy a sooped-up 1 Terabyte (1000 gigabytes) for less than eighty bucks. Moving your stuff - including the entire operating system - is a single button push with the cloning software that will come with the new drive. If your hand fits a screwdriver, it's a simple task.

"Virtual memory" is a file on your hard drive. When you run out of RAM for application programs, the operating system dumps part of real memory to this file to free up RAM for the application requesting RAM. When control is returned to that part of memory that was dumped to disk, that segment is reloaded and execution resumes.

Assume you have two programs, A & B running and now attempt to run program C. The operating system (OS) determines there is not enough room in RAM to run C, so it dumps program A out to Virtual Memory (a scratch file on your disk) and loads program C.

Now something happens that program A was waiting for (say a key-press). The OS dumps program B to disk, reloads program A. And so on.

You can see that insufficient RAM can generate a lot of disk activity. Further, if there is insufficient Virtual Memory space (your drive is full), everything croaks.

Usually the OS will grab additional disk space to enlarge its Virtual Memory pool. You can adjust the size of Virtual Memory (the "paging" file) as follows:

Open My Computer Pick "Properties" Pick the "Advanced" tab Pick Performance "Settings" button Select the "Advanced" tab In the "Virtual Memory" box, punch the "Change" button Adjust the numbers, or better still, select the "System managed size" option

[HeyBub]

A sub-set, yes.

[Kyle]

OK, good. You're in pretty decent shape hardware-wise, and running Windows XP is not such a bad thing! (My home PC runs on XP like a champ, and has for 7 years.)

The pie chart you referred to can be found by going into "My Computer" or hitting both the Windows key (looks like MS's logo) and E at the same time. In the left hand pane of that window you found an icon labeled "C:\" or something similar. Right-click on the icon and in the menu that comes up choose "Properties". /Voila/, pie chart!

As someone else said, you REALLY should uninstall Norton. These sorts of protection suites are notoriously unfriendly towards each other, and for good reason: they're both trying to do the same job at the same time. Think of it like two armies trying to defend the same territory at the same time, but there's no united commander to coordinate it. There will be friendly fire and collateral damage.

The free version of Avast! should be just fine for most everything you do. The paid version has a lot of extras that are nice but not necessary if you take the more reasonable path of being careful on the Internet. What do I mean?

- Never use your debit card when making purchases, only a credit card; if there's fraud or a dispute, you're out no money while you dispute it, but if you use a debit card the bank can take their sweet time giving you your money back.

- Ditch Outlook (Express) and either go with a good, solid web-based email provider like Gmail, or use a better email application like Thunderbird

made by the same folks who gave you Firefox.

- Do not post your email address on-line, like in places such as this forum. 'Bots can harvest your addy and use it to spam you.

- If you're really concerned about attacks against your computer, get a router. A router, among other things, is a type of hardware firewall. The Intartubes would only be able to see past your modem to the router, and would not be able to see or find your PC.

Windows Firewall is a one-way firewall: it only protects against things that are coming _at_ your computer. Avast's firewall is two- way: not only will it protect you against incoming bad stuff, but it also monitors outgoing traffic to make sure it's legit. The benefit of this is if malware has secretly gotten onto your machine, Avast's firewall will either stop it from getting out to connect with its master, or it will alert you to the fact that something wicked is on your system.

In theory, if you install Avast's firewall, Windows will not bug you about its own firewall.

No, in that it won't stop the amount of spam, but yes in that it can automatically kill a lot of it, which will help reduce the amount of spam you see.

Honestly, if you're running Firefox you have this capability built-in: Go to Tools-->Preferences. In the Preferences window, click on the "Security" tab, and look for "Block reported attack sites" and "Block reported web forgeries" and Firefox will access the same web-wide database of known bad/evil websites that Norton, McAfee, Avast!, and others use.

This is something that can be done by Windows, and I would bet that's what Norton does is activate and monitor the Windows built-in back-up utility. To find out how to set this up yourself for worry-free back- ups, read PC World's excellent article:

first page of the article is all about how to create a space for doing the back-up, which you already have on your external hard drive)

OK, let's get some terms clarified: HD and RAM are two different things. HD is your hard drive, RAM is the computer's working memory. Think of your computer as an office: the hard drive is the file cabinets and bookshelves in the office, and RAM is the size of the desk. RAM is your work space, the HD is your storage space.

Now, imagine you're juggling a lot of projects in the office=97too many to fit on your desk at the same time. So you take some shelf space on your bookcases and stick one or two of your projects on there to give you enough space on the desk to work. As you switch between projects, sometimes you have to pull a project off the shelf and move one from the desk onto the shelf. That's what your computer does with virtual memory. If your computer has too much stuff that won't fit on the desk and you have WAY too much stuff stored on the bookshelves that you don't have room to stick projects there temporarily, the computer gets constipated.

That's what it sounds like is happening with your virtual memory problem, which is why I recommended some _serious_ housecleaning to free up some space on your hard drive=97the bookshelves.

Maybe. My own storage drive is actually smaller than yours, and my computer is also older. Part of that, I think, is that I'm a freak about yearly housecleaning on the computer along the lines of what I suggested, which has kept us from running out of space. So my own inexpert guesstimate-from-a-distance is that you need to free up some space or find some new space.

I suggest doing the housecleaning no matter what, because we are notoriously bad about throwing away our digital trash. Since hard drives are so cheap we'd rather just move all our junk to a bigger hard drive than go to the effort of cleaning up the one we have that otherwise works perfectly well. It's akin to the proliferation of self- storage places: we'd rather pay some company to hold our stuff for us, which we never use, rather than live within our means by going through our households, tossing what's trash and donating what we don't use or _TRULY_ need.

Run _NOTHING_ from the external hard drive. External hard drives are meant for storage, not operations. They aren't mean to be run like that =97you'd wear it out very fast=97and you'd hate how slow it would be. Using that office analogy, the external hard drive is the storage closet down the hall. You wouldn't want to have to get up from your desk every single time you need something because you stuck it in the closet.

If your 160GB hard drive is nearly full, I'm guessing you probably have a lot of music or video or photos stored on the drive. You have three choices: move some of that stuff to an archive somewhere else, get a second internal hard drive strictly for storage of media, or replace your existing hard drive with a larger one. The benefit of the latter is that you only have to worry about space and connections for one physical drive; the benefit of the former is it's easier to back up as you tell your system "back up this entire drive."

Mind you, that same "just back it up" benefit can be derived by something called partitioning: making Windows see a single large physical hard drive as a few smaller drives with separate drive letters. I did this with the system at home=97C:\ is the Windows OS and programs, K:\ is where we store all our "stuff" (my wife and I both have names that start with K, so it's easy to remember which drive our stuff is on), and L:\ is for the Linux OS (which I am still VERY experimental on). Monthly I plug the external hard drive in and back- up K:\, leaving C:\ and L:\ undisturbed.

Either way, you'll want to have your friendly neighborhood geek do the installation for you, or at the very least be there to guide you through doing it yourself. I highly recommend the latter, if you really want to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding for how computers work.

[Higgs Boson]

??? I posted a long reply yesterday w/all the required info, plus a list of questions. It didn't show up, so I posted THIS reply, and THAT didn't go through either. Later today I will try again w/the original post. Just didn't want people thinking I was neglecting the matter.

HB

[Bob Villa]

I didn't see the HDD size...only the external HDD size?