On  3 Jan 99 at 16:13, Kathleen Ely wrote:

> I have had multiple crashes and after using my computer for 2-3
> hours, I always get memory errors.

  My first guess would be a bad memory DIMM.  If there are two of
these, you might try swapping their order and see if that changes
things, or running with only one and then only the other.  But also
see below.

> My OEM tells me that this is not a hardware problem but a software
> one, because of the programs I run.  He says that it is, in
> particular, a Microsoft problem, because of the way that Windows
> '98 uses memory, that it doesn't "release" the memory for system
> usage after a program is used.
>
>   Can anyone tell me if this might be true?

  He could be almost right.

  In fact, Win98 will release *process* memory for re-use when a
task ends.  You must actually CLOSE the application for this to
happen.  There are a number of applications that I keep open all the
time....
  But then there's *system* memory -- memory allocated inside the OS
on behalf of a process.  This is a danger point in Win 9x, because
(a) the total space available is limited (for ease of running 16-bit
Windows apps) AND (b) the OS cannot release these itself, and relies
on applications to do it -- and sometimes they don't.

  I can suggest two basic options:

1.  Determine whether everything you need will work with NT
Workstation, which will provide the GUI you're used to but with
better stability.  NT4 is still a bit thin in support for sound cards
and DirectX, but it doesn't sound like these would be major issues
for you.

2.  I've been very satisified with a shareware program called APK,
now available commercially as "RamCharge".  It works under 9x and NT,
and seems to manage to recover memory that the OS doesn't see as
free.  It *might* help you.


David G

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