Dennis wrote:
><<Two things going on and I'm not sure if they are related.
>1. Stuttering during the playing of WMV or MPEG files in Windows Media
>Player and Real Player. Both are latest versions (10.0 and 10.5) Audio
>will continue to play but video "stutters/hesitates" for a second or
>two. I run antivirus and spyware routinely.
>2. Downloads have to be canceled or restarted several times in order to
>complete. Gets to a certain percentage and the just sits there and
>doesn't move. Download and upload speeds are very good from ISP, as they
>have been tested. Using RoadRunner broadband.>>
I'm just guessing, but both could be related to insufficient memory
available, which in turn is usually caused by having too much running in
the background coupled with insufficent RAM.
If, for example, you are running XP with 256Mb RAM, this is minimal and
means you have to be fairly careful not to overload the system with
background apps.
Reboot with the shift key held down---this will stop some of your startups
from running. Then run Task Manager and turn off anny applications and
processes which aren't essential, although this won't necessarily mean that
these apps will return all their unused memory.
Another approach is the run Msconfig and untick everything in the Startup
tab (it won't let you disable anything essential to the system). Then
reboot and repeat the Task Manager exercise.
Then try playing your mpeg and see what happens. If it now runs OK, it's
sure sign that something running in the background is either interfering or
hogging too much resources.
Be particularly wary if you are running any Nortons utilities or a-v, as
these are known resource hogs, and also ensure that if you have Ms Office,
that its FastFind indexing service is disabled, and that the prog itself
isn't running in the background. These are but 2 of many possible
resource-hungry apps.
It's less likely, but not impossible, that this is also the cause of your
download problem, unless the memory problem is very severe. Do you ever
have any general lockups or freezes? If so, these are a strong indicator
of memory problems.
Any scheduled tasks such as regular a-v or antispyware scans, or scheduled
updates, might rob your computer of enough critical memory to carry on
downloads, though this is less likely unless you have some poorly-written
software which is taking priority over other tasks. Some of the "Big Names"
are not exempt from this!
Usually, consistently failed broadband downloads would be a function of a
bad connection---either faulty modem, noisy phone line, or other equipment
hooked into the same phone line and not properly filtered. Make absolutely
certain there's nothing else such as answerphone or fax on the same
line---or if there is, check all line filters. I suspect that although
filters are presumably a one-way device, a shortcircuited filter could play
havoc with your downloads, though I've never heard of that
happening. But--hey---anything's possible. Try re-plugging your phoneline
and USB connections. Maybe could even be a faulty USB cable between modem
and computer? Again, unlikely but not impossible.
Do you have any other browsing problems?
It would help a lot to know how long these problems have been going
on---are they a new things, perhaps related to something recently
installed/uninstalled, or have they always been a problem? Did both probs
arise at the same time? Is your computer showing any other unusual signs?
Is the problem getting worse with time?
If they are new probs, the first thing I'd try is a System Restore.
Don Penlington
Don Penlington
From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery, and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html
PCSOFT's List Owner's:
Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
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