From: "Jess Anaya" :Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 9:29 AM
Subject: [PCSOFT] PCSOFT Digest


> A question regarding "resources" and only assume it is software related.
I
> get a resources low message from a McAfee Resource Monitor and also
> sometimes an application like Outlook will refuse to open because the
> resources are too low.  I have a Dell 350 MHZ with 192 MB memory and 20
Gig
> hard disk so am wondering 1) how to tell what resource is low and 2) how
to
> setup so as to not have this problem.
> Thanks,   Jess
>

Jess,

System resources refer to two specific memory areas: User Resources and GDI
(Graphics Device Interface) Resources.  The User Resources contain all of
the information on all of the applications and windows you have currently
running.  The GDI Resource area keeps track of the graphical objects you
have on the screen, windows, icons and wallpaper.  These resources are of a
fixed size no matter how much ram you have installed.  As you open and close
windows and apps User and GDI resources get allocated.  The problem comes
when not all of the resources that were used by the app are released when
the app is closed.  These resources are marked as used even though they are
no longer needed by the application.  Over time as more windows and programs
are opened and closed there is not enough resource memory available to
continue working or to open new programs and you will get the an "out of
memory" error message or the system will crash.  These resources are limited
to 64k in Win 3.x and 128K in Win9.x and not limited in WinNT and Win2K.

Some of the things you can do to free up system resources is to minimize the
programs that load at start up, in Win98 you can use MSConfig, in Win95 you
can either copy MSconfig from Win98 if you have access to it or edit the
registry and the Win.ini or check the programs to see if they let you decide
whether they load at start up or not.

Set a permanent swap file with the minimum and maximum size the same.
Windows will not have to spend time and resources managing the swap file.

You can also adjust the vcache settings in the system.ini by setting a
minimum and maximum file size.  Look for [vcache] in the system.ini and add
the following lines:

[vcache]
MinFileCache=512
MaxFileCache=8192

To identify which programs are resource hogs you can stop all programs from
loading at start-up and then open one program at a time, check your
resources, then close the program and recheck your resources.  If you see a
big drop in the resources after closing the program you know that all of the
resources are not being released after the program is closed.

Hope this helps.

Mary Wolden

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