[ articles_operating_systems ]
Low Resources? What Can I Do?
Carey Holzman
Contributing Writer
2003-06-16
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
Hi Carey,
I am having problems with my computer, I have received this message a number of times: The system is dangerously low in resources. There is not enough free memory to run this program. At the moment I am on the net and have word and outlook open and my system resources are very low, at 4% free.
I spoke to the people I bought the computer from because I am supposed to have 512ram, they assure me that I have plenty, and it must be a windows problem and that I have to reformat my harddrive. I am not that familiar with such things, so I thought I would search to find out why I was having this problem and came across your site.
Some background: when I fire up and read my system resources with no programs opened, I only have 41% free, as I open programs it goes down by 3% or so per program. When I get on the net it can hardly open outlook, and on some occasions, it will not open and I am given the message that I am low on memory and cannot open the program. I don't want to lose any of my files and having to reinstall my office programs could be a problem. Hope you can shed some light on this problem for me.
Thank you in anticipation,
Regards,
Judy Perrett
Hi Judith!
First you should know that any time a technician suggests you need to reformat your hard drive and re-install your operating system, that means they don't know the answer and they aren't aware that you can re-install Windows without the "necessity" of having to re-format the hard drive first.
In short, this is a poor excuse for a computer technician. Where I live, in Arizona, you need a license to cut people's hair. Unfortunately, anyone can call themselves a computer technician. It's a self-proclaimed title.
Second, resource issues only exist in Windows 95/98 and ME. They do not exist in Windows 2000 or XP. I would highly recommend you upgrade to Windows XP and say goodbye to resource issues forever.
Third, Windows 95,98 and ME will only effectively use up to 192MB of RAM. Sure, you can stick more RAM in it, and it will recognize, but it will not use it. See this article for more info: http://www.careyholzman.com/mem1.jpg
http://www.careyholzman.com/mem2.jpg
So, having 512mb of memory in Windows 95,98 and ME is a waste of money.
There is nothing you can do to increase the resource limitation in Windows 95, 98 and ME. To understand this, you must understand that Resources and Memory are unrelated. There is a great explanation of this here: http://aumha.org/win4/a/resource.htm
You can help your situation by clicking Start, click Run and type MSCONFIG (then hit Enter or click OK), Click on the StartUp tab and remove any unnecessary items from loading at Windows start up. This will allow Windows to boot faster and have more resources available to programs you actually want to run. Be careful, some of these files MUST be run in order for Windows to operate correctly. Only uncheck items that look suspicious or familiar to you. If Windows doesn't work properly afterwards, simply re-check the item and re-boot.
Thanks for writing!
Carey
About the Author:
Carey Holzman owns and operates Discount Computer Repair (602-527-9723) in Phoenix, Arizona, where he offers repairs, upgrades, custom built PCs and network wiring at highly competitive pricing. His networking tips have appeared in David Strom's book, The Home Networking Survival Guide (McGraw/Hill), and his own book on PC maintenance is currently available at local book stores, amazon.com or directly through him. His free informative web site can be found at http://www.careyholzman.com. Donate $30 to help maintain his site and you'll get a free autographed copy of his book. Carey can be reached directly at carey@careyholzman.com.
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