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Avoiding System
Crashes
Written by: Dan
Daily
Hi Gang!
Recently I've been getting a lot of mail about system crashes. Thank you for all the kind emails and encouragement gang!
I can't possibly write you all back, but I read them all.
.
System Crashes A Fact of Life.
This is a problem that plagues us all, but with proper care, you can stop most
all of them.
There are three reasons for most system crashes/lock ups.
Not enough memory, disk space, or understanding.
How Your Memory Works.
Windows manages your memory for you. When your memory registers
are full, it sends the new calls to a "swap" file. This is called "virtual
memory." If you let windows manage this memory, (default, don't change it) it will send the new calls to a swap file it makes on your hard
drive. You can always tell because your hard drive is working like crazy, and you haven't really done anything to cause it.
It's your
computers way of telling you your memory is gone.
By using the swap file, your system slows down considerably. Windows has to look to the drive to find out what it needs to do, and what it was doing.
Now, take into account all the programs running at the same time, each calling from the disc, we're talking major slow here.
If you're running say a Pentium 2, with 64 megs of ram. OK? You fire up the computer, god knows what programs start at boot up, (more
about that later) and you go into Aol, (which can take almost all of it by itself) play music in the background, and say swap in and out
of Windows paint, (which I do constantly) you can see how fast your memory is used up.
Windows normally
will just go to the swap file to fix the shortage, but several factors can screw this
up.
You need at least 400 megs of free disc space. Why? Well, your recycle bin reserves 200 megs of it. You can disable your recycle bin
completely: But; that kills your ability to restore a file you really didn't want to
delete. Windows requires at least 200 megs for the swap file. In
theory;
Windows can use a lot more than that but no one I know, seems to know how much more.
Now, add to that, a drive that hasn't been defragged, and you force windows to search all over the drive to look for the bits and pieces
of its swap file. Windows/Dos, always fills the blank spaces first. Beginning to understand now? It's not
Aol. It's the basis of how every
Win-Tel computer works. (that's Windows, Intel architecture; always wondered what that meant, eh)?
OK, how do we fix this situation? There are solutions;
Get more memory, I recommend at least 128 megs. You can still run out of it, but it takes longer.
256 is better yet. You can still run out of it you ask?
Well, repeat the above scenario, and add; you are on the web loading a full blown Java web site.
I recommend Crucial.com for Ram
memory. I recently picked up 256megs form 29.95; next day air
free. You'll learn that I like two major things: Fast, and
Free.
Yes, you can run out of it. Quick. But most of the problems associated
with the crashes are on computers with 64 megs or less. By it's nature, the smaller the memory core, the sooner Windows has to resort to the
swap file. And the sooner the "end" comes. No pun intended to my
Danny's Daily's subscribers. LOL
Keep at least 400 megs of your drive free, I like to see a gig, yes, sorry folks, you heard it right, a gig.
Then you don't have to worry
about what you did yesterday, know what I mean? If you keep your drive pruned, and cut all the crap out you'll never use, it'll pretty
much take care of itself.
Defrag often, at least BI weekly. That will allow large blocks of free space on the drive, so Windows won't have to search all over trying
to piece together its virtual memory.
And finally, have patience. Yes, patience, Windows really never
forgets, but if it's swapping, it takes time. Some times a couple of minutes. But what do we
do? We click, nothing happens, we
click again, nothing happens, we start clicking all over the place, nothing happens, we click the "X" button about 20 times, anything!
Just something happen! (don't even tell me you don't do that, I don't believe you) Do you know what you just did? You just multiplied the
problem by 100. How? You just added 30 more commands on top of what a "crippled" Windows was already trying to sort out. Not to
mention what that Java web site is trying to do.
In short, you're doomed. If you have patience, usually Windows will pop out of it and give you what you wanted. If that happens, save
your work and reboot. Don't press your luck, you just got really lucky. If
you have limited Ram, limit the number of programs you're running at any one
time. Some graphics programs like Photoshop can suck all your Ram by
itself. I have 640 megs of Ram on my system and Photoshop can eat it all
quite quickly.
Ways to Save Memory;
Memory is the mothers milk to your computer, there are many ways to
save it. When I do a system wipe, the first thing I have to do is make my Compaq a computer, not a Compaq. They stick so many start up
programs on it, it's a miracle it works at all. This may require work
from the registry, not for the faint at heart. Recently I heard of a conflict of Gateway having a proprietary program that won't run with
Internet Explorer 5. I would have never known about it, because anything "Gateway" would have already been gone. Get the picture? I don't give a
sh*t what Gateway or Compaq thinks I should have. I
know what I should have!
Heck, Compaq wanted half of the drive for their quick restore feature. Yes, if you have a crash, everything you had is still there, twice! Just go
to the other stuff, and POOF, you have it back. Great, but I have a
second hard drive for my backup, thank you very much. Give me a break. It's called,
and repeat after me, BACKUP. I don't have to give half of my hard drive to have backup.
And what if the hard drive itself crashes, I guess Compaq didn't think of that...If any of you have this "feature" installed
and running, and are backing up to a zip drive, or any other backup device, Compaq stole half your hard drive and the memory that runs it!
And REMEMBER: There are only two types of people with
computers. Those that have had hard drive crashes, and those that
haven't...Yet.
So, prune your machine, know what programs are starting on the
bootup. All these programs set aside memory blocks that can't be used, except by them. Know your system, defrag often, keep
plenty of free space on
your drive. Keep your Aol fav places reasonable; one person told me he/she had 20,000 emails stored in favorite places. I only have 22000 files on my
entire computer! So don't blame Aol. Aol Fav's isn't even FOR
emails! It's for links! My entire Aol, with everything I have for Danny's Daily's is only
about 500 megs and most of you
know what Danny's Daily's entails. It's huge, complicated, and small by design.
When I send a cartoon, I delete it. When I send a link, I delete it: When I send a joke, mostly, I delete it. This comes from the
DOS days when a custom built, ordered, took a month to get delivered, hard drive was 80 megs big. I realize most of you think I'm crazy,
but it's true. Most computers only came with a 20 or 30 meg drive. Hell, I have a GAME that takes
500! My, how far we've come.
Old timers, get the tears out of your eyes. LOL Don't keep stuff you won't use
again, even if you think you might. You won't. Who has the time?
I believe, if you follow these guide lines, most all your system crashes will stop. Except
for error crashes;
Error crashes occur, and Windows tells you so. A couple of years ago, Aol crashes
were, for the most part, caused by WinAmp. This is why I never recommended
letting WinAmp be your default CD player.
That was then, now is now. I think WinAmp is the best
player out there, and yes, it is my default player. All software has bugs. Don't believe me? Send it to me,
I'll get it to crash. LMAO.
I
hope this helps you on your road. Your Road? Yes,
Your Road To Computer Sanity
Danny
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