Speeding up Windows Task Manager

[KCD]

Need your expertise.

In "Windows Task Manager" under the “Performance” tab header it states that my “Physical Memory” is 490992, “Available Memory” is 157288, & “System Cache” is 247796 in an idle mode.

Question: If the present ram (512) was changed to 1,024 would this decrease the time it takes my computer to scan in Lavasoft, Windows Defender, etc?

Thanks,

Dave

[Statica]

Increasing RAM nearly always increases the performance of your computer, especially when the jump is from 512 to 1GB. However there are also other bottlenecks to things such as scans .. like hard drive speed etc.

[glc]

You need to make your pagefile larger. Right now it appears it's only 512, that's too small. Default for 512 ram is 768 initial and 1536 max - I recommend 1536 for both.

Control panel, system, advanced, performance, virtual memory.

Adding ram will not increase the scanning speed, it will only decrease program loading times.

[KCD]

You need to make your pagefile larger. Right now it appears it's only 512, that's too small. Default for 512 ram is 768 initial and 1536 max - I recommend 1536 for both.

Control panel, system, advanced, performance, virtual memory.

Adding ram will not increase the scanning speed, it will only decrease program loading times.

Thanks much, will do.

Dave

[KCD]

Increasing RAM nearly always increases the performance of your computer, especially when the jump is from 512 to 1GB. However there are also other bottlenecks to things such as scans .. like hard drive speed etc.

Statica,

note the computer in my signature & let me know if you think more ram is worth it.

Thanks,

Dave

[Statica]

Statica,

note the computer in my signature & let me know if you think more ram is worth it.

Thanks,

Dave

KCD it really depends on the number of apps you've got running in the background etc. While 512MB is adequate to boot up just XP, if you're running the newer versions of most programs (from Office to most graphics suites or even the newer versions of browsers) you would definitely be better off with more than 512MB RAM... especially given that you're probably running close to full on that 40GB hard drive.
Given the relatively low prices of RAM, I think it would be a rather cheap performance upgrade. Again, dont expect a miraculous change, but it would definitely help prevent too much thrashing of your hard drive during scans.

[KCD]

Glc,

Found that the “virtual ram” was originally set to 168, max was 336, so reset per your advice.
(Years ago I replaced the original 128 ram stick with 2 - 256 sticks not knowing anything about this virtual ram setting.)

Now the 3 respective sums are: “Physical Memory” is 490992 (no change), “Available Memory” is 214044 (previous was 157288), & “System Cache” is 231164 (previous was 247796) in an idle mode

Does that appear normal?

Is there anything else that I should change to improve performance?

Thanks,

Dave

[KCD]

Statica,

What mfgr to you recommend?

And thanks for the input.

Dave

[glc]

Did you reset to 1536 for both initial and maximum then hit the SET button? How much free space does your hard drive have?

For a proprietary computer, I recommend getting ram from the configurator at Crucial.com.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Pavilion+XT983

It's going to be pricey - you only have 2 slots and going to a gig will cost you close to $200. Even pulling one stick and going up to 768 will be close to $100. This is money better saved for a new build, that computer is definitely showing its age.

[KCD]

Did you reset to 1536 for both initial and maximum then hit the SET button? How much free space does your hard drive have?

My fault, misread your “768 initial and 1536 max” as minimum & max for a 512 operation.

Have reset to 1536/1536 & here are the present readings:
Physical Memory Total 490992, Available 242324, System Cache 204788

How much free space does your hard drive have?

Capacity is 32.8 GB, free space is 17.9 GB

Yes, the HP is definitely old but it does what I ask of it.

Looking into getting a laptop as I could use the flexibility.

Do appreciate the help!

And have a good one.

Dave