RAM Thievery!

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:41 am

My computer has suddenly lost a good portion of it's RAM, and everything I try is useless. I've got 1048.044 MB's total memory showing up (that's the correct amount), but my total Free Physical Memory fluctuates between 500 and 750 MB's. Things I have tried so far include: running a full system scan with Norton Antivirus, and Ad-Aware, rolling back with a system restore a full two months, as well as turning off all of the startup programs in msconfig. All of this to no avail. Please help, my computer is essentially crippled at the moment with very limited usage.

EDIT: Post edited for clearity.

slimdog55 · Post by **slimdog55** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 3:21 pm

Maybe take the RAM out of the RAM slot and then put it back in?

a2e · Post by **a2e** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 5:18 pm

I think you mean 1048 MB not KB (unless your machine is from the 80Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s.) Anyway, it is not uncommon for Windows XP itself to use up to 300 megs or more of memory, and the rest is probably some programs running in the background. To see what is using the most memory open the task manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del) and click on the Process tab. Next click the Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mem UsageÃ¢â‚¬

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:05 pm

Thanks for the help, I'm gonna' have to try the Mme Usage bit, but I have currently clawed back about 100 MB's with a couple freeware programs I found. The thing is, my free memory used to sit around in the upper 950's up until yesterday.

windog · Post by **windog** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:52 pm

sounds like syware. Try a few dfferent spybots killers

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sat Sep 24, 2005 11:14 pm

I'm having trouble identifying items on the Mem Usage list, so here is a screenshot. Any reccomendations about malicios programs would be greatly appreciated. Spyware searches have turned up nothing too by the way.

Those svchost one's I'm particulairly suspcious about.

a2e · Post by **a2e** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:32 am

svchost is normal, dont worry 'bout that one. here is a good list of common processes. I would shut down everything you have running (including getting rid of all the running programs in you tray) and check out all the remaining processes on the website above. it is not fun, but I have done it many times.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:40 pm

So if I were to hit end process for every single one of those programs the computer wouldn't crash? Thanks for the list by the way.

a2e · Post by **a2e** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:00 pm

o if I were to hit end process for every single one of those programs the computer wouldn't crash?

No it wouldnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t, all the vital processes would refuse to close. the only one that would cause any problems is explorer.exe, basically everything would disappear except for the task manager.

But what I really meant was that you should shut down all running programs the way you normally would, including the ones in your icon try (You know next to the time in the task bar.) and then check to see what is running, if it is a virus or spyware then it would still be running.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sun Sep 25, 2005 11:06 pm

Ah! Cool thanks, I'll try that.

UFProductions · Post by **UFProductions** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 6:56 pm

Update: Problem was fixed, the only sure way: full system restore. The problems were getting worse and more numerous, to the point that all of ythe drives simply dissapeared, clearly had some virus that was devouring the system form the inside out. Oh well, sometmes it's nice to have a fresh start.

windog · Post by **windog** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:27 pm

yes, I do a format every now and again.