dell laptop vista using 100% of ram

Tivoli

disabled everything, but still vista is using all 447mb of ram on a new del laptop, and lots of disk trashing

i rang the owner saying it needs more memory, but she asked if i can install xp instead as its what she is used too, and would use less memory

anyway its got vista basic, can i use its cd key to activate xp home?

mathias

Use an xp key on vista ? No , that wont work. 447 is definitely not enough for Vista , mine struggled with 1GB , anyway its either get an original xp disc with key or upgrade the memory , Another 512MB of memory is about 50€ ,

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122445

an oem copy of XP is ( assuming the owner doesnt have a copy) is 98€ ,

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=327649

The memory is cheaper , and Vista basic will be OK with 1GB or thereabouts.

Dont forget , that if you stick a 1GB memory stick in the USB slot , Vista can use that as main memory using readyboost , that might be an out for you.

http://blogs.msdn.com/tomarcher/archive/2006/04/14/576548.aspx

hshortt

How much physical RAM is in the laptop?
What are the specs of the laptop?
Open task manager to see the process that is consuming the processor time.

You could check the paging file settings, visual options etc as follows
Click start, then right click on 'Computer' and choose properties, click advanced system settings in the left hand menu and then click the settings button to open the Performance Options window.

In here choose adjust for best Performace (this can be undone if you don't see any improvement)

Next step, click the 'Advanced' tab in the middle and on the bottom 'Virtual Memory options click change. Write down the settings in the window, (you can go back if needed)

Click custom size and enter the amount of physical memory plus another half. i.e. you have 1GB of RAM enter 1500 MB in the initial settings and the same value again in the maximum settings (this will help to reduce disk trashing as the page file won't be able to fluctuate now)

Click 'Set' then click OK until you are back to the desktop, you need to reboot for these changes to be effective.

This is not a fix but a way of working around the problem. Vista needs more memory than XP and if the laptop wasn't built to support Vista then you need to add memory.

There are many other factors that could also be involved like Anti-virus software, Windows Defender scanning and so on, so we've on'y really touched the tip of it.

Good luck and happy computing,
Howard
PS - Vista keys will not activate XP.

hshortt

mathias wrote:

Dont forget , that if you stick a 1GB memory stick in the USB slot , Vista can use that as main memory using readyboost , that might be an out for you.

http://blogs.msdn.com/tomarcher/archive/2006/04/14/576548.aspx

It can't be any memory stick though, you have to get one that's certified as Readyboost compatibile. I agree with your other points and in particular getting more memory is more preferable to using readyboost keys, the memory operates faster and will give more sustainable benchmarks.

Cheerio
Howard

Creamy Goodness

i'd say the laptop has 512mb ram which 64mb is taken up by some sort of graphics accelerator.

tbh dell shouldn't package vista on laptops with less than 1gig because even at one gig it struggles.

8T8

Tivoli

* The laptop has only 512MB of RAM not ideal generally 1GB is recommend as others have pointed out a flash drive compatible with readyBoost will ease things.

* Vista's disk thrashing is related to it's prefetch service where it moves data round the HD for optimal access depending on your application usage. This is normal and a positive thing but it will take it a while to settle down once it has learned what you use the most.

* Vista's memory sub system works differently from XP's it uses as much RAM as it can because again this is a good thing, better explanation at this link.

The best thing to do is get an extra 512MB of RAM for the notebook it will make difference.