WIN98 not releasing resources

I am running WIN98, Pent-3, 352M RAM

Can anyone explain why and a possible solution:
As programs are closed they do not fully release resources until I reboot. Logging out only restores some of the resources, but not all and Norton A/V does not come back.

At one point after all programs were closed, I only had 7% free and nothing would open, I had to reboot.

 

Try:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=1670
or:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2475

 

Thanks folks,

Not sure which version of WIN98 (CD and "About" do not say). My A/V is Norton 2003, Defs are up to date; running Norton System Works; HD is only 9% fragmented; Office 2000 SB; and Adaware weekly.

I have gotten the memory defraggers & the article, will check them out and let ya know if it helps.

 

Few programs return resources after they are closed. The most notorius are called resource hogs, among which belong Microsoft Office programs, multiple open windows in Internet Explorer, all 16-bit programs, etc. First of all disable FastFind and Office Startup, as they are system parasites (in case you have installed them).

9% fragmentation means highly fragmented drive.

I don't think that memory optimizers can free resources, they only free the memory.
The best way to get your resources back is restart/reboot.
Also, clean and defragment your disk.

 

Well, few programs under Win98 free up resources (aka close "nice"). Under more modern kernels like Windows 2k/XP, Linux, or Mac OS X, the kernel more actively recovers memory that is no longer in use.

You probably won't have this sort of difficulty in XP/2k, but the old method of DOS + GUI was very messy. Especially by the end when Windows really started to try to control the system in spite of DOS's best efforts.