anyone know what this program does?

Hi,
Just deleted bunch of stuff and gained about 9mbs. One of the things deleted was something I have never knowinly used, that has been on my computer for years. It is "highmat writing extension to XP". Anyone know what this is and if I have just disabled some vital aspect of my computer?
Thanks alot.

Sheena

 

As far as can recall, that was just a little add-on for CD burning, to increase compatibility, chances are high that it's not needed, if it is, the installer should be pretty small if you need to re -download it. It will have no effect on core usability of Windows.

How much free drive space do you have now Sheena, in % terms?

 

Haven't looked yet, wanted to delete all but most recent restore points first, but just wanted to check re: this program first. Things certainly seem to be running faster. Had thought there might be some relationship between the load the computer is carrying, xpprof,serpack2, and the fact pages stayed in loading, emails too. Had also deleted a recently installed camera program, a cheapie.
Thanks Satrow.
Sheena

 

Satrow,
Haven't deleted restore points yet. Memory as follows:
Total physical memory 512mb [which always surprises me as I had two mem sticks put in; would the computer not register one of them?]

Amount used, 63%.
Free: 1164 mb, used 595 , select 9mb
total windows memory: 1759 mb [never sure what this includes]
When I went to performance in my tune-up program it said the following, and I was offline at the time:

total system use-1%
cache using 13%

OTHER: 50% [what is 'other']
available: 36%
These are real time values, but I watched them for awhile and this is what seemed usual.
My processor is a pentium 3 of 933 mhz, but back to the old question, what kind of strain would an upgrade put on my old machine. This is a good business machine, and I don't need it for anything other than basic functions.
Sheena

 

Memory is not the same as drive space. You might have 2x 256MB modules installed.

You have 512MB of RAM (random access memory - it's cleared on shutdown/reboot) + 1247MB of Virtual memory (a paging file on the hard drive, used to store the contents of real memory when Windows or a program requests more real memory) = 1759 MB, total Windows memory.

To find your drive space usage, right-click the C: in Windows Explorer and then left-click on Properties.

A P3 933MHz is effectively a 12+ year old design, that's pretty ancient in PC terms, even Mac users would consider replacing their machines before they got that old; most PC's are replaced or upgraded by the 5-8 year old mark. It's possible that even upgrading your RAM from 512MB could cost as much as a new (or recent refurb.) tower unit. It's best suited to W2K or XP and lightweight, well written software, not 'suites' etc.

 

If I am just using my computer for basics like emailing and researching info, is there any problem with just leaving things as they are? I don't game, and can live without seeing everything in video. I know this is blasphemy to some, and I am sorry, but in my day a computer was a thing covering the space of a block or two in the pentagon. Movies about them had them taking over the world and enslaving humankind. Hmmmm....

Sheena

 

Doesn't really seem worthwhile, to me anyway, to delete lots of stuff for 9mbs.
Or were you meaning GBs?

 

Hi Hrlow.
Well, I have an old computer so maybe 9MB would make a difference? Or so I hoped, and it does seem to be responding more quickly. I deleted two programs.Sorry, used the term 'bunch and gave the wrong idea.
Sheena

 

So you have a ~50/50 split, used/free space, on a 20GB drive that's fine, provided it's defragged occasionally

Start > Run > type defrag c: > (Enter) and Defrag will run in a CMD box and close when it's done - could take an hour or so if it's not been defragged for a while.

PageDefrag might help a little with performance (don't expect to be able to measure the difference though), you only need to set it to run at boot once - it's tiny to download, ~46kb.

Not much point in spending $$ to upgrade the RAM, that PC has too many other bottlenecks anyway, best to put some money aside towards getting a new/refurb PC and/or a better connection if one's available in your area and budget range.

 

Satrow,
I defrag every time I go offline, and also when online as necessary. Also clear history while online, run ccleaner after every online visit. Have done these things for years.
One thing I notice is that when I first go online defrag program shows I'm already badly fragmented, and as I watch its taskbar it shows most of the fragmentation comes from cookies. Yet thru firefox I have 'beef taco', which I thought would get rid of all the cookies. Yet taco uses cookies too. Why do I have so many cookies at the beginning of being online? My defrag program always defrags to point where I have almost no fragmented files.
Sheena

 

Some cookies are good. Like the one for here that permits you to log-in without having to retype your email and password every time.

 

Hrlow,
But When I look at my defrag program it shows a very badly fragmented drive from too many cookies.

Sheena

 

You need to set Ccleaner to scan intelligently for cookies to keep, then manually save the 'blocking' cookies set by Beef Taco. Open Ccleaner > Options > Cookies, right-click the top cookie in the left pane > Intelligent scan. Then do the same but select Keep for the Beef Taco cookies and any forum/email login cookies you want to save.

It may just be simpler to set Firefox not to accept 3rd party cookies than use Beef Taco - they're usually not needed and are most likely to be spyware -related. Firefox > (Alt) Options > Privacy > change the History dropdown to use custom settings and uncheck 'Accept third-party cookies'.

I don't think it's a good thing for you to delete all browser cache, you're on dial-up, it just means you have to download unchanged files each time you connect to a regular site - better to restrict the amount of space used by the browser - I use 200MB but have used 40MB in the past with no ill-effects. Firefox > Options > Advanced > Networking > and override automatic cache-handling - set it to 40MB (25MB might be fine too, you're a light user). Then uncheck Firefox browser cache in Ccleaner.

Defragging that frequently simply isn't needed, with your current free space, monthly would be more than enough - do set PageDefrag to run once though, also set Ccleaner to delete the old prefetch files - then run a defrag c: /B - it'll layout the files needed at boot time on the fastest part of the drive - it'll take just a few minutes to do that.

 

Really good advice, Satrow.
By the way, I don't defrag with CCleaner, and have always restricted 3rd party cookies.
Will try all this and let you know how it works.
Sheena