T 'n' T: Win 95/98/Me's Achilles Heel Watch System Resources To Stop Crashes Gregg Keizer
Mon 8/5/02 -- Still using Windows 95, 98, or Me? Poor, poor, pitiful you.
Why? Because Windows 9x (which includes Me) is unstable and unreliable compared to the more recent Windows 2000 and XP variations. I gave up on Windows 9x some time ago, simply because I was tired of the constant crashes and lockups.
But if you haven't made the move to XP or 2000, there's still one thing that you can do to keep crashes at arm's length: watch your system resources.
Windows sets aside several small sections of memory, which it calls system resources, to perform various tasks, such as opening windows and displaying fonts and icons. Because system resources are limited -- in Windows 95, 98, and Me, it doesn't matter how much total RAM you have; you still have the same puny system-resource pool -- conservation is critical. When Windows starts to run out (or, often, just run low) of resources, all kinds of weird behaviors begin -- like sluggish operation, video problems, and program crashes.
You can't augment system resources, so your best bet is to be proactive -- by monitoring and conserving resources whenever possible, and by acting appropriately in low-system-resource situations.
Watch those resources. Windows 95, 98, and Me come equipped with a Resource Meter, a gizmo that reports free resources in the OS. It's the easiest way to watch resource consumption, which is the best way I know to prevent these versions of Windows from crashing.
To get the gauge, choose Programs from the Start menu, then pick Accessories/System Tools/Resource Meter. (Not there? See the next tip.) Once run, Resource Meter minimizes to the system tray (the section of the taskbar near the clock), appearing as three horizontal bars. The more bars shaded green, the more resources are free.
You can force Windows to automatically run Resource Meter each time you boot by right-clicking its icon in the Programs/Accessories/System Tools folder of the Start menu, choosing Create Shortcut, and then dragging the resulting shortcut to the Programs/Startup folder.
Install the meter. There's a good chance Resource Meter doesn't appear in your System Tools menu, since it's not installed by default. Here's how to add it to your system.
Select Settings from the Start menu, click on Control Panel, and double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon. Click the Windows Setup tab, pick "System Tools" from the "Components" list, and click the Details button. Scroll down until you see "System Resource Meter"; check the box; and click OK in this dialog and the next.
More data in the details. For more information than the colored bars can show, place your mouse pointer over the Resource Meter icon in the system tray to see a popup with the exact percentages of available resources. You can also double-click the icon to open a small window that displays the same percentage data.
Act on the info. Unfortunately, merely watching system resources isn't enough -- you need to act on the information that monitoring provides. The number-one strategy for keeping crashes at bay is to close applications when resources run low. A good rule of thumb is that, when you see just one green bar in the Resource Meter gauge, you should start closing programs you're not actively using. (I hate to admit it, but quitting a program doesn't free up all the system resources it was using -- still, reclaiming some is better than none.)
That final bar turns yellow, then red, to warn you of impending doom. If you see yellow, fellow, I suggest you close all applications and reboot Windows. Red, and Windows is nearly dead -- drop everything and reboot, now!
Resource conservation. You have to battle to keep enough system resources free and keep Windows 9x from flaking out on you. It's easier said than done, but you can start by reviewing the programs that run in the background, each sucking up some system resources.
Among my favorite candidates for elimination: screen savers and instant messengers (like AOL Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger). But virtually any program that loads from the Startup folder (under Programs in the Start menu) or to the system tray is a culprit worth investigating.
Check out last week's tips for instructions on how to prevent programs from loading into the system tray, where they'll consume precious system resources as well as RAM.
