[Gnome Chomsky]

Hey...I just got a new laptop with Windows XP.

It is my understanding that there are a number of extraneous background processes launched by default that are taking up precious RAM. Which of these should I turn off (by way of control panel -> administrative tools -> component services)?

ebola

np: meat beat manifesto

 

[TreeManEarthSteward]

Press the hammer time button, that should halt everything

j/k I don't know, but would like to know who does know!

 

[GhostUser]

Choose Services under Component Services. Right click on each and go to Properties. Underneath Startup Type, choose your preference.

There's a much easier way to do this, but I forget. I'm looking, I'll post later if I can find it.

ETA: Oh wait. You're asking which to turn off. Nevermind. hehe

 

[jeneticallymodified]

i think it varies from computer to computer what some of these are called- my laptop has a 'power on' button called the 'easy start button' which i'm pretty sure is brand specific, for a start (if i turn that off, i think i'm screwed, lol) and it depends on whats preinstalled on your comp by way of software too.

probably not very helpful, but what i did was look at the list, then google each item to see what it is, to decide whether or not to have it start on startup. things like realsched.exe (real networks) and qttask.exe (Quicktime) should stand out like sore thumbs though.

 

[Pirate Ferret]

Start Menu

Run

Type 'Msconfig'

Then disable 'startup all items' or whatever its called

Click startup tab

turn crap off?

Is that what youre looking for?

 

[nigel]

You're in grad school, right? Befriend a digithead at your school and ask that person the same question. There are many people who are starved of the opportunity to help you, and actually have the skills to do so.

Some of the advice above is bad. It really is a matter of what you have on your machine and what you hope to get out of it.

 

[computergirl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nigel

You're in grad school, right? Befriend a digithead at your school and ask that person the same question. There are many people who are starved of the opportunity to help you, and actually have the skills to do so.

Some of the advice above is bad. It really is a matter of what you have on your machine and what you hope to get out of it.

I agree. I can tell you, as someone who is a bit of a geek, that I since I love tinkering with computers I love it when I get the chance to improve someone elses. Sometimes I wish something would need fixing/tuning on my computer so I could have something interesting to do.

 

[Gnome Chomsky]

good suggestion.

Yeah...I think I went as far as I presently can with turning off seemingly unnecessary start-up processes.

ebola

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nigel

You're in grad school, right? Befriend a digithead at your school and ask that person the same question. There are many people who are starved of the opportunity to help you, and actually have the skills to do so.

Some of the advice above is bad. It really is a matter of what you have on your machine and what you hope to get out of it.

Hey.. our advice wasn't bad.

 

[nigel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veggiejanie

Hey.. our advice wasn't bad.

Just some -

 

[bigdufstuff]

If you're looking for tight control over what is running on your computer, you're running the wrong OS.

Take a look at various gnu/linux distributions, you'll probably find one that fits your style, I personally use Ubuntu. Then it will be much easier to control what software is running in the background (most often called a deamon).

 

[nigel]

good for me and good for you, but still not good advice for people who are casual users. Most people should never have to deal with the words "install" or "admin."

I appreciate your zeal. I worked on the original BSD 4.2 and have been involved since then.

 

[Gnome Chomsky]

>>If you're looking for tight control over what is running on your computer, you're running the wrong OS.>>

I know. I'm looking to run STATA, open office, and a few old games I have without much hassle, while squeezing out what performance I can from my machine.

ebola

 

[Satyagraha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdufstuff

If you're looking for tight control over what is running on your computer, you're running the wrong OS.

Take a look at various gnu/linux distributions, you'll probably find one that fits your style, I personally use Ubuntu. Then it will be much easier to control what software is running in the background (most often called a deamon).

I've switched to Gnewsense, it's great. ;-) No proprietary code, at all.

Ebola, you can dualboot, just use Windows for playing games, if you must. Very simple to set up, pretty much all automagic.

 

[bigdufstuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Satyagraha

I've switched to Gnewsense, it's great. ;-) No proprietary code, at all.

Ebola, you can dualboot, just use Windows for playing games, if you must. Very simple to set up, pretty much all automagic.

I actually just switched to gNewSense as well

. I really should have earlier, since they have always distributed proprietary software but the announcement of proprietary video drivers was the final straw.

For others interested check out http://www.gnewsense.org/

 

[Gnome Chomsky]

I have some space to play with. This may be my project for Christmas break. Now the question is whether I can easily make my pirated copy of STATA linux compatible.

ebola

 

[bigdufstuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gnome Chomsky

I have some space to play with. This may be my project for Christmas break. Now the question is whether I can easily make my pirated copy of STATA linux compatible.

ebola

You could always give wine a try. Not sure how well it will work, it tends to be a hit or miss.

 

[Gnome Chomsky]

is that some sort of emulator?

I need, need all the processing power i can muster.

I'm doing some serious number-crunching.

 

[bigdufstuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gnome Chomsky

is that some sort of emulator?

I need, need all the processing power i can muster.

I'm doing some serious number-crunching.

Not an emulator but a compatibility layer. WINE = Wine is not an emulator (cute eh?). Basically it is a reimplementation of the win32 libraries but written for a gnu/linux system. Some stuff is supported and some stuff isn't. The only way you'll know is if you give it a shot with your program. If it runs your program without crashing it is unlikely it will slow it down.

Alternatively you can see if any free software alternative for stata. I am not familiar with it though so you may be locked in due to some industry standard or something. What sort of software is it exactly?

 

[Red]

If you're running XP pro, start with this:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/vir...loads/sp1.mspx

first and save yourself lots of headaches. Beats the crap out of setting up (and limiting yourself to) a dual boot system or trying to run windows software on a linux machine. And it's free.

and to see what works:

http://vpc.visualwin.com/