memory capacity

  • Thread starter Thread starter Broken Hill
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Broken Hill

I have downloaded an accounting system onto my system. Using only the dummy
data and having made very few fictitious entries, I have found the account
system agonizingly slow.
This prompted me to examine the memory capacity of my computer. I have put
various figures down on spreadsheets and have several queries, but will just
initially note:-
According to General System Information and to My Computer Desktop icon I
have free space of 132 GB out of a total of 143 GB. Is it relevant to ask why
the system is so slow in the light of this apparent anomaly?
In appreciation and anticipation of your assistance
 
I have downloaded an accounting system onto my system. Using only the
dummy data and having made very few fictitious entries, I have found
the account system agonizingly slow.
This prompted me to examine the memory capacity of my computer. I
have put various figures down on spreadsheets and have several
queries, but will just initially note:-
According to General System Information and to My Computer Desktop
icon I have free space of 132 GB out of a total of 143 GB. Is it
relevant to ask why the system is so slow in the light of this
apparent anomaly?
In appreciation and anticipation of your assistance
Click to expand...

No, that probably isn't the reason. That's a good amount of free space
tohave.

Have you checked the system requirements for the program against what
your computer is? It's possible you just don't have enough RAM or cpu
speed or any of a few other things to run that program.
 
Broken Hill said:
I have downloaded an accounting system onto my system. Using only the dummy
data and having made very few fictitious entries, I have found the account
system agonizingly slow.
This prompted me to examine the memory capacity of my computer. I have put
various figures down on spreadsheets and have several queries, but will
just
initially note:-
According to General System Information and to My Computer Desktop icon I
have free space of 132 GB out of a total of 143 GB. Is it relevant to ask
why
the system is so slow in the light of this apparent anomaly?
In appreciation and anticipation of your assistance
Click to expand...

Hard drives have little to do with system speed. RAM (Random Access Memory)
is the spec you should look at. At a minimum with XP you should have 500MB
of RAM, 1GB would be better. XP will 'run' on as little as 128MB, but you
can time performance with a calendar instead of a watch.
 
Click Start>Right-click My Computer>Left-click Properties.
In the General Window that comes up, it will say how much RAM your computer
has, and the size of the Processor, CPU.

As previous posters have said; minimum of 512MBs, preferably 1G RAM

In the old days, Hard Drive space was referred to as Secondary Memory.
But, it is a confusing term; better to call it permanent storage.

And the CPU should be a minimum of 2.4Ghz for satisfactory working conditions
 
I have downloaded an accounting system onto my system. Using only the dummy
data and having made very few fictitious entries, I have found the account
system agonizingly slow.
This prompted me to examine the memory capacity of my computer. I have put
various figures down on spreadsheets and have several queries, but will just
initially note:-
According to General System Information and to My Computer Desktop icon I
have free space of 132 GB out of a total of 143 GB. Is it relevant to ask why
the system is so slow in the light of this apparent anomaly?
In appreciation and anticipation of your assistance
Click to expand...

That is not memory but hard drive space .
 
What is the CPU speed?

How much RAM?

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

What is the name of the accounting software?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
I have downloaded an accounting system onto my system. Using only the dummy
data and having made very few fictitious entries, I have found the account
system agonizingly slow.
This prompted me to examine the memory capacity of my computer. I have put
various figures down on spreadsheets and have several queries, but will
just
initially note:-
According to General System Information and to My Computer Desktop icon I
have free space of 132 GB out of a total of 143 GB. Is it relevant to ask
why
the system is so slow in the light of this apparent anomaly?
In appreciation and anticipation of your assistance
Click to expand...


Several points and questions here:

1. You have described the amount of *disk space* you have available, not
memory. The term "memory" is not used or disk space, but for RAM.

2. How much memory (RAM) do you have?

3. The amount of disk space you have available is not related to your
performance issue.

4.Do you run other applications besides the accounting one? Is your
performance problem on all of them or just accounting?

5. You say you downloaded the accounting program. What's the name of the
accounting program? What site did you download it from?

6. Did your performance problem begin when you installed the accounting
program? Start earlier? Later?

7. Performance problems are very often caused by malware infection. What
software protection do you use against viruses and spyware? Are your
anti-virus and anti-spyware programs kept up to date?
 
Ken, I don't know how long you have been involved in computers.
Hard Drive space was called Secondary Memory.
RAM was Primary memory.
 
Ken, I don't know how long you have been involved in computers.
Click to expand...


Almost certainly considerably longer than you. Since 1962, when I started as
an IBM 1401 programmer.

Hard Drive space was called Secondary Memory.
RAM was Primary memory.
Click to expand...


Maybe by some people, but it's very uncommon usage, and if somebody talks
about "memory," but means disk space, he will almost certainly confuse his
audience. It's a very misleading term to use for that purpose, and should be
avoided because of the great risk of causing confusion. Clearly Broken Hill
didn't understand the difference.
 
I am 60yo, and have been in IT for a long time too, Ken.
I explained the confusion in MY post.
And for your info, A+ accreditation still refers to it as Secondary Memory.
You seem to think that you are the big know-all here.
I don't like your attitude.
 
Mick Murphy said:
I am 60yo, and have been in IT for a long time too, Ken.
I explained the confusion in MY post.
And for your info, A+ accreditation still refers to it as Secondary
Memory.
You seem to think that you are the big know-all here.
I don't like your attitude.
Click to expand...


You know, despite your attitude and the insults you throw at me as well as
other people saying the correct thing, I've tried to be reasonable and
polite answering you.. But no more, I'm tired of trying to deal with you, or
convince you of anything. So, since you're about to enter my killfile,
neither of us will have to deal with answering the other from now on. That
should make you happy, since you don't like me or my attitude.Or, if you
would like to see even less of my messages, you can me to your killfile too.
It's your choice and I don't care which you do.

Goodbye.
 
Mick Murphy said:
You know, despite your attitude and the insults you throw at me as
well as other people saying the correct thing, I've tried to be
reasonable and polite answering you.. But no more, I'm tired of
trying to deal with you, or convince you of anything. So, since
you're about to enter my killfile, neither of us will have to deal
with answering the other from now on. That should make you happy,
since you don't like me or my attitude.Or, if you would like to see
even less of my messages, you can me to your killfile too. It's your
choice and I don't care which you do.
Goodbye.
Click to expand...

Well, that's certainly childish of you Ken. Bury your head so you can't
see the problems OR be any assistance. Unfortunately, killfiling won't
make your screen devoid of his posts; you'll still see them in any
threads he posts in but didn't originate.
 
You are being very childish, Ken. Obviously, you don't like me giving a
correct answer to the OP re "Secondary Memory" explanation, and why he was
confused between RAM and Hard Drive..
The same as you disliked me giving an OP the correct answer to a Web
Interface question.
Killfile me; I couldn't care less.

The ONE problem with the Web Interface, is that I can NOT killfile biggotted
posters like YOU!
 
Mick Murphy said:
You are being very childish, Ken. Obviously, you don't like me giving a
correct answer to the OP re "Secondary Memory" explanation, and why he was
confused between RAM and Hard Drive..
The same as you disliked me giving an OP the correct answer to a Web
Interface question.
Killfile me; I couldn't care less.

The ONE problem with the Web Interface, is that I can NOT killfile
biggotted
posters like YOU!
Click to expand...

MM: "Hard Drive space was called Secondary Memory. RAM was Primary memory."
KB: "The term "memory" is not used or disk space, but for RAM"

Note the tenses used: past and present.

KB: "it's very uncommon usage... somebody...will almost certainly confuse
his audience. It's a very misleading term... and should be avoided because
of the great risk of causing confusion"
MM: "...it is a confusing term; better to call it permanent storage."

So the upshot is that while that stuff on C:\ etc WAS called Secondary
Memory, it not NOW called memory but instead should be called "disk space"
or "permanent storage". To refer to it as "memory" is liable to cause
confusion. Simple enough. How often do you see exchanges like this? -

"My computer seems slow."
"How much memory does it have?"
"3Gb"
"Well duh, get a bigger hard drive!"

Or

"My PC has 500Gb of memory."
"Wow, I didn't think XP supported that much!"

(Apart from, perhaps, an A+ exam scenario?)

You both seem to agree on all this *current* terminology, but despite Ken's
ever-reasonable attitude (IMO), you started disagreeing with him, citing
what things *used* to be called, then escalated everything with your
gratuitous, "You seem to think that you are the big know-all here. I don't
like your attitude." Sheesh, way to go.
 
--
BrokenHill


Twayne said:
No, that probably isn't the reason. That's a good amount of free space
tohave.

Have you checked the system requirements for the program against what
your computer is? It's possible you just don't have enough RAM or cpu
speed or any of a few other things to run that program.

Many thanks Twayne - after some searching I located the system requirements and realise that the 512 MB of RAM required for this program is more than I currenttly possess - 192 MB or 256 MB depending where you look, which in itself begs another question: 192 MB per Control Panel>System and 256 MB per Start>Help & Support...>General System Information, Start>Help & Support...>Status, Start, Programs...>System Information. Why the anomaly? Regards
Click to expand...
 
Many thanks Leonard, as a non-techie I have picked up some useful information.
Regards
 
Many thanks Panhandler - I have now a better idea of what goes on as a
non-techie! I have established that the system requirements with regard to
the new program exceed my current capacity.
Regards
 
Many thanks Mick. I have established that the system requirement (512 MB RAM)
re the new program exceeds the capacity I currently have. Through you guys I,
as a non-techie, have a better idea as to what capacity really means. but why
(as I currently have), as I asked Twayne: 192 MB per Control Panel, and 256
MB of RAM per Start>Help & Support>....>General Information, Start>Help &
Support....>Status, Start>Programs....>System Information?
Regards
 

Which line of "System Information" is the 256Mb in - "Total Physical
Memory"?

It could be that your motherboard has an on-board graphics chip which uses
some of your system's RAM for itself; this can account for discrepancies.
That said, that's what I've got yet those two places report the same amount
for me...
 
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