Windows Vista forum: Windows Vista frequent "Not Responding"

are you on a network? does it have more than 1 PC? are you connecting wirelessly?

That's not stock. You wrote you disabled unnecessary programs but this should be gone to head back to "when it worked." If the machine never worked then call its maker and ask for fix or full refund.

"(the RAM is defragmented very often)."

That's a bad sign. There were discussions about this a long time ago but snake oil and such was mentioned by these purveyors so let's get rid of what does this!
Bob

Thanks John. I'll give it a try. That makes sense.

You say that your computer has only 1 GB of RAM. For Vista to run smoothly by itself, typically 2 GB is necessary. 3 GB is ideal to run more efficiently.

Also, when you check your task manager for your running applications, look on the bottom left corner of the window, where it shows "processes". My computer runs around 80 processes, with 3 GB of RAM, and 2.6GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core. Simple programs seem to run smooth on mine. Larger programs (3D programs, graphic design programs, etc.), that require a lot of ram can take longer to load, giving me that "Not Responding" error until it loads.

One other thing that may interest you if you like to run the sidebar is Multi Meter (Dual Core) v1.25a http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=f5b13626-b266-4334-b2e5-157bd66ca5af . It displays in real-time how much your RAM and processor are being used.


Hope this helps some
Danielle

remove zonealarm
its a over kill, look around for another firewall. resource hog it butt into the system and have found it not so good
i use webroot firewall.

I have the same proplem. The computer works fine for a bit then all of a sudden it stops responding, especially when using internet explorer, that seems to clash with everything. I have tried all the suggestions on the microsoft website and had some IT people look at it, but nothing helps. Did you manage to fix your problem or is this just Vista? Microsoft are useless and don't seem to have a solution.

I don't believe it is a resource issue. I have the same problem using an Intel Quad CPU running at 3.0 ghz, 4 ghz Fast Ram, Raid 0, 4 drive 1 TB hard disk subsystem. Very fast viseo, etc. I nnoticed this happenibg on all my computers with different configurations. I belive it is a Vista problem that Microsof has not solved. They just don't test the software enough before they release it. I have had other prpblems that Microsoft support escalated to a high level that still remains open with no known solution. I recently bought an Apple using Lepopard. This is a much better faster and in my opinion,( 35 yrs exp. in the industry and a very highg skill level)and a better opeating system.
Microsoft needs more Beta test sights like mine, before the release their software. If there is a problem I usually find it. I have spent over 50 hours on the phone with the Indians who are clueoless as to what to do. Apple support is still in the U.S., thank God.

Bob dean
digilab@optonline.net

Too many talented people making the same comments cant all be wrong - so why do we never see an official response from Microsoft. With many thousands of them at Redwood, surely someone could offer something.

How about it Mr. Microsoft - dont you want to improve your sales etc

I'm with you in that I also have never had a problem (not once, ever - promise), however, there appear to be a lot of people out there who have, hence my suggestion that Microsoft respond.

Incidently, I leave my PC to update automatically, use the standard microsoft firewall, norton (never an attack), spyware terminator (never any issue), download at least 1 new piece of software each week (must have some 50+ by now) just to experiment & learn, and also do significant muli-tasking. HOWEVER, I do follow all the rules and never amend/delete anything strategic without carefully thinking it through.

So:- either

The OS is perfect and a lot of users incl many experts are making a lot of mistakes ...... or just plain unlucky ... or

Just perhaps there are some OS issues still outstanding (hence the large no of patches that we still see) ...... or

sorry, can't think of any others.

ps I can only rate my PC skills as intermediate at best, so I guess I'm also extremely lucky to have had no problems.

Thank you for your comment

there goes my credibility..

...looks like my computer is running so well on VISTA without SP1

I found that by maxing out my RAM helps. I also installed Advanced System Care on my computer.This program is free thru Cnet download.com.
I prefer the pro version(which is very reasonable) for it's extra features but the free version will accomplish basically the same things ,one of which is to bring excessive RAM use under control. I had an immediate gain of 15% available. It seems to have brought the 'not responding' factor to a minimum.Perhaps Mr. Microsoft hasn't addressed
this issue is because there may not be a fix for an inherent,built in glitch. Hmmm?

With 1gb of ram your best option might be to disable windows superfetch option. Superfetch caches portions your most frequently used programs into memory for faster response time. Where you have only 1gb of ram windows is forced to pull these programs out of ram in order to do requested tasks performed by you resulting in the high fragmentation. You will probably notice that the hard drive light flashes alot on your pc due to the high use of the pagefile because of this. To turn off superfetch type services in your "start search" box, scroll down the list and double click superfetch. In the window that opens change the startup type to disable, click stop under service status, click apply, click ok. After you disable the service the windows prefetch folder will have to be emptied. Type C:\ windows/prefetch in the start search box. After the access warnings and the window opens delete all the contents of the folder.

I am not a tech heavy guru either; but you mentioned you got
your machine brand new.

Did it include any cd restoration disk to restore your pc
back to factory mode or did you get it from a mom/pop shop
that just put together their own systems?

From what little i read, it sounds like the network is timing out
on waiting for something?

You mentioned seeing a process taking up alot of time.
i would take note of them and do a web search on it.

i cant remember all the names; but if it was the common vista
problem; another area to check is your network router and your
nic card. Vista has a new performace mode which tends to over
welm older routers. You can turn that feature off, but have you
tried any of the vista tests offline like its dianose and repair.

what kinds of problems do you experience offline to the router
vs. connected to the internet; you might have an id conflict
between the other machines.

hope my comments help.

regeads.