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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2002
Q. My system resources at bootup are about 87 percent free. But after I run certain applications, I often find resources down to 25 percent free or lower, sometimes to zero. I gather from PC World's Pitstop (www.pcpitstop.com) that some applications don't return system resources when they are closed, resulting in so-called resource leakage. Indeed, when I restart my computer, resources go back to 87 percent free. But I don't want to restart my computer all the time. How can I fix this? I have 256 megabytes of random access memory and Windows Me.
A. A system resources reading of 25 percent free is an indication of a problem. You have either a buggy device driver or a misbehaving process. You'll need to find out through a process of elimination.
First, start by verifying that your device drivers (video, scanner, modem, mouse, etc.) are up to date by checking vendors' Web sites to make sure your versions are the latest.
Next, boot fresh into Windows and then terminate a program (other than Systray and Explorer), then proceed normally. Check your resources after a while. If the resources still drop, reboot and start the process over again, this time selecting another application to terminate. Once your resources stabilize at an acceptable percentage, you have found the culprit (the last application terminated). Once you find the problem, contact the application's vendor, report the problem and check for an update.
Q. When I came back to Florida, I noticed a problem when I boot my computer with Windows 98 Version 2. After everything restarts, Napster v2.0 beta 7 setup begins. It wants me to step through the setup process. I cancel the setup, but a file download starts and keeps flashing in and out. I found the only way to eliminate the flashing box is to hit Esc several times. Sometimes I can hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete and remove Explorer, but that doesn't always work. I have removed all files for Napster, but the problem keeps coming back.
A. Florida does have some strange laws, but I'm sure mandatory installations of Napster is not one of them.
What you need to do is find out where the installation is starting from. Windows 98 makes this easy. Run the System Information tool (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information, or Start, Run, type MSINFO32 and press Enter). Select Tools, System Configuration Utility. From here, you can selectively turn off the different areas within Windows from which programs run at startup. You'll see a tab for each area: Config.sys, Autoexec.bat, System.ini, Win.ini (expand the Windows option and check the Load and Run lines) and Startup (this contains the programs that start from the registry). Look for the Napster startup program and deselect it.
Q. I have more than 400 deleted e-mails in my mailbox. How do I remove them from my delete box without deleting one by one?
A. Most e-mail programs will have a Select All option. In Outlook Express, click one of the messages in the deleted folder. On the menu bar, select Edit, Select All. Then, click the Delete button.