Ram Question

[barn32]

I bought my laptop about a year ago, and it has 6gb of ram--upgradeable to 8.

My PC is running very slow. I have a good Internet connection now, but my browser and all of the stock market apps I'm running seem to be slowing things down.

One of my software vendors told me I needed more ram. I have two 3 gig sticks, which I can take out and put in two 4 gig sticks. But that doesn't make any sense to me, so I've been looking at PCs that have 16 to 32 gb of ram already installed.

Am I on the right track, or should I think about doing something else?

[Augenj]

I always go to the Windows Resource Monitor when things bog down.

* Click the Start Button
* Type in Resource Monitor
* Click on Resource Monitor at the top
* Expand to full screen

Check both CPU and Disk for resource hogs.

If your Disk I/O is busy, look for paging activity which means your memory is over-committed.

Check your CPU usage for heavy hitters also.

This will identify the bad guys. It's up to you to take action after that.

[MJC922]

6GB RAM should be fine unless you're doing some heavy duty spreadsheet or db stuff. There's so much crapware on some of these laptops from big box stores and what not that it can be a problem. For example the last laptop I bought (a Lenovo) is pretty much garbage but I got it cheap so didn't expect much, the thing was loaded with about a dozen different Lenovo apps that hog resources and are probably half-ass coded with memory leaks etc. Really the wise thing to do with a new system is buy it, wipe it, and do a clean install, after that if it's slow you know it's not software. Being as cheap as it was I haven't bothered to wipe it yet.

Even auto-updaters can hang up a very powerful system, keep an eye on Java update, Adobe update, Flash etc. If you're on a wireless connection troubleshoot by plugging it directly into the router and see if it makes a huge difference, if it does then a higher-end wireless router like a nighthawk can make a difference. We tend to rely on wireless a lot these days with tablets, laptops etc, unfortunately it can be an issue. If you decide to buy a new laptop, especially like you're saying with 16-32GB of RAM then it's probably a more pricey machine, if it doesn't come with an SSD then I would definitely buy an aftermarket SSD for it, drop that in and do a clean install on it, for a couple hundred bucks more it CAN in some cases make a world of difference.

[barn32]

I'm looking at resource monitor, and it says my CPU usuage is between 77 and 95%.

The top five resource hogs are:

1. Firefox
2. ThinkorSwim
3. OptionVue
4. Flash player plugin
5. javaw.exe (whatever that is)

This is pretty much as suspected. I'm not sure if more ram would speed things up or not.

[Robert Goren]

If you use Internet Explorer, you may a conflict with your antivirus especially if it is one of main free ones. At least that is what I encountered. The Iexplore.exe would go through the roof.

[headhawg]

That's an incredible amount of CPU usage. I could see that as peak, but if that's your current/average usage increasing your RAM will likely have minimal impact. Firefox taking up 19%? What kind of add-ons are you running? It's a frickin' browser and shouldn't take up that kind of CPU time. I'm also not sure why a screenshot program (Monosnap) takes up 11% unless that's what is used at the exact time you took the screenshot.

Best advice is try to kill any apps/processes that aren't needed in order to reduce the CPU load. If you don't know what you're doing then let a good IT person look at it.

[barn32]

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

If you use Internet Explorer, you may a conflict with your antivirus especially if it is one of main free ones. At least that is what I encountered. The Iexplore.exe would go through the roof.

I would never use IE. I hate it. I love Firefox, but it can get very slow at times.

[barn32]

Originally Posted by headhawg

That's an incredible amount of CPU usage. I could see that as peak, but if that's your current/average usage increasing your RAM will likely have minimal impact. Firefox taking up 19%? What kind of add-ons are you running? It's a frickin' browser and shouldn't take up that kind of CPU time. I'm also not sure why a screenshot program (Monosnap) takes up 11% unless that's what is used at the exact time you took the screenshot.

I have exactly three add-ons with Firefox. Tab-Mix Plus, Ad-Block Plus and Tab Counter.

Periodically, I have to create a new version of Firefox, and it's a pain. I've talked with "Firefox" guys about it, but that is their solution.

Yes on Monosnap. That was only when I took the screenshot.

[headhawg]

Try disabling Tab-Mix Plus for a while and see if that helps. Lots of user complaints since FF v38 and especially buggy with 38.05.

[Augenj]

Originally Posted by barn32

I'm looking at resource monitor, and it says my CPU usuage is between 77 and 95%.

The top five resource hogs are:

1. Firefox
2. ThinkorSwim
3. OptionVue
4. Flash player plugin
5. javaw.exe (whatever that is)

This is pretty much as suspected. I'm not sure if more ram would speed things up or not.

This is just a snapshot in time. Watch it over several refreshes. Also look for excessive pagefile.sys activity in DISK to determine if you need more memory. I don't think your CPU usage looks that bad for that brief moment.

[barn32]

Originally Posted by headhawg

Try disabling Tab-Mix Plus for a while and see if that helps. Lots of user complaints since FF v38 and especially buggy with 38.05.

I disabled Firefox and it seems to reduce CPU usage. I'll keep it disabled for a while, and see what kind of difference it makes over time. (Too bad, I really like that add-on.)

"Also look for excessive pagefile.sys activity in DISK to determine if you need more memory." Sorry, but I don't know what this means or where to look for it.

[Augenj]

You hardly have any DISK activity, let alone pagefile.sys. However, keep an eye on it as you start and stop apps and tasks. I should have mentioned it earlier but click on the Memory tab and see who's using memory.

[headhawg]

Originally Posted by Augenj

I don't think your CPU usage looks that bad for that brief moment.

The last column is Average CPU the last 60 seconds. Some of those are pretty high especially when you think of the cumulative numbers esp. Firefox off of the first screenshot.

[barn32]

It looks like Firefox, ThinkorSwim and Java are using the most memory.

[Augenj]

Originally Posted by headhawg

The last column is Average CPU the last 60 seconds. Some of those are pretty high especially when you think of the cumulative numbers esp. Firefox off of the first screenshot.

You're right. I didn't slide it to the right far enough. How about stopping Firefox?