Having trouble: Adding RAM with a USB memory stick to a Windows XP desktop that has 4GB installed

Screenshots:

taskbar ss of open browsers

browser window 1 (game in tab 1, this discussion in tab2)

browser window2

Thanks, again, for your replies, John! I do appreciate all your time over the past few days. You have been a BIG help!

(Even if my wife disagrees.) You see, I am not only facing resistance from the machines, but from the status quo. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I suppose."

She just said tonight that "These computers are running as slow as molasses since you have been doing things to them." Well, she does not even use this desktop, I have done NOTHING to her desktop yet (XP OS also), except install Malwarebytes Antimalware PRO, and on the 'newer' laptop I got the cpu usage to stop running constantly at 60-65% usage by running Malwarebytes.

WmiPrvSE.exe was being affected by a virus, apparently, and would spike to 100% when a browser or webpage would be opened. It was very slow, and now it is usable again. That machine was an inheritance.

The other laptop, my 'main' one, I have determined to be inflicted with a bad wireless mouse. I moved the mouse to this desktop, and the problems followed it over. Problems which I was not having here on this machine which you have been helping me with. The laptop is fine now, without that 'sick' mouse.

Anyway, back to work... (Oh, by the way, in Task Mgr on those laptop machines with Windows 7, I am seeing 80-90 processes!! One machine at a time, I suppose...

This desktop is running better than it ever has, in my opinion. The RAM is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I will not stop my vigil, with simply plugging in the new card.

To address the points of your latest post:

Comodo Dragon IS a Chrome-based browser, not Mozilla (Firefox)-based.

And, I also noticed, that even though I have only two Dragon browsers open (as I noted in the one post; one with only one tab open, and the other with two tabs open), there are multiple entries for dragon in the processes list.

How do you account for this? I don't understand it. (That accounts for approx. 10 of the listed processes, right there.) I have no idea why there are so many entries for 'dragon'. I definitely DO NOT have 5 tabs open in both browsers, and a web page open in each tab! 

I have previously used Mozilla Firefox (a couple years ago), but found that it didn't perform well for me (in the web-based game which I play). It may be different now. Many others do use it, and its variants, as well as Chrome and its variants. It is crazy how many browser choices exist now.

One reason for the high usage of memory in the game I play, may be the Extensions in the browser, or 'scripts'. These perform automatic functions in the game, or 'botting', as it is sometimes called.

My license for AVG 2013 expires in July, so I will investigate a different AV software. I was happy with Spyware Doctor, but it was discontinued, and Norton was the recommended replacement. I had heard that Norton is a resource hog, so I avoided that.

I have a friend who I may ask for advice on his choice for AV. He plays the same game, and was a big fan of Spyware Doctor with Antivirus, as well.

I will look into the FSAutoStart. 

How do I best use the information in memuse.txt and startlist.txt to go about removing services and processes, versus just looking at Task Mgr and services.msc?

Adding another 2GB of RAM will take care of most of your paging problems but you do ramp the machine up to a commit charge of almost 4GB at times so you will still have to keep an eye on memory usage.  Even with the additional 2GB or RAM you will still only have around 3GB available due to hardware addressing needs so there will still be potential paging, the only way around that will be to unload unnecessary processes when you get into potential paging situations.

Do your research on your running processes and see if you can remove some of them from the startup axis.  In another post I notice that your AVG anti-virus was using over 140MB of memory, you might want to consider using other AV software, Avast is much lighter on memory usage.  Your multiple Dragons also consume quite a bit of memory but that is somewhat normal for Mozilla based browsers, they have always been memory hogs.  I see that you have multiple Dragon instances running, is there a reason for this?  Are all the tabs or new windows running in separate browser instances?  Have you considered Chrome as an alternative?  It may use less memory than Dragon.

You might want to look into Ken Salter's FSAutoStart which will allow you to automatically shutdown services and programs to provide more resources for your games.  The program was designed to help Flight Simulator users make maximum use of resources for the game.  The program is old but it runs well on Windows XP.

John

Task Mgr, Performance, after Reboot and pause, after more services were stopped, set to manual. No programs started.

services.txt (with nothing running)

These Windows services are started:

   Application Layer Gateway Service

   Automatic Updates

   AVG WatchDog

   AVGIDSAgent

   COM+ Event System

   COMODO Dragon Update Service

   Computer Browser

   Cryptographic Services

   DCOM Server Process Launcher

   DHCP Client

   DNS Client

   Event Log

   Fast User Switching Compatibility

   HTTP SSL

   IPSEC Services

   Java Quick Starter

   MBAMScheduler

   Network Connections

   Network Location Awareness (NLA)

   Plug and Play

   Pml Driver HPZ12

   Print Spooler

   Protected Storage

   Remote Access Connection Manager

   Remote Procedure Call (RPC)

   SeaPort

   Secondary Logon

   Security Accounts Manager

   Security Center

   Server

   Shell Hardware Detection

   SSDP Discovery Service

   System Event Notification

   System Restore Service

   Telephony

   Terminal Services

   Themes

   TimesUpKidz

   Windows Audio

   Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework

   Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

   Windows Management Instrumentation

   Wireless Zero Configuration

   Workstation

The command completed successfully.

Image Name                   PID Services                                     

========================= ====== =============================================

System Idle Process            0 N/A                                          

System                         4 N/A                                          

smss.exe                     632 N/A                                          

avgrsx.exe                   672 N/A                                          

avgcsrvx.exe                 712 N/A                                          

csrss.exe                    916 N/A                                          

winlogon.exe                 940 N/A                                          

services.exe                 984 Eventlog, PlugPlay                           

lsass.exe                    996 PolicyAgent, ProtectedStorage, SamSs         

svchost.exe                 1160 DcomLaunch, TermService                      

svchost.exe                 1232 RpcSs                                        

svchost.exe                 1328 AudioSrv, Browser, CryptSvc, Dhcp,           

                                 EventSystem, FastUserSwitchingCompatibility, 

                                 lanmanserver, lanmanworkstation, Netman,     

                                 Nla, RasMan, seclogon, SENS, SharedAccess,   

                                 ShellHWDetection, srservice, TapiSrv,        

                                 Themes, winmgmt, wscsvc, wuauserv, WZCSVC    

svchost.exe                 1368 WudfSvc                                      

svchost.exe                 1448 Dnscache                                     

spoolsv.exe                 1588 Spooler                                      

avgidsagent.exe             1680 AVGIDSAgent                                  

avgwdsvc.exe                1740 avgwd                                        

dragon_updater.exe          1824 DragonUpdater                                

jqs.exe                     1864 JavaQuickStarterService                      

mbamscheduler.exe           1920 MBAMScheduler                                

HPZipm12.exe                 188 Pml Driver HPZ12                             

avgnsx.exe                   360 N/A                                          

SeaPort.exe                  380 SeaPort                                      

avgemcx.exe                  540 N/A                                          

TimesUpKidzServer.exe        420 TimesUpKidz                                  

alg.exe                     2396 ALG                                          

avgcsrvx.exe                2768 N/A                                          

explorer.exe                3416 N/A                                          

igfxtray.exe                3536 N/A                                          

hkcmd.exe                   3544 N/A                                          

igfxpers.exe                3552 N/A                                          

igfxsrvc.exe                3592 N/A                                          

svchost.exe                 3624 SSDPSRV                                      

vprot.exe                   3708 N/A                                          

RTHDCPL.EXE                 3732 N/A                                          

avgui.exe                   3904 N/A                                          

svchost.exe                 4068 HTTPFilter                                   

jusched.exe                 4064 N/A                                          

FacebookUpdate.exe           256 N/A                                          

Lightshot.exe               2248 N/A                                          

ctfmon.exe                  2080 N/A                                          

wmiprvse.exe                3504 N/A                                          

cmd.exe                     3808 N/A                                          

tasklist.exe                 164 N/A                                          

wmiprvse.exe                1184 N/A                                          

**edit to add:**results of memuse.txt doc after running the following commands:

tasklist | sort /R /+58 >c:\Memuse.txt

c:\memuse.txt

dragon.exe                  2556 Console                 0    153,032 K

dragon.exe                  1936 Console                 0     65,128 K

dragon.exe                  2956 Console                 0     49,044 K

TimesUpKidzServer.exe        420 Console                 0     24,696 K

svchost.exe                 1328 Console                 0     23,288 K

RTHDCPL.EXE                 3732 Console                 0     23,268 K

explorer.exe                3416 Console                 0     22,320 K

dragon.exe                  2492 Console                 0     20,920 K

dragon.exe                  2884 Console                 0     20,292 K

avgcsrvx.exe                 712 Console                 0     19,528 K

avgrsx.exe                   672 Console                 0     19,412 K

avgcsrvx.exe                2768 Console                 0     18,216 K

vprot.exe                   3708 Console                 0     15,164 K

avgwdsvc.exe                1740 Console                 0     14,736 K

avgui.exe                   3904 Console                 0     13,916 K

avgnsx.exe                   360 Console                 0     10,248 K

avgidsagent.exe             1680 Console                 0     10,164 K

SeaPort.exe                  380 Console                 0      9,552 K

Lightshot.exe               2248 Console                 0      8,768 K

avgemcx.exe                  540 Console                 0      6,740 K

dragon_updater.exe          1824 Console                 0      6,504 K

svchost.exe                 3624 Console                 0      6,400 K

wmiprvse.exe                3168 Console                 0      5,888 K

spoolsv.exe                 1588 Console                 0      5,776 K

mbamscheduler.exe           1920 Console                 0      5,540 K

svchost.exe                 1160 Console                 0      5,000 K

tasklist.exe                3312 Console                 0      4,604 K

svchost.exe                 1232 Console                 0      4,504 K

igfxtray.exe                3536 Console                 0      3,744 K

alg.exe                     2396 Console                 0      3,672 K

hkcmd.exe                   3544 Console                 0      3,644 K

svchost.exe                 1448 Console                 0      3,620 K

services.exe                 984 Console                 0      3,560 K

svchost.exe                 4068 Console                 0      3,560 K

csrss.exe                    916 Console                 0      3,520 K

svchost.exe                 1368 Console                 0      3,472 K

ctfmon.exe                  2080 Console                 0      3,340 K

winlogon.exe                 940 Console                 0      3,236 K

igfxsrvc.exe                3592 Console                 0      3,212 K

igfxpers.exe                3552 Console                 0      3,000 K

jusched.exe                 4064 Console                 0      2,948 K

cmd.exe                     3376 Console                 0      2,776 K

sort.exe                    1668 Console                 0      2,344 K

HPZipm12.exe                 188 Console                 0      1,836 K

FacebookUpdate.exe           256 Console                 0      1,736 K

lsass.exe                    996 Console                 0      1,584 K

jqs.exe                     1864 Console                 0      1,432 K

notepad.exe                 2652 Console                 0        588 K

smss.exe                     632 Console                 0        436 K

System                         4 Console                 0        408 K

cmd.exe                     3808 Console                 0        156 K

System Idle Process            0 Console                 0         28 K

========================= ====== ================ ======== ============

Image Name                   PID Session Name     Session#    Mem Usage

There are two Dragon browsers open, one has one tab open. The other has two tabs open. The only other thing "open" was Task Manager, and the Command Console.

(aside from AVG and Lightshot, which I realize sit in the system tray, among a couple other things; Realtek HD Audio Manager, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator Driver)

edit to add:

I have created another restore point, and stopped the following services via their Properties window(s) in services.msc :

All have been stopped and set to manual, except two, as noted with (*), which were not started.

I will run the previous Command Prompt commands after another reboot and pause with no programs open.

(I wanted to be sure I could restart, and access the internet before going further).

Agere Modem Call Progress Audio

Computer Browser

*Google Update Service (gupdate)

HID Input Service

RealNetworks Downloader Resolver Service

*Skype Updater

System Event Notification

Team Viewer 8

vToolbaUpdater 18.0.5

Windows Live ID Sign-In Assistant

Workstation

Skype and Team Viewer tasks should probably have been handles through, or from, their own program consoles, I realize. 

However, I am trying to weed through the things which were listed as 'automatic' on the list in services.msc