[roamer]

I have an old ACER laptop, Windows XP Pro and use Firefox.

My internet connection generally poor( TIT)

Generally have about 8 windows open at one time.

It is slow to switch between windows.

Sometimes freezes.

It worked fine in Italy last Oct/Nov on a good connection and was checked by someone who I believe should know what they are doing.
It got the OK

yet here in Thailand has problems.

No understanding of how these things work but can`t get my head around how a poor connection would affect switching between windows.

As I type this there is a delay between typing and words appearing.

I`ve a couple of crash reports from Adobe yet updated recently.

If it is my laptop, I`d buy a new one.

How can I know?

Simple as possible pls.


Thks.

[gonzo]

Sounds like a memory (RAM) issue. Try clearing off anything you don't need on the hard drive as well though as if that's too full it'll also cause problems, especially on XP.

Hit cntrl-alt-del and get task manager up. This will show you what programs are running and how much resource they're hogging, likely you'll have various items you aren't even aware are running and prob don't need. Kill them off and you should see some improvement.

[roamer]

Thks, just done that.

Looks to me like Firefox itself is the main user ?

Do these figures mean anything ? :



Physical memory 1038700.
Available 314708
System cache 350668

Means nothing to me.??

[gonzo]

Seems to show you've still got a third or just under available. Do you run any add-Ons or plug-ins with Firefox?

Also worth noting that Firefox is only comparatively efficient when under a heavy load but can be the least efficient of the main browser types when only displaying a low number of tabs.

There are a couple of graphs at the following link showing comparisons (admittedly running Windows 7 so not sure how relevant it is!)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...k,3108-13.html

[KeeNeow]

Try changing to a different browser, eg Chrome and see if the same thing happens, I have the best laptop that I could buy two years a go and it can show the same symptons if i have too many tabs open. Everytime you open a new tab you essentially open a new version of firefox and or chrome.

[roamer]

Answers appreciated, Thks gonzo & KeeNeow.

Nice and simply explained.


I do have Adobe as a plug in, use it on most sites.

I have google chrome as a browser( but not used for a long while) as well and had considered trying with that, just got so used to Firefox.


I`ll try chrome again to see if it works better.

Thanks again.

[Taltos]

Roamer, I use Foxit http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/ instead of Adobe. In the past the Adobe was just to heavy in use for me.

Try this http://www.glarysoft.com/ to clean up the laptop.

Do you defragment?