Low on memory?

Silly question. Should I try that every time, or wait until the error starts before going to safe mode?

Not a silly question, I should have made it clearer. You start Firefox in safemode, and then browse like you always do, going around your business as usual so to speak. If you experience no problems, then as said, its probably a addon. Cheers

Hi Sinnead…

If it is a problematic add-on in Firefox then trying FireFox in safe mode and managing add-ons is a good way to determine what is causing the problem. First, you need to run FireFox in safe mode long enough to determine if the problem still exists or not. If the problem goes away then you can try eliminating add-ons one at a time until you find the culprit.

Although there is a good chance this is a bad add-on, overall your computer needs to be tuned up. I am approaching this problem at a different angle. I would like to see if tuning your computer up and freeing up resources will help your system overall and maybe eliminate your FireFox problem.

First, you need to realize that you only have 512MB of RAM. The biggest improvement you could make for the least amount of money would be to add more RAM. This is the single biggest performance issue you face. However, with some guidance in tuning your system up we should be able to make it run much smoother than it currently does even with 512MB.

Here's what I am suggesting. First go into control panel -> add/remove programs.
Uninstall all of the following: (Do not restart until after the last product is uninstalled)

HP Update
HP Smart Web Printing (Has been problematic. If you don't use HP's on-line web based photo printing service, uninstall it)
HP Customer Participation Program 9.0 (Spyware)
OpenOffice.org Installer 1.0

After rebooting your computer, open CodeStuff Starter back up.
Click the "Startups" tab and disable the following:

Adobe Reader Speed Launcher
eBayToolbar
ehTray
HP Software Update (May not be there now)
Microsoft Location Finder (If you aren't using a laptop)
QuickTime Task
RTHDCPL
shawnotify
Shockwave Updater
SunJavaUpdateSched
TkBellExe

Now, in CodeStuff Starter click the service tab, disable all of the following:

Ati HotKey Poller
ATI Smart
Bonjour Service (Itunes will complain about this the first time you run it, you can ignore it)
HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service (By far the most problematic service I have ever seen)
hpqcxs08
Java Quick Starter
SeaPort

When you finish disabling all these items. Right-click My Computer, click Properties. Click the Advanced tab and then the settings button under the performance section. Click the Advanced tab again then click Change under the virtual memory section. Make sure the C: drive is selected, and then choose "System managed size," and click the Set button. Apply your changes and reboot your computer when prompted. If you aren't prompted to reboot, reboot anyways.

You should see a significant improvement in startup time and performance. You will have freed quite a bit of system resources and your computer will run better overall. This may be all it takes to improve your browser performance and eliminate the memory error you are getting.

Let me know.

Thanks appleoddity AND abydos! I'm going to do both of those things. Since I'm not, shall we say, computer savvy, I've never known what I could uninstall safely, nor disable! I'll let you know how it goes in a couple of days

Ok, how do I disable the ones in the "services" section. There's no tab to "click". Do I go through edit, and untick about allowing it to interact with the desktop? Or what? Thanks!

Ok. The low memory thing just happened in firefox safemode as well. It was doing well for some time, but then I was going back and forth between 4 pages, and all the scripting(?) blanked out again. Became really slow, no icons, reply boxes, logos, nothing. Just the text left.

Hi Sinnead

Sounds like you might have to make a clean install of your Firefox. That means deleting your personal settings and bookmarks as well.
To backup your bookmarks, follow this path;

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\default.qfb\bookmarks.html


Copy the "Bookmarks.html" file, and place it somewhere outside the folder.

Download installer for Firefox 3.5.1

Uninstall Firefox, including personal data and customizations. Write down any addons, so you can remember them, before uninstalling, if wanted again.

Reboot for good measure and install anew.

Plugins can be downloaded from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:7

Import your bookmarks and you should be good to go.


Regards

Ok, how do I disable the ones in the "services" section. There's no tab to "click". Do I go through edit, and untick about allowing it to interact with the desktop? Or what? Thanks!

Right-click the service and select "Disabled."

Thanks, both of you! I'm seriously tempted to simply uninstall Firefox. This is the fourth time in the last 5-6 months it's been in that it's caused problems for me. 2 corrupt user profiles, one time locked out of it(kept saying it was running, and couldn't access it. Had to do a reinstall then, too!), and now this. Off this topic- I went to Staples to see about "buying some Ram"(sounds like I'm shopping for sheep, lol), and I was told I either need to bring in the computer, or check for a serial number inside the processor?

Forget staples unless they can beat this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16820141164

For reference, you want to add either one more 512MB PC3200 DDR DIMM, or you want to buy two 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMMs and replace the 512MB you currently have. My recommendation is that you simply add 512MB. You won't see much more improvement going the 2x1GB route.

Read here about testing your RAM, it also has instructions on how to remove and plug in memory: http://forums.whatthetech.com/How_Test_Mem…ms_t103823.html

You'll want to test your RAM per the instructions in that post after adding the memory.

Ok, I tried doing the memory diagnostic. I followed the instructions, burned it to a cd, but when I try to run it from the cd, I get this window asking what I want to open it with: [external image: Posted Image]
There are about 25 different things I can open it with, but I don't have a clue! It doesn't just simply run. I also know I don't need all those programs listed, but not a clue what's safe to get rid of Also, when I was in Staples asking about increased RAM, I was told I'd need a serial number, as there are a wide variety of machines. Anyone know where I'd find that on the processor?

I listed what kind of RAM that you need in the previous post. 512MB of PC3200 DDR memory. I also linked to the exact memory you need at Newegg, if you want to print out the specs and take it in. There might be a wide variety of machines, but there isn't a wide variety of RAM. Its pretty straight forward. Being that they think they belong in the computer service industry they should know that. You have to boot the Windows Memory Diagnostic CD. That means that you put the disc in, restart your computer and try to boot from CD. You may need to press a special key to change the boot order, or select a different boot device right after you turn your computer on. Or, it may just automatically boot the disc.

Thanks! Computer dummy here, can you tell?

Thank you, both of you! Appleoddity, I ran the diagnostic for several hours, and no errors reported. So I've ordered the memory chip from the link you gave me. It is MUCH cheaper than Staples, even including exchange and shipping Abydos, I'm staying away from firefox for now, until I get the new memory in. Hopefully that will make the difference. If not, then I guess I have to delete and reload!

Yeah.. The test needs to be run immediately after installing the new memory. Do not run your computer without testing the new RAM first. New ram can be bad.