[Freeware!]

1.37 Gb seems a lot of memory to be using if you're 'idling'. My XP Home netbook set up uses about 0.5 Gb idling, and I'm not shy of appropriate start-up software either. Your second screenshot shows 70 processes, which is nowhere near what's listed in the first screenshot. Try listing the processes for all users - that will show some of the system processes that have started. There may be some other programs or services there that you can can do without. As JDPower says, don't go overboard; think carefully about what you realistically need.

 

You might like to try something like Autoruns from (Microsoft) Sysinternals which will allow you to disable your start-up entries and then easily re-enable them if you need to ... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinte...s/bb963902.aspx

 

And if you're up for it, their Process Explorer is like Task Manager on steroids ... http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb896653.aspx

 

Edited to add, since we're somewhat off-topic, the above two bits of software are way up there on my freeware list!!!

 

True, but you're running XP.. Vista just 'consumes' (nicely said) resources.. a lot more than XP.

However, I turned a few things off. I found Adobe stuff running that I killed and I turned off Toshiba service station. The other ones I didn't want to remove; I checked out some info online about them and they usually adviced not to turn those off...

When I look at the other stuff that was running, most of the stuff was MS related. I saw one that took a lot, but got mixed reviews on it. It was MsMpEng.exe (antimalware service executable) that eats 55mb... Do you guys have any useful info on this?

Same with SearchIndexer.. takes 9.5mb, while I turned all the indexing stuff off (afaik). Any info on that one?

 

Thanks so far!

[Freeware!]

Firstly, cleaning your registry will do little, and more likely nothing, to speed up your system. Check what programs are running in the background - any that are unneeded, any that are resource heavy like antivirus etc that may have lighter alternatives. How much RAM have you got?

 

For a chat client you may want to look at Miranda, especially from a performance point of view, as it uses next to nothing in terms of computer resources. It may take a little tweaking to get it looking and functioning how you prefer (eg some minor functions like smileys may require an additional plugin available from their site) but well worth the time.

 

I have 3gb of ram... so that should be enough.

As for programs.. how will I know which are needed? I mean, this is a laptop, so I assume it'll run more processes than a regular desktop... (see the two attachments.. if this board will let me do that)

After all, just 1.35Gb to run the OS and a few progs.. that's a LOT.. (or is that normal for Vista?)

 

I have to admit.. I have Aero running.. and would like to keep that, and have the shadow under the mouse, shadow under the text of the icons on the desktop, but I turned everything else off already...

 

[Freeware!]

Now I have Vista Home.... nice and all, but it's a hog. Are there reliable progs to speed up this thing?

And.. ccleaner is a great prog, but I want to have a cleaner registry.. any tips anyone? (a lot of progs leave junk in there when I uninstall....)

 

I use trillian and am pretty ok with it, but there are prolly better alternatives. I use yahoo, aim, msn, icq (and maybe more) on there.. would like to keep using that... with little or no icons on the buddy list.. keeping it clean, simple, but not TOO basic. Can anyone recommend anything? (and also tell me why it's better)

 

Thanks.