New Laptop Performance

[chin85]

I've just bought a new laptop and it seems to be running a bit slow. I don't know much about computers, but there are already 67 processes running on it, which is twice as much as my last one and the physical memory is at 76%, with the Page File at 1225/1792. This seems a lot seeing as it's only a day old, could this be the reason for it running slowly?

Also, it's supposed to be1gb RAM, but the computer says it's 766mb, why is this?

Thanks.

[Ethel]

Where did you buy it from?

Windows XP or Vista?

67 processes is a lot, and the physical memory is far too high.

You don't seem to have the RAM you should have either.

[rojash]

The discrepancy in RAM is probably because it's a cheapo setup with the video adaptor sharing the system RAM.

[Hammer]

Some of the RAM is probably being used for graphics. If you don't have a super dooper gaming graphics card, you'll probably find that 256mb of your RAM is used for that.

[HWKE]

When you have the 67 processes running, what is the CPU usage?
One reason it may be running slowly is because an initial virus scan is taking place. Have a look to see if your virus scanner is using all the CPU it can.

[chin85]

I bought the laptop from Comet. It has Vista and the CPU usage is about 15%.

[Ethel]

Hmmmm - I suspect the spec isn't high enough to run Vista smoothly.

Vista recommends at least 1gb RAM, but many people are finding it is not enough.

Leave it running overnight, reboot tomorrow, and see if there is any improvement.

[chin85]

I think I've found the problem; something called Superfetch, which might turn out to be for the best in the longrun, but I won't put any money on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfetch#SuperF etch