ms paint memory hog slowing everything

[stoxguy]

This is bugging the crap out of me, as this is occurring on my XP pro laptop AND my new Dell Vista with 2GB of memory. Microsoft, some how, some way, either through an update or something else, has made ms paint into a complete memory hog on BOTH my Dell Vista and my Thinkpad laptop. This did not occur before. MS paint was working fine without it hogging all the memory and freezing the machine. When you use both IE and MS paint and you open more than 2, sometimes 3 paint windows, you'll get the error message 'not enough memory to complete this task' and your programs will cease running. Even if you close all programs, paint will not respond. You'll be forced to reboot. I would expect this with a low memory box, but my Dell has 2 GB of memory. My IBM Thinpad has 512. Whatever Microsoft did, was not happening a few weeks ago, as I could open multiple paint windows w/o using up all the memory. If anyone has a clue as to how/why this is occuring, please comment. And yes, I checked and rechecked for spyware/malware and any virii, I'm clean.

 

[notherdude]

trying this now . . BRB

not happening here on two ultimate 64 systems - both have more ram however, 4 gig on my Toshiba laptop and 8 on my desktop but I did open up 11 paint windows IE and firefox on my laptop and I still have only 32 % memory usage and no crash - each paint box is using about 3.5 meg - are these really big files you are opening in paint?

 

[stoxguy]

Yupp northerdude, I'm noticing that if the jpg or jpeg is a digital H/D photo and it's large, it'll clog the memory. However, why would this slow down my 2 GB of memory on my Vista. Something's not adding up here. What does Adobe photoshop use up in % of memory when it's handling large photos? How is a high quality digital photo being handled by MS paint, when I use the copy then paste option? I can open H/Q photos from my own files, but when I use IE and MS paint at the same time, my system slows down to agonizing slow responses. I'll get the 'not enough memory close other programs' message. OK did that, won't work. Only way out is to use task mamager or reboot. I'm going to email MS on this matter.

 

[gamerk316]

I doubt paint is optimized on a per-pixel basis...has it even been updated since the days of Windows 3.1?

 

[stoxguy]

OK this is getting weirder. I'm back using my Dell Vista Home Premium. In the past, maybe 2-3 weeks ago, I could open multiple paint windows w/o the message 'not enough resources to complete this task try closing programs. Now, I'm only able to open 1 or 2 paint windows. If I open 3, then Vista stops working, period. This was not happening a few weeks ago. I am runnng a prog called 'process monitor' and am trying to pinpoint the problem. IF that doesn't work, I will go back to a restore point and see if that works. I have NOT put any new progs on my H/D, so I do not know what is causing this on BOTH my Thinkpad with XP pro AND my Dell with Vista and 2 GB.

 

[dknj]

MS Paint is DEFINITELY a memory hog and a real annoyance when trying to save! I've continually experienced the same issues with "not enough memory to complete this task" and having to shut down. I, too, have an XP machine (Dell Inspiron) with 2GB of memory. My 8 year old uses Paint all the time and is constantly disappointed when the only way to save his projects is to save in 256 or 24, and the colors all change when you do that. I'm looking for a good alternative that won't wreak havoc! Going to try Paint.net and see if it's comparable. Although it stinks to have this problem I'm relieved to know it's not just me or my pc!!

 

[stoxguy]

MS Paint is DEFINITELY a memory hog and a real annoyance when trying to save! I've continually experienced the same issues with "not enough memory to complete this task" and having to shut down. I, too, have an XP machine (Dell Inspiron) with 2GB of memory. My 8 year old uses Paint all the time and is constantly disappointed when the only way to save his projects is to save in 256 or 24, and the colors all change when you do that. I'm looking for a good alternative that won't wreak havoc! Going to try Paint.net and see if it's comparable. Although it stinks to have this problem I'm relieved to know it's not just me or my pc!!

Actually, there was a problem, a virus (or viruses) that were affecting the functionality of MS paint. I have another laptop, same T23, works great, even with multiple paint windows open. I also have the same Dell Inspiron and Paint isn't bothering the memory at all. I also disabled the search indexing on Vista. That helped a lot. It took many, many hours to remove both viruses from my hard drives. Both machines are working fine. Also, this might help. Download Wise registry cleaner and defrag your hard drive.

 

[edmond419]

Try opening a blank paint window, just one. Press CONTROL + E to bring up a box. In the width, type a number less than 1000 (and don't make it less than 100), do the same in height. An example would be 800 as width and 600 as height if you want a reasonably sized box. Close the program and then try opening multiple instances again (just blank ones) and have you 8-year-old draw on it and see if you can save

 

[jfred]

Actually, there was a problem, a virus (or viruses) that were affecting the functionality of MS paint. I have another laptop, same T23, works great, even with multiple paint windows open. I also have the same Dell Inspiron and Paint isn't bothering the memory at all. I also disabled the search indexing on Vista. That helped a lot. It took many, many hours to remove both viruses from my hard drives. Both machines are working fine. Also, this might help. Download Wise registry cleaner and defrag your hard drive.

Hi I am having the same problem can you tell me how you removed the viruses

 

[aminnajibi]

Hi everyone !
I am teaching Ms paint(comes with Win 7) at a elementary school . SOMETIMES my computer and some of students have the same problem. In this case MS Paint uses a lot of memory(sometimes 900 MB!) and this slows down the computer and you can't do anything else! I noticed that most of the time this occurs when you copy & paste several times. I think it could not be a accident and there is fundamental problem. Any idea?