diane-france

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I'm running a Windows XP 32-bit system - 512mb. For several years I've used WMP to transcribe digital recordings without any problems whatsoever but recently the machine has been 'hanging' while using this program. It's the same problem if I use the VLC media player, it crashes, sometimes after a couple of minutes and sometimes it'll work for an hour or so, the problem is totally random. I have had a fan fitted and upgraded the WMP to version 11 - which I've found is no good at all for transcribing as the 'seek' bar is not available in the mini-mode on version 11 - but that's another issue. Someone suggested re-installing Windows XP - But before I go down that route I'm wondering if this problem is anything to do with available memory - I have 74mb - do I need more to run media player programs? Obviously when transcribing you're 'skipping backwards and forwards' all the time, this presumably uses up a lot of memory - I don't know... Or could it just be the heat? Has anyone else had this problem when using media player?
 

Major7up

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Aug 17, 2009
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Have you considered an upgrade to 1GB? That would be the best option but you should also check what services and background programs you have running. Eliminating some of those which are unnecessary will help you improve performance. Also try increasing virtual memory as that may also improve performance. If you are not sure how to do any of these things let me know and I will help you.
 

diane-france

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Aug 4, 2010
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Thank you. I will certainly look into the upgrades.
 

diane-france

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Thank you for your advice - I didn't know about the event log and now I keep checking it! At present I only have my e-mails open and this site also and my physical memory is only 47, virtual is 1.96. I will certainly look into increasing the ram. Again, thankyou.
 


A quick way of checking how much RAM your system is doing is to check the Commit Charge in the Performace Tab of system properties.

The Total is how much RAM is being used currently. The Max is just that, the highest RAM amount that was used. This includes physical and virtual. So if you see the Total contstantly going over your physical RAM when you have the applications you use open, it's a good idea to upgrade the RAM.