Vista blues

[traveller]

I ran my HP updates, except for the flash Bios. I don't know what that is, and in the middle of it it said "do you really want to flash your Bios?" so I cancelled.

What is that?

[Believer1997]

I ran my HP updates, except for the flash Bios. I don't know what that is, and in the middle of it it said "do you really want to flash your Bios?" so I cancelled.

What is that?

It sounds like something you can get arrested for ....

[traveller]

I ran my HP updates, except for the flash Bios. I don't know what that is, and in the middle of it it said "do you really want to flash your Bios?" so I cancelled.

What is that?

It sounds like something you can get arrested for ....

[nagwalk]

What browser do you use? I use the latest version of firefox and it is free.

[paul1149]

My new laptop has Vista. I'm forever getting the message "System Not Responding," and, of course, then lose whatever I'm working on.

This is what I do when I have performance problems in XP. I'm presuming Vista is similar...

Open Task Manager (Ctrl-Alt-Del), click the Processes tab, then click on the CPU column header twice (the second time sorts in reverse order) to see what programs are using the most processor power. I would keep the window open then go about your normal tasks, keeping a wary eye on the window.

You can also check out memory usage there too. Exceeding high numbers here can also cause problems (Firefox here, with its many extensions, has a memory leak so I shut it down and restart it every couple of hours.)

You want to try to narrow the problem down to likely culprits.

Another thing I have done, and periodically recheck on, is eliminate unnecessary programs and services running in the background. It's amazing how much garbage MS and others install under the hood without most users knowing.

Also, some of the virus scanners are immense resource hogs, Norton being most notorious in this regard. You can check settings or switch programs. I use freeware scanners, a couple residually and the rest manually on a weekly basis.

Also, make sure you clear your browser cache periodically. I do mine at least every two days, but weekly isn't too bad. And I don't have the browser cache size set too high either, so the program travels light. Email/newsgroup programs similarly may need their database purged and compacted.

Finally, it pays to defrag the hard drive periodically. And also regarding the drive(s), it's probably best to let Windows handle the Page File. You can check on that at My Computer / Properties / Advanced / Performance: Settings / Advanced / Virtual memory: Change, and see if System managed size is selected.

hth,

p.

[forrestkc]

I ran my HP updates, except for the flash Bios. I don't know what that is, and in the middle of it it said "do you really want to flash your Bios?" so I cancelled.

What is that?

Bios stands for Basic Input Output System. It initializes devices prior to your Operating System starting, and provides hardware access in cases where your operating system's kernel, in your case Vista, cannot directly access an underlying hardware device.

Anyway, many times Bios updates will provide stability and or performance improvements, so its always good to apply them when they are available. Just make sure you have your laptop plugged in when you do so, and do not under any circumstances turn the computer off while the Bios is being flashed (if you do, it may not boot again).

[Blien]

I ran my HP updates, except for the flash Bios. I don't know what that is, and in the middle of it it said "do you really want to flash your Bios?" so I cancelled.

What is that?

I recommend you run the BIOS update. It improves the performance of your system and gets rid of little bugs that maybe causing glitches in your system like the one you are describing. Not guaranteeing it but it might.

I updated my bios recently too. It's a system that runs under Windows so that the whole computers components are communicating with each other properly and efficiently.

[OneLight]

I ran my HP updates, except for the flash Bios. I don't know what that is, and in the middle of it it said "do you really want to flash your Bios?" so I cancelled.

What is that?

Bios stands for Basic Input Output System. It initializes devices prior to your Operating System starting, and provides hardware access in cases where your operating system's kernel, in your case Vista, cannot directly access an underlying hardware device.

Anyway, many times Bios updates will provide stability and or performance improvements, so its always good to apply them when they are available. Just make sure you have your laptop plugged in when you do so, and do not under any circumstances turn the computer off while the Bios is being flashed (if you do, it may not boot again).

Completely agree!

[traveller]

Ok - I'm going to "flash my BIOS" as soon as I work up the courage.

Thank you, family.