not sure where to put this - PC resources question

not sure where to put this

i'm not really sure where this post should go or even if anyone can help with it, but here goes nothing.

for the past couple of weeks i've been going through some major refomatting of my harddrive due to viruses and such. at the beggining i'm sure i made some hasty mistakes and what not, but non the less this site has been a huge help. things have been running smoothly up until a couple of days ago.

one day i come to the computer and i there is a message saying that my computer's vital memory is too low and is closing the running programs. after i get that message getting to my explorer, messengers or just plain computer programs is impossible without restarting my computer and racing against the clock to get them open and do what i have to do, and then approximately 10 minutes later nothing will work. my post won't post, my messengers close, and under my start up menu it says that the all programs section is empty.
i can't even begin to understand what is going on or how to start researching it to try and fix it if there is a solution. i'm sure that someone here can help me figure out what is going on and direct me to the right path.

thankyou, and sorry i've not included alot of info, i'm racing the clock LOL,
BLEU

 

Hi bleucheeze21

The problems you describe could be caused by a number of things, and you haven't given a lot of info regarding your PC environment (RAM, processor, operating system, etc.). So without getting into a overly broad and long reply...

You might want to check to see if the PC is infected with malware. Are you running a reliable, up-to-date antivirus program? Unless it is Kaspersky, you might also want to employ an anti-trojan to check your machine. Also, have you checked your machine for adware?

You might want to use Windows Task Manager or Process Explorer from Sysinternals to see what is running on your machine in the background that is using all your memory. Look at the applications and processes running - if you don't know whatthey are, you could possibly research them using Google to learn if they are necessary or even malignant.

If there is no malware on your machine you might look at what services your operating system is running. I have disabled a lot of services that weren't needed on my machine, and doing so improved the performance quite a bit.

Good luck
- O

 

ok i'm sorry i didn't provide much detail... i am running windows xp home edition, i'm also running AVG virus protection, and since i got rid of the padobot worms and the trojan horse thing, it hasn't detected anything. i've also ran ad-aware and found nothing, but other than that i'm not sure what else you are talking about me running to see if there is anything lurking on the sidelines. i've also been downloading all of my windows updates since i've been fixing all of this as well. when i look at the task manager there are alot of things running in the background i guess from what i can tell... i'm literally computer illiterate... everything i learn i learn from research and people's suggestions. so i wouldn't even know where to begin to end the processes that aren't needed. if you would like i could post them and some one could help me as to what is neccessary or not.

but now i think i have a new problem. i just got this error message and i'm not really sure why i'm getting these messages just now after i've already been doing my work again, and getting this thing back to normal. but here it is .... the application or DLL C:\WINDOWS\System32\avicap32.dll is not a valid windows image please check this against your installation diskette. what does this even mean?
another question while i'm here. i have installed all the discs that came with my dell computer and as far as the windows xp set up goes. but to me just looking at it.. there are things missing from when i got it out of the box and turned it on. is there somewhere i can go or something else i can get to be able to install everything that was here when i pulled it from the box.
ok running against the clock again. if you need farther info just let me know. cause i'm really not sure where to begin on any of these issues.

thankyou,
~BLEU

 

If you want to reinstall the avicap32.dll you can get it here it is number 53 on the list. it is 62 kb.

 

You mention that you have a Dell; so do I.
There is indeed some Dell software that Dell installs OEM that is not on any of the disks that they provide with their PCs. (of course their Windows XP disk is the full version and they do provide the disks for non Dell apps that are installed, as well as the drivers for the installed hardware).

Have you tried the DellTalk forums? They are very good and friendly, with many experienced people participating. Someone there might be able to help. There are Forums related to specific Dell models, but also some good Windows and other software forums.

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/