Weird screen display

[Joanne]

Sometimes, when I use the menu bar the selection still shows. Anyone knows what causes that? Is it my graphic card? I still have a warranty on my computer (Dell) so I would like to know where that comes from. http://www.objtools.com/display_error.gif

Thanks,

[(jj)]

Does this happen with all programs, or just one or two?

I've had similar things happen that were caused by just one program that was just "typical" for that program.

Does this happen after a fresh bootup of your computer, or just after you've been using it for a time?

You may want to check to see if there are any newer versions of drivers for your video card.


Just my "For What It's Worth"

[Joanne]

Well, it happens most of the times. After long time use, restart... no difference. As far as I know mostly with Dreamweaver and Fireworks. But then.. I hardly use anything else. However, I had the same thing hapeening in school the other day with some program, I can't remember which. When I asked the teacher, he did not have a clue either. I could check the graphic card driver, though.

[(jj)]

I don't use DreamWeaver, but I have had Firestarter do similar things while using it. Especially if the project I'm working on is getting somewhat complex. But normally after a cold boot (power off the system and reboot) it would be fine until I started opening other programs that used my resources.

[paulselhi]

programs like DW are very resource intensive

Different O/S 's handle it differently, on W98 DWMX runs like a.. well slow but on the same box with windows 2000 advanced sever it runs like a dream

have a look at your startup programs, are there any you don't need ? set them not to load at start

with Win 98 do a ctrl-alt-del and look at what is running, you may well have a load of overhead there, all you really need is systray, explorer, your firewall, your antivirus

if you have starter running kill it, it's for your sound card and i have to keep killing mine as even when told not to load ot still loads

have a look at your system resources (MSinfo) before and during a program run, what sort of impact is the program having ? You really want to see about 70+% system resources free

You may consider a memory optimizer like cacheman, which is quite good

[RocketJeff]

Originally posted by paulselhi
You may consider a memory optimizer like cacheman, which is quite good
Adding memory to the computer would also be another easy option. 128Mb modules are still only about us$50. Up till about a year ago, most machines didn't come with enough memory for 'real' (i.e. non-websurfing) work.

[paulselhi]

the single most effective improvement you can give to your machine is to add memory, however up to a limit as beyond a certain level you will see no improvement. Some o/s's need to be tuned in order to use large (gigabyte level) memory and some even take a performance hit from too much !!!!

[(jj)]

Adding memory is always a good idea, if you have less than 256 Megs. Especially using programs like DreamWeaver and Firestarter.

Depending on the type of memory your system uses, 256 Meg modules are running between $25 to $50 or so these days.

But, if you are running one of the Win 9x (including ME) then adding memory will NOT increase your basic resources. MS decided that they would set the basic resources at a given amount, and it's these resources that get eaten up by programs that load at startup, like sound device's that aren't needed.

There are ways of disabling most startup programs, HOWEVER, if you are not familiar with what is needed and what is not, then it's best to error on the cautious side. There are things that some systems (Dell, IBM, etc) install that should not be turned off unless you know just how to do it...through the correct setup/preferences routines.

Basically, what I am saying, is that if you are not technically inclined then it may be best that you consult someone who is before playing around in your system settings.

Heck, I've been working with computers for more than 20 years, and I've been known to turn off or edit something that I really shouldn't have... and had to fight and pull hair to fix my own screw-ups .. that's why my Avatar wears a hat... don't want to blind anyone :)


Just my "For What It's Worth"

[Joanne]

Thanks everyone for your input. I don't think it's not a memory problem as I have 640Meg. I checked which applications are running and although I cannot identify each one of them there is not any suspicious activity. Free system resources are also at 93%. I have a Dell Dimension 4300 with Win 2000.

Now I'll go and check for driver upgrades.