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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2024 October 12

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October 12

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OneDrive

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I uploaded a ton of files off my Windows 10 PC to transfer to my Windows 11 PC, but I can only see them on the former. Wazzup? Clarityfiend (talk) 07:09, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You should check if you use the same Microsoft account. Ruslik_Zero 12:11, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I checked in Settings. It says both of my PCs are registered, plus it shows most of my free 5 GB is used up. However, when I log into OneDrive, it says almost all of that space is free. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:28, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can high memory usage make the Internet not work?

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My phone company had a lot of problems on October 6 and 7. A man came to my house and got them fixed, or so I thought. For the third time in two days, someone from tech support was able to fix the problems remotely. There are still occasional brief outages, lasting a few seconds. But one of them stopped when I heard my computer "turn on". What I believe it is doing is storing information to clear more memory. Maybe that was a coincidence, but McAfee keeps telling me they can solve the memory problem if I pay them even more.

Windows 11, Microsoft Edge. What other details do you need and how do I provide them?— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 18:59, 12 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • What do the phone company's problems have to do with anything you can fix?
  • What was fixed at your house?
  • What was fixed remotely?
  • What do you mean by "turn on", in quotes, and why did you say heard, not saw?
  • What changed at that point?
  • Do you think McAfee might possibly be ripping you off like a bunch of scammers?
 Card Zero  (talk) 02:20, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is it all right if I number the questions even if they weren't numbered?
1. I was just saying it may be their problem since I had some more serious problems earlier.
2. He didn't tell me. He didn't even have to come inside. He just told me it was fixed and asked me to go to the Internet on my computer and it was fine.
3. Don't know. Do you actually think tech support gives us details? He did have to put me on hold and my Internet went out while he was doing it.
4. There's no message on the screen. All I know is the computer occasionally makes a noise that sounds like something turning on.
5. The Internet outage resolved itself, but that could be a coincidence.
6. Could be. I should have asked for help with the specific problem when I called them to tell me the scan wasn't working. He told me he was uninstalling and reinstalling their software because there were problems on their end.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 16:31, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • In general, especially for later versions of Windows like 11, high memory usage (RAM) is not necessarily a problem: and this is very probably not connected to any internet problems you may be having.
  • Were you aware of high 'memory' usage before the problem with the internet?
  • How much RAM is installed (often 4 or 8 GB)? How big is your hard drive/SSD?
  • Was there a time when everything (ie PC/laptop and internet) was working properly? What changed?
  • To repeat, was anything changed just before you started having problems?
  • How do you know that your internet connection is dropping out for only a few seconds? Are your router's lights flashing or often changing colour? Are you streaming or playing games online?
  • You said: "I believe it [what] is doing is storing information to clear more memory." I'm afraid this is nonsense. Are you confusing disk space (hard drive) used for data storage, with RAM for temporarily executing programs? Lots of people call them both "memory", but they are very different.
  • Did you install McAffee to try to fix the problem, or did it come installed with the PC? Has McAffee been telling you, unprompted, that you have problems?
  • McAffee is simply horrendous bloatware and always has been. I'd rather stick red-hot needles in my eyes rather than use it.
  • Try using Windows Task Manager to see whether the CPU or RAM are affected - generally, the lower the levels in the graphs, the better.
  • Are you using Wi-Fi, or a wired (network cable) connection?
  • For low disk space, try Disk cleanup in Windows from M$.
  • Can you take the PC to someone else's house (or a free wi-fi spot) and use their internet connection, and see if you still get the same problems?
  • If this all sounds too technical, I would find a local PC shop or roving Windows techie who does home visits, it shouldn't take more than an hour for someone who knows what they're doing to fix your PC problems, and they should also be able to at least have a look at your internet connection and tell at a glance what's wrong. Trying to sort you out here on the help desk is unlikely to lead to positive results. MinorProphet (talk) 11:25, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Again, I'm going to number the questions.
1. Yes, because I get "High memory usage" messages in the upper right corner of the screen. I think this answers my question but I wanted to make sure.
2. I did ask how to get this information so I could tell you.
3. It usually does. Several weeks ago there were a lot of brief outages, and it happened again a week ago. There have been brief outages at times for weeks, though they stopped for about a week after the first big fix (which to my knowledge was nothing more than unplugging the modem). Someone was supposed to come to my house but to my knowledge they didn't. Unplugging the modem and plugging it back in was all that I did. I don't recall anything being fixed. I do know when there was a problem months ago they checked and said my Fiber box needed to be turned off and turned on, or something like that. I asked them to correct their information because I was told they couldn't give me fiber service.
4. McAfee had a problem with scans as I said above and their software was reinstalled. I don't recall if that was before the first Internet problem.
5. Listening to music, and it stops, or if it hasn't stopped whatever else I am doing is going really slow and finally I get a message about not being able to find the DNS. If the problem lasts long enough I get "You're not connected" on the screen.
6. It may be nonsense but I'm explaining it as best I know how. I think my computer goes faster after this sound is heard.
7 and 8. I needed virus protection and I got it. It was probably installed with the PC but it has been reinstalled as I said.
9. I'll see what that tells me.
10. Cable.
11. Done. It said I gained 61.2 MB. I did it with a few more categories after I made sure I wanted to and it gave me more space but I didn't see how much. It wasn't much.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 16:31, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
12. I get messages about risky connections (I think these are ads but blocking ads causes its own problems) and there's someone who can fix problems.
13. Don't think any of this is necessary. The brief outages don't usually happen that often.
14. Trying to avoid this. The man from the phone compny should have finished all that.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 16:31, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Overhead light dimmed briefly and the music stopped. Something on my screen got blurry and it took a while to get a clear imnage. But that didn't last long enough to really cause a problem.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 19:50, 13 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
1. It would seem that the memory problem is separate from the internet difficulties. To find the amount of RAM etc., click Start/press Windows key, type System Information and select it. In the r.h. pane it should tell you the Windows version, System Model, Processor, and towards the end, Installed Physical Memory. Click and copy each of these in turn using Ctrl-C.
2. Where are the "low memory" messages coming from? What happens if you click on one? Write down as much info as you can.
3. It appears that you have a standard cable modem (typically useless article), with a physical wired connection from the modem to the computer. If you are getting messages about not being to find the DNS (Domain Name Service, which turns IP addresses into URLs), this means that the modem is losing the connection to your internet supplier. This is almost certainly their problem. On the other hand, this is a relatively technical message which a user shouldn't be getting: normally a browser will just say something like "We're having a problem finding that site, please try again." What process or app is giving this message?
4. What sort of broadband speeds are you getting? Try fast.com for example. MinorProphet (talk) 01:10, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So brief power outages are causing the modem to restart, cutting your streaming connection, maybe?  Card Zero  (talk) 06:13, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
1. It won't let me copy. 10.0.22631 8.0 GB installed physical memory, 1.99 GB available, 13.1 GB virtual memory, 5.2 GB available.
2. Upper right corner of screen, don't think it lets me click on it. Happened only twice yesterday.
3. Don't get Internet from cable company. Messages get cutesy like "It's not the same without you." Light dimming doesn't usually happen.
4. fast.com gives me 6.4 Mbps. Phone company says 10.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 16:27, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This (old, 2016) superuser question/answer says it's all about something called commit charge, which is to do with applications claiming they might need a large amount of memory. Also, memory paging, a form of "storing information to clear more memory", is not nonsense, although it's surprising that there's any call for it when you've got 8 GB. I remain suspicious about McAfee: possibly it's taking (or claiming a potential future use for) most of your memory. To be fair, we don't know what other possible culprits you have installed and running.  Card Zero  (talk) 18:54, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The high memory usage message appeared and you can click on it. It had a list of things I could do but the problem is I need all the activities that are going on, so I can't say "sleep". There is a power efficiency mode but I am reluctant to try it. I can click and get a list of other performance options but my guess is clicking on that would just add to the problem, temporarily.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 20:21, 14 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the tech details. I still have no idea how you are getting messages about DNS, it's several layers of complexity further down than any normal user should ever concern themselves with. I used to get paid to do this, and you would have been an ideal customer. I suggest you just need someone to stand over you in real time, to explain what's going on in layman's terms, and make constructive suggestions/tell you what to do/fix it for you. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to be able do this on the Ref Desk. I reckon your PC hardware is fine, but your dodgy internet connection is stone age (no fault of yours), and your operating system appears to be in a bit of a mess, for whatever reason. I suggest you seek professional help. Personally, to save time and frustration for all concerned, I would recommend that you back up all your data in at least three places, plus write down all your browser usernames and passwords on paper, format your hard disk (or buy a new one), make a new install of Windows 10 <M$ fanboys wail and recoil in horror> and start all over again. MinorProphet (talk) 12:07, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have 11, but not by choice. Windows 10 remains in substantially greater use. I hope you aren't seriously suggesting triple backups, making one is effort enough.  Card Zero  (talk) 14:36, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I still get messages from Comics Kingdom saying connectivity issues were detected when I tried to load comments but things are working much better now. I asked for advice on another site and they said download Malwarebytes so I have a free trial, and they recommended some other steps. No problem files were found with scans but another fix they recommended did find corrupt files and fix them. One site is still having problems but overall things are working better now and I've had no actual Internet outages except when I turned the computer on. Something about walking across the area where my modem is makes it stop working, especially if I pause nearby.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 22:31, 16 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Gocomics is having serious problems but I fixed the major problem I had with the Internet by unplugging the modem. It took several tries for it to come back, and by that I mean I watched the lights to see if the one light finally turned green and stopped blinking.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 23:41, 17 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  1. I would suggest that the "thing turning on" is probably a fan, though it could be hard drive if you still have one of those (and replacing that with an SSD is a relatively cheap and good upgrade). If your processor is getting hot, cooling may indeed allow it to speed up, although it should preferably start cooling before it throttles due to heat. Similarly if your system is paging "junk" to disk, that may speed up by freeing actual RAM.
  2. Be sure you are talking to who you think you are on the phone (or Internet).
All the best: Rich Farmbrough 19:55, 18 October 2024 (UTC).[reply]
Also I highly recommend uninstalling McAfee, as the guy himself, McAfee, told people to do years ago. (He sold it a long time ago, now owned by some predatory corporation. Also the guy is dead now he had some...issues, but that's a whole other topic) It's quite possible some of your problems are caused by it, attemping to be "helpful" and tracking and filtering all your Internet traffic (sucking up lots of your system's resources in the process) and mucking about with Windows settings. Windows comes with anti-malware stuff included no extra cost (Microsoft Defender) these days which is plenty fine for the typical individual. --Slowking Man (talk) 02:49, 20 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I feel a lot better having someone to help if I have a problem, and knowing that something is protecting my computer. When the time comes to renew, I may consider this.— Vchimpanzee • talk • contributions • 17:16, 24 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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