Okay, I have 1024mb total phys. mem and 236 mb available...shouldn't i have closer to 500mb available?? and how can i free it up? Also, i'm running win xp and just dropped an old hardrive into a new barebones.

task mgr 4856k
wmiprvese 7548k
svchost 13,036
ssmarque 2072
rundll32 5652
iexplore 25444
wuauclt 1308
explorer 8076
lxcecoms 200
alg 1308
helpsvc 8608
helpctr 2100
spoolscv 904
wdfmgr 64
svchost 684
svchost 1696
svchost 1696
svchost 1776
lsass 1060
services 1632
winlogon 632
csrss 2392
svchost 1556
smss 60k
slserv 216
ccevtmgr 68
system 48
system idle process 28

anyone?

What are your system specs? Do you have onboard gfx?

sadly, i don't know enoough to know this(yes, it's embarrassing)...i think i know enough to get myself in trouble...but i can follow instructions pretty well.

Whats the make and model of the PC?

Download this to see what type of vid card you have:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/GPU-Z-0.1.8-download-1856.html

Most of the processes listed above are critical, except for few like ssmarque which appears to be related to screen-saver, I would suggest removing all screensaver related programs and unnecessary programs that you don't use at all from Add/Remove programs. Also slserv.exe could be a threat (if it's not related to PCI modem [http://www.anti-spy.info/process/slserv.exe.html] and ALG could also be a threat [http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process/alg.exe.html]. I would also recommend doing an online scan at http://www.ewido.net for spyware/malware etc. If your computer has Norton Anti-Virus, try to remove it and see if it increases performance, since it also a big resource hog.

If problem persists, backup data and do a clean install. Search for KB 316941 at support.microsoft.com

alg.exe is most likely NOT a threat. The normal process is "Application Layer Gateway Service" and it's a Microsoft program.

The processes you have listed are a VERY limited number of those programs that use memory. Your system also loads drivers, DLLs, and more...possibly hundreds more...depending on your particular setup. If you want more detail, use a program like process explorerr (Microsoft/sysinternals) and SIW.
Process Explorer
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
SIW
http://majorgeeks.com/SIW_System_Info_d4387.html

Other things that can take up memory are video buffer (e.g. integrated graphix as someone above mentioned), or if you have selected to shadow any BIOS code (see your BIOS settings) You can reduce the amount of system RAM video buffer (if that is being done), and you can disable shadowing BIOS. That would recover some RAM.

All in all, for a 1gb machine it's running at memory usage levels that are not that uncommon.

As someone above also suggested, you can disable some processes and services, but yoyu have to know what you're doing. Disabling the wrong thing can have severe consequences. There are many articles on the internet about optimizing the XP OS in this way.


edit-
correct process explorer ref, and add links

I said could.


Note: The alg.exe file is located in the folder C:\Windows\System32. In other cases, alg.exe is a virus, spyware, trojan or worm! Check this with Security Task Manager.

Supreet Virdi said:
And I said "most likely". What's your point?

It's just more information. Hopefully it would prevent his immediately deleting the file based on a "could be a virus" statement that could scare a neophyte user into doing something rash.

(note: just about [i]any[/b] file name can be usurped by malware, so it would be just as helpful to tell him all of the processes "could" be viruses)

See your point.

Though, to the author of this thread, I would strongly recommend uninstalling Norton if it is installed, to see if it increases performance.