Dealing with Low Resources in Windows
Q: I'm getting a message on my computer saying I'm low
on resources. Can you tell me what that means? I'm
running a 166-MHz Pentium, 32MB of RAM and a memory
card with 2MB. The only thing I've added to my computer
recently is the netcam.


A: It's not unusual to get low on resources after you use
Windows for a long time at a stretch, especially if you open
and close programs frequently. Some programs don't
reallocate or release the memory, so after awhile, your
machine gets full. You have to restart Windows to free up
memory again.

That's why Windows becomes more reliable if you restart it
after every 6 to 8 hours of use. If you notice your system
resources are getting low more often than that, restart
more often, like after lunch and after work.

You can find the System Resource Monitor under, Start
Menu/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. It will tell you
what resource you have.

If you crash a lot, it might be worth running the system
monitor in the background. Just remember that it also
uses memory resources. Having more memory doesn't
help by the way. It's a fixed amount no matter how much
memory you have.

According to Microsoft:
There is a 64-kilobyte (K) system-resource limit for
Win 3.1. Windows 95 and better, for backwards
compatibility. But they do move several other resources
into the shared 32-bit virtual flat-address space of the
system.

This maneuver boosts performance, but it also means the
limitation depends on what specific resource is in question.
The following table goes into more detail:

Resource	Windows	Windows 95	Windows NT
Window/Menu Handles	about 200	32K (each)	Unlimited
Timers	32	Unlimited	Unlimited
COM/LPT ports	4 each	Unlimited	Unlimited
Listbox items (per listbox)	8K	32K	Unlimited
Listbox data (per listbox)	64K	Unlimited	Unlimited
Edit control data (per control)	64K	Unlimited	Unlimited
Regions	All in 64K segment	Unlimited	Unlimited
Physical pens, brushes	All in 64K segment	Unlimited	Unlimited
Logical fonts	All in 64K segment	750-800	Unlimited
Installed fonts	250 to 300 (best case)	1,000	Unlimited
Device Contexts	200 (best case)	16K	Unlimited
Logical pens, brushes	All in 64K segment	64K segment	Unlimited

NOTE: The limits in Windows NT are for Win32-based
applications. In many cases, there are 32K or 64K limits on
most of these resources for 16-bit Windows-based
applications, due to limits on the size of the 16-bit
Windows-based application handles.