Update 04-24-08 W98 GDI Resources 99%

After the installation of the update, when I open Spybot, I received the following message from Norton System Doctor

Your resources are low, GDI Resources 99%

When I closed Spybot everything went to normal, (means GDI 44%)

Explanation:
This sensor monitors the availability of Graphics Device Interface (GDI) resources. In order to run applications, Windows requires free GDI and USER resources. 16-bit applications also require free memory "selectors." Low levels of any of these resources can prevent you from running programs, and will cause Windows out-of-memory errors.

Machine:
Windows 98 SE 4.10.2222 A
Processor: GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 8 498
Speed: 500 Mhz
Math Support: On Chip
Memory: 512 Mb

What did I did wrong? What can I do?

I still can work but with a limited system.

Thanks a lot

I've had GDI resource problem after installing 1.5.2 on a number of W98 systems. The problem only occurs when I run the updater. Scans and immunizations work fine.

Regards,
Charles

I am also still having this problem with v1.5.2 and Windows 98se. And when the error occurs, my systems hangs hard (with the exception of the cursor's ability to move, there are no other system responses including Num Lock, Windows key, Ctrl-Alt-Del, etc...) It's the big power switch and wait for Scandisk to complete the startup cycle.

My windows 98se is also a recent installation so it isn't bogged down with a lot of crap. It seems to occur mostly when I have AIM (v5.9.3861) running.

I've had the problem with no apps running.

Regards,
Charles

On my isolated Win98 (FE) system SSD v1.5.2.20 does suck up a lot of USER resources and GDI, 89% and 61% respectively (according to N-SysDr), even at an SSD 'idle'. Then again, the hardware is pretty dated (but serves well, within its limits). Also the scantime is somewhat longer than on my WinME (50 min. as compared to about 14 min.) - lots of junk on both but I try to keep it reasonable :rolleyes: . Odd that SSD should consume so much GDI, normal for it to use around 99-100% CPU Usage during scans (running a scan now to verify scantime, etc).

Of course Your Mileage May Vary - no two users are exactly alike in their habits, but sometimes there's enough common ground for discussion - I usually run 'heavy' apps one-at-a-time when possible or expect some bogging depending on the apps. Is your Norton a 'vintage' product? I had quite a few .. umm .. suffice it to say I'm not happy with any Symantec product after 2002 (merely a personal opinion and for some they work fine, NAV's heuristics were pretty decent in the day .. and their update system was exemplary). Nowadays I can only go by past experience for such things as Symantec and WinUpdate. Peter Norton did some fine work :bow:

I am having the same experiance today after upgrading to S&D 1.5.2.

The system resources are being drained by this new version and the updater is crashing the machine. A run without anything other than S&D 1.5.2 is completed and immunization works. What are the advantages of running this application as opposed too S&D 1.4? :sad: Since I use this as a backup scanner, I might not worry on the resources. But without updater I may need to return to 1.4. Will you all be updating v.1.4 for some time?

I recently open this post, but I have done other researches and I'll copy here my conclusions. By the way, I doesn't have any more problems with spybot, I have found that I did have a lot of programs running without my knowledge, now I hardly arrive to a 36% of GDI::bigthumb:

1. It is a fact, the new version of Spybot does use more resources, but... no so many as I think before...

2. On w98SE it is not enough to see the task manager in order to know what is really running, remember there are a lot of programs running that could be started by the startup, by other appls, or they have marked as started in the configuration of each program (as Windows messenger, winamp, etc).

3. The problem is mainly with the great amount of 16bits appls. To know what are they follow these steps:

To distinguish 16- from 32-bit applications, Right click on My Computer,
open System Information and click Details on the Memory tab.

4. Once you have identify them, go to spybot, tools, Process List. Order them as you prefer (good examples are alphabetical or by the provider)

5. Choose which applications should not be running at this specific moment and, if and only if, you know them, you can kill the process.

6. Other good advise is to check (Tools> Startup) all the programs in the startup, there you can (also if you know what are you doing) exclude some of them.

7. Finally, run spybot when only the minimum appls are running. That's exactly what I'm doing also when running the anti virus check

Hope this will help you as it did with me.

Becky