repairing older game's

[Ken]

Hi Mr. Shark I was wondering if there's any way you can go back and fix some of the older game's . Like late night at the office. I't seem's when you play the meter don't move much so you can't continue . Why is this ? Try to rub her shoulder's but can't get to next step . Meter don't move much . Can you or one off your staff help me pass this point to where I can get her jacket off. I beleave Anais I hope I spell'ed it right is anouther game I have proublem's with the meter . Please help Thank you . Ken

[Squeeky]

I firmly believe that there is some issue with your computer.

Have you considered spyware, something more malicious, an overloaded cache?

[Ken]

Squeeky wrote : I firmly believe that there is some issue with your computer.

Have you considered spyware, something more malicious, an overloaded cache?

Hi What is this overloaded cache? And how would I repair it? I Do have spyware. Thank you for your help. Ken

[Squeeky]

Your computer has two levels of memory, RAM and ROM. RAM is an electronic card set and ROM is preset memory; Windows assigns a part of your hard drive to assist the RAM.

When you load a new application (or a Webpage) this data is loaded into RAM as though writing to pages of a book. Some of this data is set aside to be used again with out having to reload it. Your computer will check for "cached" data before deciding if it needs to get new information (you may have noticed that some pages which you visit frequently appear to load faster that others).

For whatever reasons the cache is not always cleared propeerly. In Firefox, under Tools/ClearPrivateData is a section for clearing such info. Under IE (?) it may be simply, clear cache. There is a range of software, like AV products and Spyware that may have such a facility builtin.

I sometimes resort to going into my ME directories Windows/TEMP and Temporary Internet Files and manually take them out.

It would generally be safer for inexperienced users to do such tasks under software control.

This may not be a completely accurate descrïption but it is a good overview.

[sharkfan]

I think you can also increase the size of the cache. Right click My Computer and then Properties. Something like that. Haven't done it in awhile.

[Arnulf]

sharkfan, I don't think that a shortage of the cache is the reason for problems, because the original amount of the cache memory should be sufficient for such a little game. Maybe the cache is overloaded with rubbish from former programs. It should be a good advice to clean the RAM memory by clicking on the properties of the respective memory-partition of the hard drive and cancel all the unnecessary files there.

BTW as test I downloaded the "Late night at the office" game and played it without problems.

[D-Willy]

Sorry to keep jumping in with controversy, but neither ROM nor RAM are Virtual Memory.
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edit: Mistakes in the post that this one addressed were corrected. ( good job! ) Unless someone thinks I should delete this post, I'll leave it here for now as a technical reference.
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RAM means "Random Access Memory." When just the term Memory is used, it means RAM.

ROM means "Read Only Memory." Data stored in/on true ROM can not be changed. Firmware is the catch-all term for ROM.

The BIOS and other seldom changing logic is stored in some type of Erasable-Programmable ROM, or a type of Flash Memory.

Cache refers to dedicated or dynamic RAM used for temporary convenient storage, such as CPU Cache, File Header Cache and so forth. Temporary Files in the browser's folder can be referred to as Cache, since the word cache means storage, but they are more specifically just Temporary Files. Cached data is kept for convenience rather than to extend the system's memory.

Virtual Memory is (usually) on disk. It can be thought of as "virtual" RAM, meaning it isn't really RAM but it acts like it. The Windows pagefile.sys is used for virtual memory storage. If a program needs more RAM than is available, the OS will check the things currently in RAM and write the least-active or least-used pages out to disk (memory "blocks" are called pages, and page-size, i.e., how many bytes, depends on the system's architecture). Then, if the program needs that data again something else will be swapped out and the requested pages will be reloaded from the disk.

When a program first loads into memory, it "pages" the program in. If you monitor memory, you will see the "page fault" counter increasing. A page fault means that a program has requested something in memory that isn't there. The operating system "sees" the page fault and services it. An actively running program will show page faults if its pages are being swapped in and out of the pagefile.

Virtual Memory lets a system run more software than it would be able to by using only its RAM. The trade-off is that Virtual Memory on disk is slower than RAM and if RAM is too short the system can spend too much of its time paging things in and out of memory rather than processing data.

I've recommended free cleaning tools like CCleaner and Glary Utilities here before. I have no connection to either but I use at least one of them every day. I'd post a link but I might get into trouble

@Ken: Re-read the PM's we sent each other last year when we discussed Virtual Memory. Use CCleaner or a similar tool to clean up the junk files on your disk and to clean up your registry. Also, if your computer is a little slower-than-newer, right-click the game screen and set the Quality to Medium or Low and see if that helps.

[Squeeky]

D-Willy wrote : Sorry to keep jumping in with controversy, but neither ROM nor RAM are Virtual Memory.

RAM means "Random Access Memory." When just the term Memory is used, it means RAM.

D-Willy? Controversy? Sorry, there is no controversy with this just that I firstly messed up my RAM and ROMs, I've corrected those points in my earlier comment. And frankly it's been some 10 years that I've had to consider "Memory" in technical terms when discussing these points, as an amateur with lesser knowledgeable colleagues.

I did suggest that my overview may well be somewhat inaccurate. Thanks for your clearer technical point of view.