There seems to be a bug within Windows that does not allow one to open many windows.
As an avid Internet surfer, I do not open one window at a time. I like opening many webpages at once and after collecting a bucketful, I then start to close the webpages one by one. This could be because a webpage I am viewing has links to other related content or it may be thumbnails of pictures that open into a new window. Either way, one of my favourite options is Right Click > Open in a new window/tab.
When I open many windows (I have tried 50 at a time but most of the time it starts going wonky at around 15 -20 or so), it tends to jam up my computer. I can’t right click, can’t open Task Manager, webpages are just white, nothing loads, no status bar, can’t click anywhere, etc etc. I have to force IE to end and then some times do a restart to get my computer stable again.
Apparently this is a resource problem. Obviously.
It is not an isolated Internet Explorer 6/7 case but has happened with Mozilla Firefox too. I thought the ever-amazing, never-failing, most critically acclaimed Mozilla Firefox might not hang on me but alas, that is not to be. Also it is not a Windows XP problem as it has also happened on my Windows Vista Basic many times. I think I’m just a cursed user.
I was so fed-up with all this shutting down of windows that I went online to find help (naturally). Apparently, it ain’t just me with this problem thank goodness and with a simple search with phrases like, “too many windows open” will bring up relevant results.
It is quite simple to solve and involves registry editing.. don’t be scared… with great guidance, it is easy to accomplish. I shall put it out here for those of you who might face this problem and want it fixed. So far, after the fix, my computer seems pretty stable but a tad slow. Could just be my crappy computer though.
The techies call this a desktop heap problem.
So to fix it:-
Go to Start
Click Run ( or type into Search if in Vista)
Type regedit
Click on the + sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Click on the +sign next to SYSTEM
Click on the + sign next to CurrentControlSet
Click on the + sign next to Control
Click on the + sign next to Session Manager
Click on the + sign next to Subsystems
Click on Windows in the Subsystems folder
Look for “…rectory=\Windows SharedSection=1024,3072,512 …” under Value Data.
The next step is changing the middle value (3072) to a greater number thereby increasing your desktop heap.
By increasing this value, you will be limiting the number of users to this computer. This may not be suitable for computers that have multiple users and require you to Login, for example.
Therefore if you want to increase the number to 4mb, you will add 1024 to 3072. If you want to increase this to 5mb, you will add 1024+1024+3072, etc etc. I changed my value to 8192. It may be a bit too much but time will tell if this will cause my computer to become unstable. It was already unstable to begin with so whatever.
I was quite overjoyed when I found a fix for this problem. Aaah, no more having to close all the windows that I had accumulated over the last few webpages. Now, I hope to view in peace.
To view other websites who may be able to offer MORE assistance, please click below:-
Do you open too many windows?
There seems to be a bug within Windows that does not allow one to open many windows.
As an avid Internet surfer, I do not open one window at a time. I like opening many webpages at once and after collecting a bucketful, I then start to close the webpages one by one. This could be because a webpage I am viewing has links to other related content or it may be thumbnails of pictures that open into a new window. Either way, one of my favourite options is Right Click > Open in a new window/tab.
When I open many windows (I have tried 50 at a time but most of the time it starts going wonky at around 15 -20 or so), it tends to jam up my computer. I can’t right click, can’t open Task Manager, webpages are just white, nothing loads, no status bar, can’t click anywhere, etc etc. I have to force IE to end and then some times do a restart to get my computer stable again.
Apparently this is a resource problem. Obviously.
It is not an isolated Internet Explorer 6/7 case but has happened with Mozilla Firefox too. I thought the ever-amazing, never-failing, most critically acclaimed Mozilla Firefox might not hang on me but alas, that is not to be. Also it is not a Windows XP problem as it has also happened on my Windows Vista Basic many times. I think I’m just a cursed user.
I was so fed-up with all this shutting down of windows that I went online to find help (naturally). Apparently, it ain’t just me with this problem thank goodness and with a simple search with phrases like, “too many windows open” will bring up relevant results.
It is quite simple to solve and involves registry editing.. don’t be scared… with great guidance, it is easy to accomplish. I shall put it out here for those of you who might face this problem and want it fixed. So far, after the fix, my computer seems pretty stable but a tad slow. Could just be my crappy computer though.
The techies call this a desktop heap problem.
So to fix it:-
Go to Start
Click Run ( or type into Search if in Vista)
Type regedit
Click on the + sign next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Click on the +sign next to SYSTEM
Click on the + sign next to CurrentControlSet
Click on the + sign next to Control
Click on the + sign next to Session Manager
Click on the + sign next to Subsystems
Click on Windows in the Subsystems folder
Look for “…rectory=\Windows SharedSection=1024,3072,512 …” under Value Data.
The next step is changing the middle value (3072) to a greater number thereby increasing your desktop heap.
By increasing this value, you will be limiting the number of users to this computer. This may not be suitable for computers that have multiple users and require you to Login, for example.
Therefore if you want to increase the number to 4mb, you will add 1024 to 3072. If you want to increase this to 5mb, you will add 1024+1024+3072, etc etc. I changed my value to 8192. It may be a bit too much but time will tell if this will cause my computer to become unstable. It was already unstable to begin with so whatever.
I was quite overjoyed when I found a fix for this problem. Aaah, no more having to close all the windows that I had accumulated over the last few webpages. Now, I hope to view in peace.
To view other websites who may be able to offer MORE assistance, please click below:-
Windows Desktop Heap Tweak Guide
Where/What is the “Resource Meter” in XP? Options
Windows XP flakiness – solved