PC overloaded..More RAM or more CPU?

Running Win2000 w/ SP4 , Intel P4 1.6Ghz, 1GB SDRAM.. and when several
Firefox tabs are open, Outlook running, and with maybe Word or something
running, my CPU will go to 100% and stall. Most of the time I can cancel
some tasks etc. and resume operation and never get a blue screen. My Swap
File is large.
Do I just need to upgrade my CPU or would doubling the RAM help out.
Opinion?

 

Control-Alt-Delete. What's using up the CPU?

 

Neither one would help against a firefox addon running amuck and in some
endless loop. As already suggested, start taskmanager (you may do so in
advance and mimimize it to the tray) and watch the process tab sorted by
cpu utilization (click the headers until maximum value shows on top of the
list). Disable all non-vital addons and autostarts.

 

firefox 94,000k
outlook 53,000k
and then my CA Antivirus isafe 18,000
Firefox when lots of tabs are open gets into the 100,000 range which I
though was strange.
CPU running 25% average with Outlook Express (newsreader) and Acrobat Reader
running also
The rest of the processes are minor and I run clean of any spyware/virus
stuff as that is my specialty.

 

That's memory. What's using the CPU? Look at the CPU column.

 

Nothing will help. There are bad programmers everywhere. Eventually you will
be running a program which uses "polling", meaning the program uses CPU for
doing nothing. Your CPU will spike to 100% utilization.

 

You appear to be reporting the amount of RAM used by these programs, and
not the "CPU Time", which is what will answer the question.

Normally, when your computer is sitting idle - you aren't typing,
downloading, processing anything, have no screensavers in use - CPU
usage should be near zero. It doesn't matter how much RAM is occupied by
various applications (to a point).

You need to look at CPU Time.

 

I suspected something within Firefox since I do have some add-on's and
extensions, etc running there.

 

Specs are fine for W2K. Do lockups occur right away after boot or after
a while? Check for a heat problem.
max