win 7 disc access

[#1]

I have recently reformatted and reinstalled win 7 on the local community pcs. All went fine but I have noticed that although after logging in hdd activity stops after a min or so if an application is started hdd activity and memory access becomes excessive almost to the point that the pc becomes unusable. This continues for around 15-20mins and then all stops. The systems are rather underpowered using amd semperon cpu and have 1gig of memory (890meg usable). When this happens memory utilization is over 90%and the hdd appears to access pagefile.sys alot. I suspect that it needs more ram prob an extra 2gb. Does anybody have any other ideas though. They use the 32bit version of 7.

[#2]

The odds are that they have graphics running off the system memory or at least mostly
Have you turned off all the graphical bells and whistles
What do you have the page file set to and what is the spare space on the C: Drive
What is the graphical resolution of the monitors
To answer the original question - yes they need more memory
A further test - start system monitor and see what happens to the memory and page file when it grinds to a halt

[#3]

Thanks jim.
there is no graphics card in there, so I presume its running off system ram.
Aero etc is on and seems fine however I will try with them all off.
page file is system managed. Drive is an 80gb model, with probably 50 to 60gig free
graphics resolution is 1280×760 I think.
I have started task manager and memory useage is over 800meg, but cpu relatively low useage. System monitor tells me there us 100%hdd access.

[#4]

As you suggest Memory at 1 Gb is a bit low for Win7 - but remember if it is a 32 bit system it cannot address more than about 3 1/2 Gb!
Another thing worth checking is just which processes get activated at start up.  All sorts of stuff adds a process to e.g.  'check for updates' which have to be added to the queue.
You can use MSconfig to remove the unwanted ones OR you can download and run Autoruns   for a more comprehensive view of what's happening at start up.  Hopefully with a bit of a tweak on Pagefile and unwanted Startup processes you can get an acceptable level of perormance pending an upgrade.
Maurice

[#5]

Maurice...
I had already used msconfig to reduce startup items... as its a system for mainly internet access not much is actually installed on it.
Its got adobe reader, avast antivirus, quicktime, flashplayer, office 2007, firefox.
how would you recommend altering the pagefile. I do intend on adding an extra 2gb to each, or would 3gb be overkill?
cheers

[#6]

The default page file size is equal to system ram so is probably a bit too small so there is a lot of disk swapping taking place

[#7]

Is it recommended to use 1.5x of system memory, and keep max and min the same?  Will try, but its no substitute for more ram

[#8]

Also turn off automatic updates and checking for automatic updates - this often happens as soon as the machine has started up and with limited ram can be very processor and disk intensive.
Don't forget to manually check from time to time.