You guys will love this one........

That maybe somewhat high, but certainly within limits. But remember, no matter what you think, you are completely computer illiterate.

Double post newb.

Well, turn off some stuff and see if it helps. I kinda think you're right though... but never hurts to check.

I just got done going through the same thing with my DSL provider. My instance was somewhat funny also. My dad is a retired Bellsouth employee and still does the work on the side and assured me it was on the Bellsouth side. It was pretty much common since anyway ... you oculd plug a phone directly into the NID on the outside of the house (which bypass ALL inside wiring), and the phone still had static out the you know what. Bellsouth argued until they were blue in the face, presumably because they wanted to charge me for an inside repair since (for obvious reasons) I don't pay the wire maintenance fee. After explaining who had checked my inside wiring and mentioning I was his son (my dad is still relatively well known at the local office), the lineman promptly tucked his tail between his legs and headed up to the DSLAM to repair the problem. No static or connection issues since!

Oh by the way, back on topic, having 879MB free with steam running is completely acceptable. Regardless of what is running, you have 879MB free anyway! The man you talked to was just a typical A+/MCSE person. I don't want to say the majority or most, but many of the "certified" A+ and "MCSE" *cough* techs are not only certified but certifiable. The test (multiple choice) i not very difficult. It means even less now because there are "boot-camps" that don't even teach the material, they just drill you with actual test questions and answers over and over until they feel you can pass the test.

Tech support people seem to develop some sort of oedipus (spelling?) complex over time...

First off:
I used to be a AOL Ranger "Volunteer" way back when they did care "a little," back when the latest version was 2.0 "1995-6" & I have helped a many people with issues reguarding AOL & Windows, but to be honest most paid personell that ever worked for AOL really didn't know much about computing they just took a test, passed, & HEY they have a job, I've even had to teach a few Tech personell how trace route an IP address...

Secondly:
When I get an issue with my Adelphia cable connection, I sometimes have to tell these guys how to do things to prove me wrong that it is the line outside not my 5 computers inside!!!

oedipus complex? they want to kill their father and marry their mother?? o_O???

Oedipus shmedipus, as long as he loves his mother !

Some techs are good, some bad, but in either case, I wouldn't want their job.

I think there is something wrong with your DSL line. Just my two cents.

My bad, wrong psychology term... I meant the god-like complex the term which describes it however excapes me at the moment. However, maybe Frueds Oedipus complex still applies to a good number of tech support personal... dunno.

Here are my lines I use on tech support people like that:
"Hey you're an MCSE? So am I, but I earned mine. What were you saying again?"
"Oh really? I thought Prometric and VUE were cracking down on people who cheat on exams?"
"Which part of the MCSE exams cover << insert the "technician's" totally unrelated topic here, in your case, staticy DSL lines >> again? Because I've sat them all and I just don't remember it being there."
"All those certifications and you're still just a front-line helpdesk technician? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you certainly wasted your money on TestKing!!"

No Internet connection requires a bunch of resources. None of them. Period. Any ISP technician worth a damn would have known that.

Windows will give you a pop-up box if your resources are really in trouble. The entire purpose of the swap file is so Windows can load every damn thing in memory that it wants to at any time that it wants to. 40% load is NOTHING. I think the "technician" you spoke to, if he's really an MCSE at all, is an NT 4 MCSE and stopped paying attention to the technology train with Windows 95. The A+ certification doesn't require people who hold it to ever update it, so his A+ is probably from the 90s.

I busted my ass to get my certifications. My bookshelf has rows and rows of technical books, I have computer cases that I can't remember where the side panels are because I had them off so much fiddling with things. My wife forgot what I looked like for a few months at a time because my face was always buried in a book or a computer screen. These paper MCSEs piss me off to no end. I can tell you from personal experience (and a very gratifying personal experience it is) that nothing scares a paper MCSE like the real thing. If you encounter one of these crackheads and you know they're full of it, feel free to use the line that you're a real MCSE even if you're not. I'd much prefer knowledgeable non-MCSEs lying to put the smackdown on a paper MCSE than have all these paper MCSEs railroading knowledgeable people.

If you do that, and the person you're dealing with asks for your MCP ID, don't give it to them whether you have one or not. MCP IDs should be treated like Social Security numbers. There is no way for the person to prove you're not an MCSE, so have fun!

Edit: And another thing, the last 'E' in MCSE standards for "Engineer". It doesn't say anything about troubleshooting. Very little on the exams covers troubleshooting (MCDST was created for that). MCSEs are intended to design complex infrastructures. MCSAs are intended to maintain the day-to-day operations of a network, but still primarily with configuration duties. Nothing in the MCSA/MCSE is really intended to cover support issues beyond software configurations. 99% of the time, if you're calling a support line for some reason, an MC* certification isn't going to help either of you very much with the exception of MCDST. In this instance, even that wouldn't have applied.

Why do people with A+ certs think that carries any weight anyway? Um..bfd mr AOL man..i knew a bunch of kids in high school with A+. I can't believe he was so condescending with you.

As previously stated, system resources have nothing to do with your downstream or upstream. If you have enough resources to function, in any capacity, then you have enough to have a proper net connection.

It is dissapointing that some guys will take a cram session to pass a test...and then throw out their "certifications" like they are somebody. Gives the hard working certified people a bad name.

I also really wonder about these so-called "certification tests" and how some people can pass it. I could probably pass all those sort of tests without even studying, with all the knowledge I have. I have some friends with those certifications and they know nothing about computers and are always asking me for help. Practical knowlede is the key, a multiple choise test is simply a guessing game.

I work for MSN Technical Support and I can tell you right now that I understand your pain. I watch my Tier 1 Reps day in and day out pass off calls by guessing much like your AOL rep did. Thankfully in our center for MSN you don't get to Tier 2 unless you know something (I am a Tier 2 Rep).

The way things work you basically got a rep who had just heard some new buzz going around the AOL about system resources and missunder stood. When he got your call it was a easy OEM referal and he'd be done. AOL just like MSN I am sure offers performance bonuses based off talk time (time spent with customers, less the better).

Unfortunately, most call centers (whether tech support or customer service, ala FedEx, UPS, etc.) base reviews off of the number of calls completed instead of quality of service. It sucks, but that's become the standard operating model as of late. If I had been told that by a tech support asshole I'd have not only called him every name in the book, but I would have demanded to speak to his boss and done the same thing to that POS as well.

The problem is rarely with the certification and usually with peoples' perception of what those certifications mean.
People will see an A+ or MCSE certified individual and think "he/she should be able to fix anything." It isn't true. Worse yet, people will cheat their way through these exams (not always on purpose, many boot camps promote a sort of cheating that gets people through the tests without using any mechanisms to assist them in retaining the knowledge) and they will think "I can fix anything". They're also wrong.
A person with A+ should have a general idea of how hardware functions when it is in working order, and a good general grasp of basic operating system functionality. A+ does provide some basic diagnostic work, but unfortunately, much of it covers diagnostics on components that rarely fail, or, if those components do fail, it's pretty obvious without using diagnostics.
The MCDST (desktop support technician) cert covers helping users with configuration tasks in Windows and a few common MS applications, like Word and Outlook. It is intended for front-line support, with the expectation that more complicated issues will be passed upward in the support chain.
The MCSA (system administrator) cert covers day-to-day maintenance of an existing Microsoft network. It is not at all intended to diagnose hardware failures, because most Microsoft hardware is not mission critical type stuff and why would MS build exams on any technology other than their own?
The MCSE (systems engineer) cert covers design tasks on a huge scale. An MCSE should be able to find out what tasks a network needs to fill, then sit in Visio for an hour or two and come out with a design for how it should be established. An MCSE should also be able to handle merging or splitting of large networks. The MCSE is not a troubleshooter, they design it, implement it, and turn it over to someone else. A real-world MCSE may have to take on further responsibilities, but that is not the purpose of the credential.

Be careful about thinking you can guess your way through an exam. I never actually bothered to sit A+ so I can't say much about that one. I did sit the CTT+ computer exam, and that one can be guessed through (it's a little harder to fudge your way through the part where you have to submit a 20-minute tape of yourself teaching a course however, so don't schedule that one just yet ). No Microsoft exam post-NT4 will go well for the guesser, since they're all full of dialog boxes where you have to know which items to select and questions that end up "Choose all that apply" with 7 possibilities. I've seen a lot of very knowledgeable people fail Microsoft exams miserably... they knew everything about what they needed to know, but they didn't know very much about all the other things the MS OSes will do. Color me guilty on that one, I very nearly failed my Win2k Pro exam for thinking that way. Starting this month, Microsoft exams will move from Q and A to simulation-based, where you'll be presented with a simulated environment of the operating system in question, and you'll have to configure that environment to match the requirements of the scenario.