Most likely: 1. You are running out of memory. The pauses are caused by the operating system swapping memory pages to and from the swap file. Even though you have 2 gig installed, you might have lots of other legitimate things running or lots of malware on the machine. Make sure the machine is clear of all malware and stop all programs you don't need. 2. You are running out of CPU. As for 1 - clear the machine of malware and stop unnecessary programs. For cases 1 and 2 check cpu and memory utilisation. 3. You have some sort of hardware issue such as excessive retries on disk reads - check the system log for errors. If you think it's hardware, run some diagnostics. Even though there is 2 gig of memory installed, some of it might not be recognised because it is defective or not properly seated in it's slot. Reboot the machine and check that the bios reports 2 gig installed at startup. 4. You have a lot of TWS charts open. TWS charts are very CPU hungry. You are better off using something like QuoteTracker for charts.
Tray .... previous poster has good items to ck on. How much free disk space do you have? Are you running other Java apps? Is XP up to date? Run SpyBot. Its free. How much available ram per Taskmanager when TWS is running during a lockup...or other times??? ... rj
If u dont like Quotetracker try Sierrachart ( www.sierrachart.com ). Its a little more expensive but has some advantages. Also brackettrader and zerolinetrader are a lot less expensive than button trader and may well do what you want.
THANKS KIWITRADER, I ACTUALLY NEED SOMETHING VERY SIMPLE. JUST A CHART AND A WAY TO DISPLAY THE RESTING ORDERS AND POSITIONS ON THE CHART ITSELF (RATHER THAN ON A SPREADSHEET). I DO NOT USE ANY TECHNICAL INDICATORS OF ANY KIND, SO I DON'T NEED ANY OF THAT. WHICH PROGRAM WOULD YOU RECOMMEND ALONG THESE LINES? THANKS MUCH
IB TWS java charts are resource hogs IMO. If more than a few one minute charts are open on TWS, it pegs the CPU even with my relatively fast computer, 1G of Ram and high speed DSL. After switching to QT with IB feed, no more problems, with CPU utilization at a minimum.
THANKS KOWBOY, YES I WAS EVEN TOLD THIS BY TWS TECH SUPPORT. IF THIS IS INDEED THE PROB, AND MY MACHINE WITH DUAL CPU AND 2 GIGS RAM CAN'T HANDLE 2 CHARTS OPEN, I DON'T KNOW HOW MOST PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO USE THE PROGRAM! I AM GOING TO TRY TRY THE QUOTE TACKER OPTION.....