Slow loding of items in the system tray

[Phil Tusa]

Greetings to all ...


I have an older Dell PC P4 running at 1.7 Ghz loaded with WIN XP SP2,
60 GIG H-D and just upgraded to 1 Giga-byte of RAM...

For about the past 6 months I have noticed the items in the system
tray are taking up to 2 to 3 minutes to completly load in the system
tray. I've noticed on other systems at work with the same type of PC
this seems to a much faster process (about 30-60 seconds) compared
to my Dell PC here at home....

The PC appears to be clean of any viruses using MacFee.

The items that are loading in the system tray are:

the Speaker Icon, Zone Alarms v6.5.737, McAfee Anti-Virus , HotSync,
TaskInfo v 6.2.3.190 and Windows Task Manager.

I've check the startup items in MSConfig and could not find anything I
could remove from the start-up tab.


Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Greetings to all ...


I have an older Dell PC P4 running at 1.7 Ghz loaded with WIN XP SP2,
60 GIG H-D and just upgraded to 1 Giga-byte of RAM...

For about the past 6 months I have noticed the items in the system
tray are taking up to 2 to 3 minutes to completly load in the system
tray.

Two to three minutes is no means unusual or particularly long.

I've noticed on other systems at work with the same type of PC
this seems to a much faster process (about 30-60 seconds) compared
to my Dell PC here at home....

Almost no two systems are the same. Even if the hardware is completely
identical, what they load at startup can be very different. And note that
what you see in the tray may be only a portion of what loads at startup. Not
all autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the tray.

The PC appears to be clean of any viruses using MacFee.

Next to Norton, McAfee is probably the worst anti-virus product on the
market, and I would not automatically believe what it says. However from
what you've said, I don't see any indication that a virus is an issue here.

But while we're discussing anti-virus programs, I note that you mention
McAfee anti-virus, but say nothing about what anti-spyware software you run,
so my guess is that you run none. Spyware is an enormous threat these days,
and everyone needs to run two or more anti-spyware programs (no single one
is good enough) to protect themselves.

The items that are loading in the system tray are:

the Speaker Icon, Zone Alarms v6.5.737, McAfee Anti-Virus , HotSync,
TaskInfo v 6.2.3.190 and Windows Task Manager.

I've check the startup items in MSConfig and could not find anything I
could remove from the start-up tab.

My personal view is that the attention many people pay to how long it takes
to boot is unwarranted. Assuming that the computer's speed is otherwise
satisfactory, it may not be worth worrying about. Most people start their
computers once a day or even less frequently. In the overall scheme of
things, even a few minutes to start up isn't very important. Personally I
power on my computer when I get up in the morning, then go get my coffee.
When I come back, it's done booting. I don't know how long it took to boot
and I don't care.

 

[Nepatsfan]

In

Greetings to all ...


I have an older Dell PC P4 running at 1.7 Ghz loaded with WIN
XP SP2,
60 GIG H-D and just upgraded to 1 Giga-byte of RAM...

For about the past 6 months I have noticed the items in the
system
tray are taking up to 2 to 3 minutes to completly load in the
system
tray. I've noticed on other systems at work with the same
type of PC
this seems to a much faster process (about 30-60 seconds)
compared
to my Dell PC here at home....

The PC appears to be clean of any viruses using MacFee.

The items that are loading in the system tray are:

the Speaker Icon, Zone Alarms v6.5.737, McAfee Anti-Virus ,
HotSync,
TaskInfo v 6.2.3.190 and Windows Task Manager.

I've check the startup items in MSConfig and could not find
anything I
could remove from the start-up tab.


Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Start by using msconfig the way it was meant to be used, as a
troubleshooting tool. First disconnect from the internet. Then
open msconfig and click on the Startup tab. Hit the Disable all
button. Enable one of the startup entries and restart you
computer. Keep doing this with only one item enabled until you
come across the one that's causing the biggest delay. Once
you've identified the culprit you can go back and enable the
other startup items.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Phil]

Thanks guys for the helpful assistance!