Unexplained Delay Launching Applications

[JCW]

I'm getting a 30-60s delay launching almost any program (from Command Prompt,
Notepad, through any Office 2007 application), but only the FIRST time that
particular program is launched during a given session (not sure exactly what
"session" means yet). The Windows Task Manager shows CPU usage is 99% by
System Idle Process during this delay (but I can't do much else while I
wait), so I have no idea what's causing the holdup. Any suggestions to track
it down?

Some possibly relevant details: Lenovo T61 (Core2 Duo) running XP SP2 with
all other current security updates (plus Windows Search 4.0 but minus SP3,
which Lenovo warns against). ZoneAlarm Security Suite 8.0.298.035. A bunch
(but not all) of the Lenovo garbage has been uninstalled. Various other
tweeks that don't seem relevant...

Thanks in advance for any help -- JCW

 

[Leonard Grey]

"Various other tweeks that don't seem relevant..."

Uh-huh.

 

[JCW]

Hi, Goku. Thanks for your willingness to help. (Who hasn't done some
tweeking? I just hoped somebody had seen something like this before.)

The only security software I installed is ZASS 8.0, as I said originally.
Below is a list of stuff that's set to run on startup -- most of it left over
from the original Lenovo Thinkpad setup that I didn't dare uninstall without
more information. (I checked all the potential startup sources that I know
of, and all the rest are empty, including win.ini/load=. Windows Search says
it's finished indexing.) I could also send a table of running services
(long!) if you really want to see it...

I still haven't completely nailed down the phenomenology of the problem, but
it seems to occcur primarily after Power Options has turned the screen off
for an extended period of time. (It's not allowed to go to sleep or
hibernate automatically while plugged in. ZASS is also set to engage
"Internet Lock" after 10 min of inactivity.) In any case, it doesn't onlly
happen after a reboot. What continues to puzzle me most is that there's no
indication in Task Manager of anything going on at all... -- JCW


Directory of C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

04/09/2009 01:03 PM <DIR> .
04/09/2009 01:03 PM <DIR> ..
03/09/2009 07:41 PM 1,753 Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk
03/09/2009 07:41 PM 1,795 Adobe Reader Synchronizer.lnk
03/10/2009 01:10 AM 643 Bluetooth.lnk
03/10/2009 01:09 AM 1,625 Digital Line Detect.lnk
04/09/2009 01:03 PM 1,794 Windows Search.lnk
5 File(s) 7,610 bytes
2 Dir(s) 30,908,010,496 bytes free


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"SynTPLpr"="C:\\Program Files\\Synaptics\\SynTP\\SynTPLpr.exe"
"SynTPEnh"="C:\\Program Files\\Synaptics\\SynTP\\SynTPEnh.exe"
"PWRMGRTR"="rundll32
C:\\PROGRA~1\\ThinkPad\\UTILIT~1\\PWRMGRTR.DLL,PwrMgrBkGndMonitor"
"BLOG"="rundll32 C:\\PROGRA~1\\ThinkPad\\UTILIT~1\\BatLogEx.DLL,StartBattLog"
"TPFNF7"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\Lenovo\\NPDIRECT\\TPFNF7SP.exe /r"
"TPHOTKEY"="C:\\Program Files\\Lenovo\\HOTKEY\\TPOSDSVC.exe"
@=""
"TpShocks"="TpShocks.exe"
"SoundMAX"="C:\\Program Files\\Analog Devices\\SoundMAX\\Smax4.exe /tray"
"NvCplDaemon"="RUNDLL32.EXE C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup"
"nwiz"="nwiz.exe /installquiet /keeploaded /nodetect"
"TVT Scheduler Proxy"="C:\\Program Files\\Common
Files\\Lenovo\\Scheduler\\scheduler_proxy.exe"
"SunJavaUpdateSched"="C:\\Program Files\\Java\\jre1.5.0_06\\bin\\jusched.exe"
"DLA"="C:\\WINDOWS\\System32\\DLA\\DLACTRLW.EXE"
"ISUSPM Startup"="C:\\PROGRA~1\\COMMON~1\\INSTAL~1\\UPDATE~1\\ISUSPM.exe
-startup"
"ISUSScheduler"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Common
Files\\InstallShield\\UpdateService\\issch.exe\" -start"
"AwaySch"="C:\\Program Files\\Lenovo\\AwayTask\\AwaySch.EXE"
"NvMediaCenter"="RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit"
"TPKMAPHELPER"="C:\\Program Files\\ThinkPad\\Utilities\\TpKmapAp.exe -helper"
"SoundMAXPnP"="C:\\Program Files\\Analog Devices\\Core\\smax4pnp.exe"
"ZoneAlarm Client"="\"C:\\Program Files\\Zone Labs\\ZoneAlarm\\zlclient.exe\""


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"ctfmon.exe"="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\ctfmon.exe"

 

[JCW]

Hi, Goku. Either I'm misunderstanding you or you misinterpreted my original
complaint. It isn't shutdown delays that bother me. (In fact, shutdown in
XP is much faster than I was used to in W2K.) It's occasional delays in
launching applications that are the problem. Perhaps my original question
was unclear, but I don't know how to describe it better:

After the machine gets "warmed up" from a long period of inactivity, there
are no delays of any sort; but sometimes (not always, apparently) each
application that I try to launch takes 30 - 60 s to get going (only the FIRST
time I launch it), during which period the machine is unresponsive to most
other input. (It will bring up Task Manager -- which, as I said, does not
show any process hogging CPU, but not much else.) -- JCW

 

[Jim]

Virus check on first launch ?

Hi, Goku. Either I'm misunderstanding you or you misinterpreted my original
complaint. It isn't shutdown delays that bother me. (In fact, shutdown in
XP is much faster than I was used to in W2K.) It's occasional delays in
launching applications that are the problem. Perhaps my original question
was unclear, but I don't know how to describe it better:

After the machine gets "warmed up" from a long period of inactivity, there
are no delays of any sort; but sometimes (not always, apparently) each
application that I try to launch takes 30 - 60 s to get going (only the FIRST
time I launch it), during which period the machine is unresponsive to most
other input. (It will bring up Task Manager -- which, as I said, does not
show any process hogging CPU, but not much else.) -- JCW

 

[JCW]

Jim -- Wouldn't the virus scanner then show up as a big user of CPU time in
Task Manager? Anyhow I'll try turning ZASS off (AND disconnect from the
Internet!) next time I take a long break and report back whether that makes a
difference... -- JCW

 

[SC Tom]

Here's what happened to me-
I was having the same problem; programs delayed in opening, sometimes as
long as 60 seconds, and, like yours, only the first instance after booting
up. The fix for me was to uninstall ZASS, reboot, then do a clean install. I
had done an upgrade install earlier, but didn't associate it with that until
I was in the ZA forums and saw a similar problem. After the clean install,
all was well in PC land again.

HTH,
SC Tom

 

[JCW]

Hi, SC Tom. Thanks for your suggestion. I had indeed taken the lazy route
on the last upgrade -- unusual for me. Re-installing ZASS clean produced no
joy, however; the symptoms still remain. BTW, one other thing I've noticed
might be meaningful to you: When this problem is occurring, the first
symptom is often that a right click on the ZASS icon in the taskbar (down by
the clock) produces the same sort of lock-up and 60 s delay before allowing
me to engage or disengage Internet Lock. (See also my reply elsewhere that
the delay is apparently NOT caused by a virus scan.) -- JCW

 

[JCW]

Jim -- Your suggestion seemed a reasonable one, but it doesn't seem to
explain the delay. Since I run normally as a limited user (for security), I
was not able to totally shutdown ZASS. I did, however, turn off "on-access
scanning" with no improvement. And there's still no CPU hog showing up in
Task Manager when this happens! -- JCW

 

[JCW]

Dear Goku -- I'm still hoping your researach turns up something, since the
only other suggestions I received -- both involving ZASS -- didn't pan out.
This problem is becoming pretty annoying (though not yet enough so to resort
to re-installing XP!). It clearly does not require a re-boot, nor even a log
off/on, to trigger the delays -- sometimes just a period of inactivity will
do it. -- JCW

 

[SC Tom]

Sorry that didn't work for you.
I saw in another post that you log in as a limited user. If you log in as an
admin, does the same delay occur? When you uninstalled ZA, were you logged
in as admin?

SC Tom

 

[JCW]

Hi, Goku. I greatly appreciate your continued research. One thing I wish
you could help me understand: If the delay is not showing up as CPU usage in
Task Manager (this tells me it isn't caused by the virus scanner, right?),
then what else could be causing it? Is there something other than running
software that could disable the system for that long?? Some piece of
hardware waiting to time out??? -- JCW

 

[JCW]

Dear SC Tom --
admin, does the same delay occur?<<

Good idea; I haven't tried that yet. I could temporarily give my limited
user administrator privilages without changing anything else...
in as admin?<<

Wellll... I didn't actually uninstall (which as I recall from my W2K days
is a very involved process to do completely with any of the security suites).
What I did was a "clean" re-install over top of the existing one from within
the Administrator account. Did you mean I should get the detailed
clean-uninstall instructions from ZoneAlarm and execute them before the
"clean" install? -- JCW

 

[JCW]

...please browse to
"C:\Windows\system32" and see if there is something called "sleep.exe".<<

Nope.

 

[SC Tom]

A complete uninstall before the clean install should be performed. You can
do it from Add/remove in Control Panel (you'll have to be logged in as admin
to do it). If, by chance, that doesn't work, here

http://forums.zonelabs.com/zonelabs/board/message?board.id=Antivirus&message.id=32930are some very detailed instructions for a complete removal. I have never hadto go this far, though. After the uninstall, reboot and do a clean install.SC Tom"JCW" <[email protected]> wrote in messageDear SC Tom -->>>>If you log in as an> admin, does the same delay occur?<<>> Good idea; I haven't tried that yet. I could temporarily give my limited> user administrator privilages without changing anything else...>>>>When you uninstalled ZA, were you logged> in as admin?<<>> Wellll... I didn't actually uninstall (which as I recall from my W2K days> is a very involved process to do completely with any of the securitysuites).> What I did was a "clean" re-install over top of the existing one fromwithin> the Administrator account. Did you mean I should get the detailed> clean-uninstall instructions from ZoneAlarm and execute them before the> "clean" install? -- JCW>>> "SC Tom" wrote:>>> Sorry that didn't work for you.>> I saw in another post that you log in as a limited user. If you log in asan>> admin, does the same delay occur? When you uninstalled ZA, were youlogged>> in as admin?>>>> SC Tom>

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

A complete uninstall before the clean install should be performed.

Not at all correct. If you do a clean installation properly, it begins
by formatting the drive, and anything you do beforehand is nothing but
a waste of time and effort.

You can
do it from Add/remove in Control Panel (you'll have to be logged in as admin
to do it).

And it is *never* correct that you can uninstall Windows from
Add/remove in Control Panel.

 

[SC Tom]

Not at all correct. If you do a clean installation properly, it begins
by formatting the drive, and anything you do beforehand is nothing but
a waste of time and effort.

You do realize we are talking about Zone Alarm, not Windows?

And it is *never* correct that you can uninstall Windows from
Add/remove in Control Panel.

Same as above. . .

SC Tom

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

You do realize we are talking about Zone Alarm, not Windows?

No, I didn't. If that's the case, someone did a very poor job of
quoting previous messages, and the message I replied to didn't at all
make that clear.

And it is *never* correct that you can uninstall Windows from
Add/remove in Control Panel.

Same as above. . .

SC Tom

 

[SC Tom]

Don't know what happened to the post you replied to; it all got run
together. The info was there, just not too easily decipherable

SC Tom

You do realize we are talking about Zone Alarm, not Windows?

No, I didn't. If that's the case, someone did a very poor job of
quoting previous messages, and the message I replied to didn't at all
make that clear.

 

[JCW]

Yes, SC Tom, this seems to have solved most of my problem. (I can still get
into trouble if I use some of the Lenovo power option tools, but that's not
your problem.) For the record, I used the executable removal tool mentioned
in your later post and then followed with the 27-step manual removal. (Yes,
I did find a few things not removed by the executable.) Thanks very much for
your suggestion! -- JCW