Computer so slow it’s almost not usable.

[Jon]

I don't agree with that at all. XP boots up quickly and runs well on 512Mb.

If the original poster adds extra memory, it probably will speed things up, but I think it's likely
to still be slow.

There another problem that's causing this.

I don't THINK so. XP should do fine on 521mb of RAM... and that
amount of RAM wouldn't cause a 15-minute boot to Windows.

C'mon, guys. The computer worked fine at one time.

Windows XP runs like a Dachshund in 512mb, especially if the RAM is shared
with video..

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I don't agree with that at all. XP boots up quickly and runs well on 512Mb.
If the original poster adds extra memory, it probably will speed things up, but I think it's likely
to still be slow.

I agree with you in general, but would like to add some clarifications
here:

1. How quickly XP boots is generally much more related to what
programs start automatically than how much RAM you have.

How well XP runs with 512MB depends on what apps you run. How much RAM
you need for good performance is *not* a one-size-fits-all situation.
You get good performance if the amount of RAM you have keeps you from
using the page file significantly, and that depends on what apps you
run. Most people running XP with a typical range of business
applications find that somewhere between 256MB and 512MB works well,
others need more. Almost anyone will see poor performance with less
than 256MB. Some people, particularly those doing things like editing
large photographic images, can see a performance boost by adding even
more than 512MB--sometimes much more.

3. Whether adding more RAM than 512MB will speed things up depends,
once again, on what those things are--what apps you're running. Many
people will see no improvement by going above 512MB.

 

[Richard]

Can anyone help me figure out why my computer has become so incredibly
slow?
I don't know where to begin in solving this as I don't know how to
determine if the problem is hardware vs. software.

When starting the computer, it takes about 15 minutes for the desktop
to load. It seems the problem is most evident when trying to work with
my files, as opposed to working on the internet. I do a lot of picture
editing and that takes an incredible amount of time now. I click on
something and sit and wait for the screen to change. Pictures is just
one example, everything is slow.word, excel, opening/closing programs,
etc.

I have Avast installed and up to date. I've run several other things
looking for virus/malware problem.Adaware, Malwarebytes, Advanced
System Care, CCleaner... No problems ever found.

I've run Disk Cleanup and Disk Check and I have Smart Defrag (Iobit)
installed.
[snip]

Problem Devices
1394 Net Adapter V1394\NIC1394\B64714132000 This device is disabled.

Thanks, in advance, to anyone who can help me!
dj

I agree with David, Jim, JS and PA Bear, and partly with Nate. Even with
only the minimum 64MB memory for XP, it should not take 15 minutes to
boot. I compared my System Information with yours and it is almost
identical, the only obvious difference is you have 512MB memory, and I
have 1024MB. My cold start up takes less than a minute. My only problem
device was my disabled modem, (which was not active.)

You mentioned "Smart Defrag" - I'm not familiar with that. Is it set to
defrag on startup? or on the fly as files are added or deleted? or what?

My gut instinct, from all I've read, is either a faulty power supply,
fan, or malware.

You're welcome.
--Richard

 

[JS]

Probably one of the most noticeable slowdowns when
boot can be caused by AV software. Some products
now include "Boot Scans" and "Quick Scans"
(when you log on), compound this with other programs
that load when you first log on and you can see a noticeable
slowdown from a PC that you just re-installed XP to the
same PC after one or more AV products are installed on.

This doesn't explain away excessively long "15 Minute Boot"
times but the more icon you see at the right hand end of the
Taskbar means the longer your left hand has to wait.

 

[deejay]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this…still with me anyone?

First, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to help me. I really
appreciate it!

I spent hours working on this Sunday but wasn’t able to do anything
yesterday. I’m looking at it now for the first time today, so bear with me if
my details are fuzzy. To reiterate, I really think something has happened or
changed to make my computer as slow as it is right now. It definitely was not
always like this. I have some additional information that may, or may not, be
useful and I want to report what I’ve done/found so far. Nothing has helped,
by the way!

I thought of three things that have changed recently: I didn’t mention these
initially because I haven’t been able to connect any of them directly to this
problem and I figured it would just complicate my question. So, for what it’s
worth:

1. About two months ago, there was an additional laptop added to our
wireless home network. There are now four computers, three laptops and my
problem computer…the only desktop.
2. I bought a new wireless keyboard and wireless mouse…Logitech
3. I upgraded to MS Office 2007


Now, what I’ve done (so far) with your suggestions…

PA Bear’s suggested site…I read everything and did two things:

1. check the IDE channels to see if they are running in PIO or DMA mode.
There were two primary (odd?) …second one did say PIO…changed to DMA. Saw no
difference after this.

2. PC Pitstop Full Tests-- My summary results:

It was really late when I was reading through all of the stuff associated
with this scan-can’t remember what I fixed/changed…nothing big. There are
things I still want to check with this.

I removed a couple of programs Sunday night and the last thing I did that
night was what JS suggested…
start in a "clean boot" state.
When the computer started up again it was taking a very long time, it was
very late, and I went to bed while it was finishing.
I didn’t make any changes yesterday.
I was going to run the second part of the (start in a "clean boot" state)
instructions tonight…step 4 “Optional step to disable features†(run if the
first part didn’t help)
Went to msconfig to do as instructed but didn’t do anything because it
didn’t look as I was expecting. Some of the boxes I had unchecked previously
were checked again? I can give details but don’t want to go on forever if
it’s meaningless.

In the middle of writing this, I found I could no longer access the
internet. This happens fairly regularly and the solution is to turn the
computer off, (restart does not fix the problem) kill the power to the
computer, modem and router, then turn it back on.
I saved a screen shot of task manager when I turned it back on.

This is from 5-10-09

I'm afraid this is turning out just as I did not want…longwinded, confusing,
and hard to follow. Isn’t there a report or something I can pull from the
computer that might summarize what’s been happening?

Oh no...No preview! Can't check if my pictures are going to show up!
dj

 

[deejay]

Oh no...No preview! Can't check if my pictures are going to show up!

dj

No luck...trying something else

 

[deejay]

pcpitstop scan
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r276/deejay1029/051809pcpitstop.jpg"
border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

task manager 5-19-09
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r276/deejay1029/tskmgr051909.jpg"
border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r276/deejay1029/tskmgr0519092.jpg"
border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

task manager 5-10-09
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r276/deejay1029/tskmgr0510092.jpg"
border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img
src="http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r276/deejay1029/tskmgr051009.jpg"
border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Johnw]

After serious thinking deejay wrote :

No luck...trying something else

Have you rechecked > Current Transfer Mode: to make sure DMA mode
stuck.

 

[Johnw]

deejay formulated on Wednesday :

In the middle of writing this, I found I could no longer access the
internet. This happens fairly regularly and the solution is to turn the
computer off, (restart does not fix the problem) kill the power to the
computer, modem and router, then turn it back on.

Try this.

XP TCP/IP Repair
http://www.xp-smoker.com/freeware.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357
http://searchwincomputing.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid68_gci1217734,00.html
Lost Connectivity after Registry or Malware Cleanup
http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=4625

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "deejay" <[email protected]>

| Sorry for the delay in getting back to this…still with me anyone?

| First, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to help me. I really
| appreciate it!

| I spent hours working on this Sunday but wasn’t able to do anything
| yesterday. I’m looking at it now for the first time today, so bear with me if
| my details are fuzzy. To reiterate, I really think something has happened or
| changed to make my computer as slow as it is right now. It definitely was not
| always like this. I have some additional information that may, or may not, be
| useful and I want to report what I’ve done/found so far. Nothing has helped,
| by the way!

| I thought of three things that have changed recently: I didn’t mention these
| initially because I haven’t been able to connect any of them directly to this
| problem and I figured it would just complicate my question. So, for what it’s
| worth:

| 1. About two months ago, there was an additional laptop added to our
| wireless home network. There are now four computers, three laptops and my
| problem computer…the only desktop.
| 2. I bought a new wireless keyboard and wireless mouse…Logitech
| 3. I upgraded to MS Office 2007


| Now, what I’ve done (so far) with your suggestions…

| PA Bear’s suggested site…I read everything and did two things:

| 1. check the IDE channels to see if they are running in PIO or DMA mode.
| There were two primary (odd?) …second one did say PIO…changed to DMA. Saw no
| difference after this.

| 2. PC Pitstop Full Tests-- My summary results:
|

| It was really late when I was reading through all of the stuff associated
| with this scan-can’t remember what I fixed/changed…nothing big. There are
| things I still want to check with this.

| I removed a couple of programs Sunday night and the last thing I did that
| night was what JS suggested…
| start in a "clean boot" state.
| When the computer started up again it was taking a very long time, it was
| very late, and I went to bed while it was finishing.
| I didn’t make any changes yesterday.
| I was going to run the second part of the (start in a "clean boot" state)
| instructions tonight…step 4 “Optional step to disable features” (run if the
| first part didn’t help)
| Went to msconfig to do as instructed but didn’t do anything because it
| didn’t look as I was expecting. Some of the boxes I had unchecked previously
| were checked again? I can give details but don’t want to go on forever if
| it’s meaningless.

| In the middle of writing this, I found I could no longer access the
| internet. This happens fairly regularly and the solution is to turn the
| computer off, (restart does not fix the problem) kill the power to the
| computer, modem and router, then turn it back on.
| I saved a screen shot of task manager when I turned it back on.
|

|

| This is from 5-10-09
|

|

| I'm afraid this is turning out just as I did not want…longwinded, confusing,
| and hard to follow. Isn’t there a report or something I can pull from the
| computer that might summarize what’s been happening?

| Oh no...No preview! Can't check if my pictures are going to show up!
| dj


The sysntax...

Are for http forums, this is a NNTP news group and will NOT work !

 

[JS]

If you want to dig deeper:
Try Autoruns from the MS Windows SysInternals site:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

AutoRuns will show/list all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot ...
(the 'Boot Execute' tab),
when you logon (the 'Logon' tab) and other programs that load
(grouped by labeled tabs) for easy viewing.

It also provides the ability to selectively allows you to stop
(use with care) any program that you don't want to load.
You can undo any changes you have made.

Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you can't
readily identify you may need to highlight the item (right click) and use
the 'Search Online' option to get the details,
especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com
http://pagestart.blogspot.com/

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this.still with me anyone?

First, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to help me. I
really
appreciate it!

I spent hours working on this Sunday but wasn't able to do anything
yesterday. I'm looking at it now for the first time today, so bear with me
if
my details are fuzzy. To reiterate, I really think something has happened
or
changed to make my computer as slow as it is right now. It definitely was
not
always like this. I have some additional information that may, or may not,
be
useful and I want to report what I've done/found so far. Nothing has
helped,
by the way!

I thought of three things that have changed recently: I didn't mention
these
initially because I haven't been able to connect any of them directly to
this
problem and I figured it would just complicate my question. So, for what
it's
worth:

1. About two months ago, there was an additional laptop added to our
wireless home network. There are now four computers, three laptops and my
problem computer.the only desktop.
2. I bought a new wireless keyboard and wireless mouse.Logitech
3. I upgraded to MS Office 2007


Now, what I've done (so far) with your suggestions.

PA Bear's suggested site.I read everything and did two things:

1. check the IDE channels to see if they are running in PIO or DMA mode.
There were two primary (odd?) .second one did say PIO.changed to DMA. Saw
no
difference after this.

2. PC Pitstop Full Tests-- My summary results:

It was really late when I was reading through all of the stuff associated
with this scan-can't remember what I fixed/changed.nothing big. There are
things I still want to check with this.

I removed a couple of programs Sunday night and the last thing I did that
night was what JS suggested.
start in a "clean boot" state.
When the computer started up again it was taking a very long time, it was
very late, and I went to bed while it was finishing.
I didn't make any changes yesterday.
I was going to run the second part of the (start in a "clean boot" state)
instructions tonight.step 4 "Optional step to disable features" (run if
the
first part didn't help)
Went to msconfig to do as instructed but didn't do anything because it
didn't look as I was expecting. Some of the boxes I had unchecked
previously
were checked again? I can give details but don't want to go on forever if
it's meaningless.

In the middle of writing this, I found I could no longer access the
internet. This happens fairly regularly and the solution is to turn the
computer off, (restart does not fix the problem) kill the power to the
computer, modem and router, then turn it back on.
I saved a screen shot of task manager when I turned it back on.

This is from 5-10-09

I'm afraid this is turning out just as I did not want.longwinded,
confusing,
and hard to follow. Isn't there a report or something I can pull from the
computer that might summarize what's been happening?

Oh no...No preview! Can't check if my pictures are going to show up!
dj

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

If you're replying to me, please reply to my post.

There is a very good chance that you are seeing the effects of a hijackware
infection!

NB: If you had no anti-virus application installed or the subscription had
expired *when the machine first got infected* and/or your subscription has
since expired and/or the machine's not been kept fully-patched at Windows
Update, don't waste your time with any of the below: Format & reinstall
Windows. A Repair Install will NOT help!

1. See if you can download/run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

NB: Run the FULL scan, not the QUICK scan! You may need to download the
MSRT on a non-infected machine, then transfer MRT.EXE to the infected
machine and rename it to SCAN.EXE before running it.

2. [WinXP ONLY!! =>] Run the Windows Live Safety Center's 'Protection' scan
(only!) in Safe Mode with Networking, if need be:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/howsafe.htm

3. Run a /thorough/ check for hijackware, including posting the requested
logs in an appropriate forum, not here.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=4075
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

**Seek expert assistance in
http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?board=10.0,
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/cleanup, http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30
or other appropriate forums.**

If these procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting
this isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA) computer repair shop.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002


deejay wrote:

 

[Plugger]

I'm chiming in late, but I discovered that if irpstacksize is too small, the
system slows. E.g., when I added a second anti-virus program, and sloppily
to get them both running at the same time, it would take Control Panel two
minutes to start after I double-clicked its desktop icon.

Help and Support advised setting irpstacksize to 15, and increasing it in
steps of 5 until problems go away. I set mine to 48.

Registry:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\IrpStackSize