Could this be my problem with long startup time?

[Richard]

I cannot seem to suss out why it's taking so long to load XP.

And I think maybe free space space on C: is getting less, because recently
I had a warning about that. And I usually get the notice that the Virtual
Memory is too low and needs increasing.

These are my three largest files.

vsmon_2nd_2006_11_03_15_58_22_full.dmp - 882,095 Kb

pagefile.sys - 393,216 Kb

liberfil.sys - 261, 684 Kb

I don't now have Zone Alarm start, because it started being unable to
initialise.

Is there anything in this data that points to the problem? TIA.

I've run antivirus and spybot, but not found anything.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I cannot seem to suss out why it's taking so long to load XP.

And I think maybe free space space on C: is getting less, because
recently I had a warning about that. And I usually get the notice that
the Virtual Memory is too low and needs increasing.

These are my three largest files.

vsmon_2nd_2006_11_03_15_58_22_full.dmp - 882,095 Kb

pagefile.sys - 393,216 Kb

liberfil.sys - 261, 684 Kb

I don't now have Zone Alarm start, because it started being unable to
initialise.

Is there anything in this data that points to the problem? TIA.

I've run antivirus and spybot, but not found anything.

Those files won't have a lot to do with system speed and don't really
provide clues as to why startup might take a long time - except that
firewalls do tend to extend load times, and if the firewall is stumbling it
is likely increasing that time. So you might want to investigate why ZA
can't initialise; uninstalling it fully and reinstalling may help.

Hiberfil.sys is basically the system's memory stored in a file when the
system goes to sleep. You can delete it by turning off hibernation; right
click on the desktop, choose Properties, then Screen Saver, then the Power
button. Click the Hibernate tab and de-select Enable Hibernation.

Pagefile.sys is the system swap file, the virtual memory. It's best to
leave this as is - managed by the system.

The vsmon_xxx.dmp file is probably a dump from a ZoneAlarm crash. If you
aren't going to use that file to figure out why ZA crashed, delete it.

If you are low on space, download ccleaner - www.ccleaner.com and run it
(pay attention during the install and don't select options you may not want,
like the Yahoo toolbar). Let it delete what the Analysis finds; the first
run can take some time, and you'll probably find that it locates well over a
gigabyte of deletable files. Once it's done, reduce the Internet Explorer
cache sizes.

HTH
-pk

 

[Claymore]

Hello Richard,

I going to suggest a couple of small freeware utilities that might help
get some useful info:

First:
Starter - a program that's better than the good ol' msconfig. You can
get it here:

http://codestuff.tripod.com/products_starter.html

After installing, click he Startups button and click on 'All Sections'.
Take a look at your startup items. If you're not sure what is
unnecessary, go to File => Export => Registry => All sections. Save the
..txt file and copy/paste its contents here.

Second:
TreeSize - a nice program that will show the size of folders and files.

You can get it here:

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

After installing, click Scan at the top and select your C: drive (What
size is your Hard Drive anyway?). You'll see an item called "files".
this is your pagefile.

 

[Richard]

Hello Richard,

I going to suggest a couple of small freeware utilities that might help
get some useful info:

First:
Starter - a program that's better than the good ol' msconfig. You can
get it here:

http://codestuff.tripod.com/products_starter.html

After installing, click he Startups button and click on 'All Sections'.
Take a look at your startup items. If you're not sure what is
unnecessary, go to File => Export => Registry => All sections. Save the
.txt file and copy/paste its contents here.

Second:
TreeSize - a nice program that will show the size of folders and files.

You can get it here:

http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

After installing, click Scan at the top and select your C: drive (What
size is your Hard Drive anyway?). You'll see an item called "files".
this is your pagefile.

Hi. I sussed it out. It was VSMON.EXE part of Zone Alarm. No idea if I had a
virus or not, but it was VSMON.EXE. I've completely uninstalled Zone Alarm,
running on Windows firewall. The problem cause 850Mb Pagefile, I got a
"Virtual Memory Too Low" caution, commit charge Peak always very near the
Limit and generally sluggish PC. Weird.