How can I investigate reasons for a very slow boot?

[Lorne]

From switching power on to a useable desktop takes 7 mins 30 seconds. Even then the computer is not really useable as it continues background tasks for another 2-3 minutes and trying to start any software like word/excel/IE etc takes ages. It used to boot in less than half this time. I know from task manager that the secondary problem (after 7m30s) is primarily due to McAfee doing its stuff.

Is there any software anybody can suggest that monitors the boot process and reports how much time is spent doing each task in the boot sequence? I would like to know what is slowing the computer down and try to get it back to its old ways.

I have an AMD dual core 4800 processor running Windows XP with all updates installed, 4Mb RAM of which 1.5Mb is a RAM disk and about 2Mb visible as RAM to Windows . Hard disk is defragged and has plenty of space. The slow down has been a gradual process over several years rather than a step change related to anything I installed.

Task manager reports 70 processes running once boot is complete, including 7 copies of svhost which seems a lot to me but when I tried removing a lot of the things that are just standby items like waiting for me to connect my MP3 or phone or something it made no measurable difference.

Any help or suggestions how to investigate what is happening would be appreciated.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

TweakXP.com - Performance Tweaks:
http://www.tweakxp.com/performance_tweaks.aspx

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[Kayman]

From switching power on to a useable desktop takes 7 mins 30 seconds. Even then the computer is not really useable as it continues background tasks for another 2-3 minutes and trying to start any software like word/excel/IE etc takes ages. It used to boot in less than half this time. I know from task manager that the secondary problem (after 7m30s) is primarily due to McAfee doing its stuff.

Is there any software anybody can suggest that monitors the boot process and reports how much time is spent doing each task in the boot sequence? I would like to know what is slowing the computer down and try to get it back to its old ways.

I have an AMD dual core 4800 processor running Windows XP with all updates installed, 4Mb RAM of which 1.5Mb is a RAM disk and about 2Mb visible as RAM to Windows . Hard disk is defragged and has plenty of space. The slow down has been a gradual process over several years rather than a step change related to anything I installed.

Task manager reports 70 processes running once boot is complete, including 7 copies of svhost which seems a lot to me but when I tried removing a lot of the things that are just standby items like waiting for me to connect my MP3 or phone or something it made no measurable difference.

Any help or suggestions how to investigate what is happening would be appreciated.

Process Explorer
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

AutoRuns for Windows
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

 

[Lorne]

Any help or suggestions how to investigate what is happening would be

Process Explorer
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

AutoRuns for Windows
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Thanks - the second link was quite interesting and found several anomolies I
had missed before. Also knocked nearly 1 minute off the boot time so I am
still looking for the real culprit although my suspicion lies with McAfee
right now.

 

[Gerry]

Lorne

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

You have McAfee installed. McAfee (and Norton) both place considerable
demands on available memory. For this reason many home users have chosen
freeware anti-virus and anti-spyware software alternatives. When does
your McAfee subscription expire. What exact McAfee package do you have?

Have you tried this approach?
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/en-us

Also look for Error Reports in the System log in Event Viewer.
Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in
a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties,
Hardware,Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

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Hope this helps.

Gerry
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FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
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