How can I speed up loading user settings on login?

[Chris Mitchell]

My Win XP SP3 PC is showing signs of its age and is slowing down. I have
improved things to some extent using msconfig to sort out start-up
programmes and processes etc, and have tweaked things further with Process
Explorer.

However things are still extremely slow once the user has logged on, it's a
family PC with 4 accounts. How can I tell what is going on after I have
logged into my account? There's lots of chatter from the drive, but it
takes and age before I see my desktop in full and am able to do anything.

TIA.

Chris.

 

[db]

you can delete the files in the
"prefetch" system folder.

deleting them (except for the
ini file) can help with the issue.

after deleting them, windows
will rebuild them on an as
needed basis.

another thing you can try is to
set the custom size of the
"virtual memory" i.e. page file.

if it is set to automatic then it
may be trying to resize itself to
accommodate the needs to the
system.

the resizing may be what is also
slowing down the startup

after you Google the above quoted
search criterions,

you can use these measurements
for the custom/fixed virtual memory
size.

firstly, be sure you have only 1
page file.

sometimes there are more than

secondly, set the initial size of
the page file to 2

set the maximum page file size
to 1.5 x (size of your ram)

for example if your system has
1 gigabyte of ram installed then
set the maximum size of the page
file to 1500.

then reboot.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[glee]

miekiemoes' Blog: Help! My Computer is slow!
http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html


It's also possible you have hidden malware on your system, from your
description.

Slow Computer?
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic44694.html

 

[Jose]

My Win XP SP3 PC is showing signs of its age and is slowing down.  I have
improved things to some extent using msconfig to sort out start-up
programmes and processes etc, and have tweaked things further with Process
Explorer.

However things are still extremely slow once the user has logged on, it'sa
family PC with 4 accounts.  How can I tell what is going on after I have
logged into my account?  There's lots of chatter from the drive, but it
takes and age before I see my desktop in full and am able to do anything.

TIA.

Chris.

Computers do not get slower with age. They probably just have more to
do over time as things are added, updates are applied, programs get
bigger, etc.

There are typically several things that normally start that can be
disabled if you do not need them.

As you loading any other applications that will add additional
overhead and startup items that you may not need?

Third party applications like Norton, McAfee, Spybot AVG and ZoneAlarm
(to name a few) are often contributors to poor performance, but we
don't know much about your system.

Asking you to look through your msconfig for things that are not
needed or seldom needed depends on your ability to recognize what is
needed and what is not needed.

Here is a link to some popular general purpose slow computer
troubleshooting guides:

http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic44694.html

Now get down to nut and bolts...

Perform a scan for malicious software:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.

Reboot.

Since there may be some system configuration changes, you may want to
manually create a System Restore point before continuing.

Have you installed any third party malicious software tools with built
in realtime protection such as Norton, McAfee, AVG, Spybot, ZoneAlarm,
etc.?

They sometimes install and set themselves up to load things
automatically, check for their own updates periodically, scan your
system on every reboot or enable some "real time" protection which
means they are running all the time. First decide if you have them or
not, then decide if you need them or not, then check to see if they
have configuration options that can turn off the automatic things - at
least temporarily to see if things get better. Reboot after making
any adjustments and check your timing again.

If you have any kind of these resident realtime protection softwares
enabled you can count on them to slow your system down. They take up
memory and CPU time that you may rather apply to something else.

You may need to rethink your protection strategy. Too much protection
and be a bad thing for system performance. You can uninstall programs
like these, sometimes you can just adjust their configuration options
to disable any real time protections or things like email scanning
that you may not need or you can choose to live with the performance
hit. You may need to uninstall or disable them temporarily and see
how things are.

The type of protection you need and choose depends a lot on your
Internet habits, where you navigate with your browser, file
attachments you choose to open, things you view/download, online
gaming sites, etc. can all expose your system to malicious software.
You will have to decide if having real time protection is appropriate
and worth the performance hit or not.

Running multiple firewalls is also not a good idea. Windows has a
built in firewall that is good for most people. Adding another one
often causes a conflict. Pick one or the other, but usually not more
than one. Just using the built in Windows firewall and a running a
couple respectable free scanning tools once in a while are sufficient
for most people and will not add any extra burden to your system.

You can find out everything that is started on your system when it
reboots using Autoruns and then decide what to do without using any
trial and error methods. Autoruns will show you all the things you
see in the XP msconfig tool and more. Autoruns is like the XP
msconfig tool on steroids.

You can use Autoruns to temporarily disable things and see if your
system performance improves and then decide if the item is really
needed on your system or not.

Download Autoruns from here:

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

Autoruns installs nothing and runs on demand. It will show you things
about your system you will not see using other tools. Autoruns will
not uninstall any applications or programs on your system when you
disable the selected items. It just lets you control the startup of
the programs.

Save Autoruns on your system and launch it. Patiently wait for
Autoruns to scan your system. It could take several minutes. When
Autoruns finishes scanning your system, it will say Ready in the lower
left corner of the screen.

You will be looking at the Everything tab which lists every startup
item. Too much information!

It can be a little intimidating to see all that stuff, so narrow
things down a bit.

Click the Logon tab - still too much information! Under Options, you
can choose to Hide Microsoft and Windows entries so you will only see
the items that do not belong to Microsoft or Windows. Usually that
means you installed them or they came installed with your purchased
system.

Many things that get installed add extra parts and pieces to "help"
you, but really slow your system down. One size does not always fit
all so take a look at what you have on your system.

(Be sure to Refresh (F5) when you make any changes with Autoruns)

You can see the startup items for your logged in user and there are a
lot of things, but a lot of the entries on the Logon tab are not very
interesting except to advanced users. Each user login may be
different so yoy may need to login differently and look at the
settings for every user.

In the Logon tab, the entries of interest are the Local Machine and
Current User sections. You can scroll up and down to find them.
Don't change anything yet - just look.

The Local Machine startup items are here (HKLM):

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


The Current User startup items are here (HKCU):

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


The Startup folder is a section for the currently logged in user may
have items under it that
you will have to decide if you need them or not. It starts off empty
for a new user, so if there
is anything there, it has been added. If you are not sure, use Google
to figure out what the item
is or ask for ideas. For user Jose, that folder is indicated as:

C:\Documents and Settings\Jose\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

On my system, the HKLM (run), HKCU (run) and Startup folder items as
are completely empty. That
may not be practical for everybody, but it certainly possible.

You can choose to disable startup items using Autoruns and enable them
again later if something
goes wrong.

You can also choose to delete startup items using Autoruns when you
are sure they can be safely
deleted. Leftover undeleted items will not slow your system down
since they are not loading, but
they can be annoying to look at. Deleting from Autoruns does not
uninstall any programs.

Everything with a checkbox is a startup item that you can manipulate.
Every checkbox with a green
check is an enabled startup item. You can decide if you need the
startup item enabled or not
(perhaps just by looking at it) and if you are not sure what it is,
right click the item and choose
to Search Online.

Here is one other place on the Internet to research individual startup
items:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/filedb/

If you uncheck an item it is only disabled from starting. It is not
deleted from the startup
list until you actually choose to delete it. You can always come back
and enable the item again.
Autoruns does not uninstall any programs. Any changes will take
effect the next time you reboot.

After making changes, you should reboot and see if you have any new
issues that you can identify as
a result of the changes or if things are better and react
appropriately.

Consider taking some notes while making your changes so you can know
how to undo things if a
problem comes up afterwards. Try not to get confused by making too
many changes at once.

Reboot your system once in a while during the adjustments to see how
things are going. You can
always make more adjustments or undo things later.

You can use this same strategy using the Autoruns Services tab. You
can look at all the Services
or just the non Microsoft services by clicking Options and choose to
hide Microsoft and Windows
Entries and refresh (F5) the list.

You will see all the extra non Microsoft services that are configured
on your system and can decide what
action to take. It is possible to have zero non Microsoft services on
some configurations. Even some
of the Microsoft services are safe to turn off on most systems, but
you need to be careful.

There is an Internet site that has a lot of information about Windows
Services, what they do and
if they can be disabled here:

http://www.blackviper.com/

Use the same method on the Scheduled Tasks tab. You can disable a
Scheduled Task without deleting
the task. Many softwares you install will add a Scheduled Task to
perform automatic updates at a
certain time of day or they check for updates constantly. If you are
not sure, look it up or ask.

You can use various methods of timing the system startup to see what
the adjustment does. This way
you will not just be thinking things are maybe faster, seem a little
faster, might be faster or not
sure - you will know for sure without guessing since the startup time
is measurable.

 

[Jose]

My Win XP SP3 PC is showing signs of its age and is slowing down.  I have
improved things to some extent using msconfig to sort out start-up
programmes and processes etc, and have tweaked things further with Process
Explorer.

However things are still extremely slow once the user has logged on, it'sa
family PC with 4 accounts.  How can I tell what is going on after I have
logged into my account?  There's lots of chatter from the drive, but it
takes and age before I see my desktop in full and am able to do anything.

TIA.

Chris.

There is no guessing, probably, maybe, might be or trial and error.
Nothing should defy reasonable explanation and suggestions for such
things or making changes without knowing more information is at best,
a guess.

We need three things:

System configuration
Task Manager
Startup items

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to be only your business that you can delete
from the paste.

Right click the Taskbar, choose Task Manager and select the Processes
tab.

Notice in the TM example below, the Virtual Memory column display has
been enabled in TM. This is very good information for troublehooting
and understanding.

To do that:

Click View, Select Columns, check the box that says: Virtual Memory
Size. Expand the width of the Task Manager box so you can see all the
columns and processes.

Double click a column heading in TM to sort by the column. For
example, sort Task Manager by the CPU column.

Take a screenshot of what you see and upload the screenshot to one of
several free picture hosting WWW sites.

Download CCleaner, install it, run it, click Tools, Startup and drag
the columns around so all the Startup items are easy to see.
CCleaner is good for this since it shows more information in a bigger
display and has other useful functions. You can uninstall it later if
you don't use it.

Make a screenshot of the CCleancer Startup information.

Get CCleaner here:

http://www.ccleaner.com/

When you are done, we will be able to see what you are seeing.

To create and post a screenshots:

Press the Print Scrn button to copy your entire screen to the Windows
clipboard.

Press Alt Print Scrn to copy just the active window to the Windows
clipboard.

Open MS Paint:

Start, Program Accessories, Paint

When Paint opens, press CTRL-V to paste the clipboard, save the new
Paint file to your desktop or someplace you can remember. JPG files
take up less hard disk space than BMP files and just as readable.

Make as many screenshots as you need. Practice makes perfect. Be
careful your screenshot does not contain any personal information.
Practice viewing your images before you upload them to be sure they
are okay.

Some sites (like bleepingcomputer) will let you attach a file directly
to your post. If the site has some kind of attachment/upload
function it is usually easiest just to use it.

If there is no such function in your message board to upload files,
then use a free third party image hosting WWW site.

Create a free account on some free picture hosting web site. You can
always remove your account later if you want. Here are some free
image hosting sites:

http://www.imageshack.us/
http://photobucket.com/

Using your free account, upload your screenshot(s) (the JPG or BMP
files) to the site and it will return to you a URL web address (a
Direct Link) for your new image(s) which you can paste the Direct Link
in a message post, email, etc.

When you are done, what you post for others to use should look
something like this:

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6428/taskmanagerr.jpg <- Task
Manager
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/6969/ccleanerstartup.jpg <-
CCleaner Startup

 

[Bill in Co.]

you can delete the files in the
"prefetch" system folder.

deleting them (except for the
ini file) can help with the issue.

I thought I had read that was a common misperception, and that it wasn't
really true.

 

[Chris Mitchell]

Thanks Glen.

I think I'm clear of malware etc. I have Norton AV running permanently, I
know this can contribute to speed issues, but I don't think this is the
major cause of my problem. I also have and regularly use CCleaner and
Spybot.

 

[glee]

Well check out the other possible causes, but.....just because you have
an AV running, that doesn't mean you can't have malware. No AV is 100%
effective, no matter what.

CCCleaner removes a lot of temp files and such, but has other features
such as "registry cleaning" that should be avoided.
Spybot has modules that can be activated to run in the background (such
as TeaTimer) that can cause problems in some situations.

Go to a malware removal forum and you'll find lots of people with
machines infected with trojans and root kits, and they are running a
top-notch AV, Spybot, and other apps that are "supposed" to keep their
system clean.

Lecture over.... ;-)

....and yes, Norton (Symantec) AV can slow your system down...it will be
more noticeable on older systems with less RAM and slower processors,
and also with Norton AV versions that are older than the current one.

 

[Jose]

I thought I had read that was a common misperception, and that it wasn't
really true.

Microsoft discourage emptying the Prefetch folder:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/What-is-the-prefetch-folder

Other readings refer to the advice as "bogus".

Ryan Myers, a developer on Microsoft's Windows Client Performance Team
says:

XP systems have a Prefetch directory underneath the windows root
directory, full of .pf files -- these are lists of pages to load. The
file names are generated from hashing the EXE to load -- whenever you
load the EXE, we hash, see if there's a matching (exename)-(hash).pf
file in the prefetch directory, and if so we load those pages. (If it
doesn't exist, we track what pages it loads, create that file, and
pick a handful of them to save to it.)

So, first off, it is a bad idea to periodically clean out that folder
as some tech sites suggest. For one thing, XP will just re-create that
data anyways; secondly, it trims the files anyways if there's ever
more than 128 of them so that it doesn't needlessly consume space. So
not only is deleting the directory totally unnecessary, but you're
also putting a temporary dent in your PC's performance.

 

[db]

the link you refer to
applies to windows vista.

further, the information
provided requires clarification:

though it states that programs
take longer to start the next
time they are launched after
the prefetch's are cleared out.

those programs will start
quickly after the windows
builds a prefetch for them.

--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[glee]

I thought I had read that was a common misperception, and that it
wasn't really true.

Your right, Bill. While it doesn't actually "hurt" anything to delete
the pre-fetch files, it does not help anything either, and in fact
slightly slows down both the boot process and the loading of commonly
used applications. So, instead of helping with a "slow computer" issue,
it will probably make it a little worse. ;-)

Here's some info in "plain English".....
Beware of Bogus XP Advice
http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000024.html

 

[Jose]

Thanks Glen.

I think I'm clear of malware etc.  I have Norton AV running permanently, I
know this can contribute to speed issues, but I don't think this is the
major cause of my problem.  I also have and regularly use CCleaner and
Spybot.

You think you're clear of malware? You need to be sure you're clear
of malware.

Perform some scans for malicious software, then fix any remaining
issues:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.

You need to post up your msinfo32 information, your Task Manager
screenshot and your CCleaner Startup screenshot or you will be
"trying" things for a long time. Directions above.

If you have installed Spybot and their Teatimer component, that is a
huge consumer on Virtual Memory. You will see it in Task Manager.
It may be worth reconsidering your strategy in that area. Spybot
hasn't updated their malware definitions since 2/17/2010 - MBAM and
SAS usually do theirs several times a day.

If you decide you want to pursue your performance issue and fix it
instead of wondering what it might be and just trying things, post the
information.