laptop is suddenly running very slowly

[R. McCarty]

If it's a recent Intel chipset Motherboard, it could be SMBus controller.
XP doesn't seem to have native driver support for it. You would need
the latest Intel Chipset driver package to resolve it.

 

[Guest]

Hi again

I'm running Spybot, MS Antispyware and Ad-Aware SE Pro. The only anti virus
software I'm running is Nortyon 2005. I'll try an online one also. Thanks for
all your suggestions by the way. Much appreciate it.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

Hi again

I'm running Spybot, MS Antispyware and Ad-Aware SE Pro. The only anti
virus software I'm running is Nortyon 2005. I'll try an online one
also. Thanks for all your suggestions by the way. Much appreciate it.

run HijackThis; http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip
HijackThis - Tutorial & FAQ;
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=42

Register here: http://aumha.net/profile.php?mode=register
Once you have received your registration confirmation, post your HJT
log here: *(for expert analysis)*
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30

Please see http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=4075 and
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm before posting to the forum.

HijackThis tutorial:
http://aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

 

[Plato]

Have both running and removed all the spyware they found. Any other
suggestions?

OK. You ran anti-spyware and removed sypware. Still, the damage they may
have caused may still remain. That's why, ITS ALWAYS BEST, NOT TO
INSTALL SPYWARE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

 

[Plato]

I have a laptop with 11 GB of hd space and 35% free. I'm running XP home and

MS recommends at least 10 gig free at all times for any pc with XP.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

MS recommends at least 10 gig free at all times for any pc with XP.

I've asked you this before, but gotten no answer. Where do they recommend
this? Please provide a citation.

My wife has just been upgraded, but she ran XP for several years with no
problems at all on a computer with a 10GB *total* hard drive. She had
around 4-5GB free.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

MS recommends at least 10 gig free at all times for any pc with XP.

MS does not make any such recommendation unless you can give a link to it.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 06:44:01 -0800, "CD"

Install and run AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy.

One of many good things to do; could be a lucky guess, except
commercial malware's slowdown effect is rarely extreme without being
accompanied by broken functionality, such as lost 'net access.

"Jackie D" wrote:

Severe slowdowns, without stability impact, include...
- slow processing due to thermal protection (overheating CPU)
- slow processing due to disabled L1/L2 cache, or (old) "Turbo Off"
- failing HD retries, with "stuck" mouse, HD LED on (dangerous!)
- CPU hogging background task (see Ctl+Alt+Del task list)
- waiting for peripheral (try with external devices disconnected)
- local resources used by network visitors (try with LAN disabled)
- other malware and "live" intrusions, such as via WiFi (kill WiFi)
....and prolly others that I can't think of right now.

Fragged file system won't usually have that profound an effect, unless
you are low on free HD space, or you have long subdirectory chains
(due to "too many" entries) on a frequently-used FATxx file system,
e.g. %Temp%, TIF, Windows base dir (those dumb-ass FFFF*.* files
spawned by wretched MDM.exe) or root (malware).

The fact that refreshing the desktop is slow, makes me wonder about
intrusions or garbage in the shell. As it is, there's far too much
junk tapped into the process of simply displaying a list of icons in a
folder or on desktop IMO, and I see this trend getting worse.

To test this, download NirSoft's Shell Extension Viewer and use that
to reversably disable the trash that leeches into the shell. A
classic case would be processing of .ZIP files to show you how many
files are contained in each (as if you care); if you have saved a few
huge .ZIP to the desktop, and the contents of all of these has to be
waded through every time the desktop refreshes... guess the rest.

Formal virus check, scan for commercial malware, and download and use
HD Tune to ensure the HD is not failing. Then post back, and we'll
start to think some more... but if it is one of those big three
(especially bad HD, which can kill your installation and data) then
you want to fix that before wasting time on thinking on specifics.

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

First, the good Customer feedback has
been clear and unambiguous.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

=?Utf-8?B?SmFja2llIEQ=?= wrote:

MS recommends at least 10 gig free at all times for any pc with XP.

Overkill, generally. I routinely run XP in an 8G C:, though with
bulky stuff relocated off C: and those stupid enormous IE web caches
crunched down to 20M each. Where's 10G of trash going to suddenly
appear from, even if hooked into broadband? Sheesh!

--------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - -

First, the good Customer feedback has
been clear and unambiguous.

 

[Plato]

I've asked you this before, but gotten no answer. Where do they recommend
this? Please provide a citation.

In an KB article I read.

My wife has just been upgraded, but she ran XP for several years with no
problems at all on a computer with a 10GB *total* hard drive. She had
around 4-5GB free.

It's a recommendation as I;ve said. NOT a tweak writtin in stone.

 

[Plato]

Overkill, generally. I routinely run XP in an 8G C:, though with
bulky stuff relocated off C: and those stupid enormous IE web caches
crunched down to 20M each. Where's 10G of trash going to suddenly
appear from, even if hooked into broadband? Sheesh!

It's good advice really. Yes much space can be used by the default IE
cache, and, restore files. Also, and maybe more important, is lets say
you setup a person with an 8 gig c: w/XP. That person will be installing
programs, downloading all sorts of files, movies, mp3s, etc. The pc will
be locking up in a week or so.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

In an KB article I read.

Provide a citation, please. "In an KB article I read" doesn't mean anything
to anybody unless you can back it up by showing us where.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user) wrote:

It's good advice really.

No, I don't believe it is, if it stampedes folks with 5G free into all
sorts of damaging deletions and uninstalls.

Even where everything is left on C:, I have never seen a PC in any
sort of trouble because there was less than 10G (but more than 500M)
free HD space, even when the user was trying to install something. In
fact, even a "just reinstall Windows" or a conversion to NTFS will
probably survive with 1G of free space.

Yes, I like the concept of "have free space", but this is the same
sort of overkill as claiming you need 1G RAM for a Win98 system.

Also, and maybe more important, is lets say you setup a person with
an 8 gig c: w/XP. That person will be installing programs, downloading
all sorts of files, movies, mp3s, etc.

I do that all the time, but as music, videos, pictures and incoming
material are off C:, web caches are constrained, and SR is limited to
500M, I see no problems unless the user installs a ton of games to the
duhfault locations. Even then, no problems arise until free space on
C: has dropped below 100M, let alone "10G".

The pc will be locking up in a week or so.

As above; I've been using 8G C: on every PC I've built since XP came
out, and I have not one PC get space-crunched within a month, let
alone a week, even with the most avidly-stupid game installers. And I
have never seen any problems related to low HD space where there has
been 500M or more free space, even with highly-provocative processes
such as defragging, file system conversion, OS re-installation etc.

The one thing that can eat up space rapidly, is Google Earth. I've
seen that hit the wall when there was initially 1G of free space on C:

I do believe the advice we give should be accurate, and in my
experience, the crunch point is no higher than 1G free space, and may
well be as low as below 100M. So I think 10G is very bad advice,
because it will mis-advise folks with between 1G and 10G free space
who have problems due to something else.

---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

No, I don't believe it is, if it stampedes folks with 5G free into all
sorts of damaging deletions and uninstalls.

I'm with you. Besides doing that stampeding, it will tend to discourage
those with small drives from even trying to run Windows XP. As I said, my
wife, who has very minimal computing needs, ran Windows XP for three years
very successfully on a 10GB total drive (she's since been upgraded, not
because she needed more, but because it became available).



Another generalization which may often apply, but not always. That's true of
many people, but far from all. Again I point to my wife as an example. She
has never installed a single program, and never downloaded anything but her
E_mail. I have several other friends who use their computers very similarly:
E-mail, occasional light word-processing, and an accasional search of the
web.

Broad generalizations are almost always wrong, and are often very dangerous.

 

[Plato]

Microsoft Corporation. Redmond, Washington State. USA

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Microsoft Corporation. Redmond, Washington State. USA

Sorry, that won't wash. Since you can't back it up, I'll have to assume it
doesn't exist.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
Microsoft Corporation. Redmond, Washington State. USA

[/QUOTE]

Sorry, that won't wash. Since you can't back it up, I'll have to assume it
doesn't exist.

Google(microsoft.com minimum hard drive space Windows XP 10G) didn't
turn up anything in the first page of hits, and dropping the "G" at
the end finds stuff on MS Office 10. So, still awaiting that URL.

---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user) wrote:

Another generalization which may often apply, but not always. That's true of
many people, but far from all. Again I point to my wife as an example. She
has never installed a single program, and never downloaded anything but her
E_mail. I have several other friends who use their computers very similarly:
E-mail, light word-processing, and an accasional search of the web.

Yes; I should have written "That person MAY be installing programs,
downloading all sorts of files, movies, mp3s, etc."

My point is that there are recommendations on how much HD you should
have when planning an XP system, and recommendations on how much free
space you need to run XP without it crashing.

10G may (not) be OK for the first, but it's nuts for the second.

OTOH, PCs old enough to have under 8G HDs may not be
sufficiently-specced to run XP, and I'd generally advise against
upgrading old PCs to OSs more than 2 years newer, especially as
licensing issues make "trying" a new OS a costly proposition.

---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Yes; I should have written "That person MAY be installing programs,
downloading all sorts of files, movies, mp3s, etc."

My point is that there are recommendations on how much HD you should
have when planning an XP system, and recommendations on how much free
space you need to run XP without it crashing.

10G may (not) be OK for the first, but it's nuts for the second.

I agree.

 

[Plato]

Sorry, that won't wash. Since you can't back it up, I'll have to assume it
doesn't exist.

Ken. I have no reason to bullshit you or others. I read it in a MS
article back when XP was being released. It stuck in my mind. I dont
bookmark every article I read, nor does the MS search function work
100%. You're an MVP, call MS directly and see what they say.