Major performance problems with XP Pro

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CodeJawa

I consider myself rather adept at solving the typical OS snafus that
can derail one's performance but ever since I got my new HP desktop I
have been at a complete loss as to how to snap it into shape. At this
point we're looking at a dual core processor running around 2.18ghz
with 2g of ram and it's taking more than 60 seconds for something like
notepad to launch. If I try to start up an actual application I might
as well go have a smoke break.

The disk fragmentation runs fine, there's no suspicious process and my
Zone Alarm Pro assures me that there aren't any malicious viruses or
spyware running. If I go into the task manager (which could take
several minutes to launch) the CPU is nowhere near pegged out the VM
isn't tapped but it will take forever to get even the smallest thing
done. If I attempt to minimize a window, bring up a new folder and
click on an icon it will hang for 3-5 minutes and then do it all in a
flash and then hang again.

I'm writing this because I frankly don't even know where to begin in
diagnosing this problem. I'm a heartbeat away from wiping the whole
thing and starting from scratch but it's a dev machine and it's going
to be a serious pain to get it all set up again.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas are more than welcome.
 
I consider myself rather adept at solving the typical OS snafus that
can derail one's performance but ever since I got my new HP desktop I
have been at a complete loss as to how to snap it into shape. At this
point we're looking at a dual core processor running around 2.18ghz
with 2g of ram and it's taking more than 60 seconds for something like
notepad to launch. If I try to start up an actual application I might
as well go have a smoke break.

The disk fragmentation runs fine, there's no suspicious process and my
Zone Alarm Pro assures me that there aren't any malicious viruses or
spyware running.
Click to expand...

ZAP is good, but it isn't enough. Have you scanned for malware? And if
so, with what?

Also, have a look at this thread:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...read/thread/1c40e14c660c2e62/505b4af1cdb2397f
 
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?

How large is your hard disk and how much free space. Right click on
your C drive in Windows and select Properties to get this information.

What appears 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 which
failed. 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

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you
should double click for further information. You can copy using copy
and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further
information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

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.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
 
Daave & Gerry,

Thanks a ton for the suggestions. I've spent a couple of days
attempting to research the suggestions that you made and came up with
a ton of new information but no solution. In order to be able to post
everything I moved it over to another site.

If ANYONE can be of assistance in this matter I would greatly
apprciate it. Please check out my pathetic attempt at a blog at
http://foris.blogspot.com/ and see if you can lend a hand.

-Thanks
 
Daave & Gerry,

Thanks a ton for the suggestions. I've spent a couple of days
attempting to research the suggestions that you made and came up with
a ton of new information but no solution. In order to be able to post
everything I moved it over to another site.

If ANYONE can be of assistance in this matter I would greatly
apprciate it. Please check out my pathetic attempt at a blog at
http://foris.blogspot.com/ and see if you can lend a hand.
Click to expand...

Some other ideas:

Have you checked the HDD for errors? Have you run the manufacturer's
hard drive utility? It sounds like you have a hardware problem (I
thought the drive was in PIO mode!). But in case it isn't...

Have you used Process Explorer? Available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

You said you scanned for viruses. What did you use? Remember that "the
generic microsoft malware program" (are you referring to Windows
Defender?) handles spyware but not viruses, worms, trojans, etc. If you
haven't done so, do a thorough check for viruses.
 
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