Performance issue: pc "hesitates"

[Tom Richards]

I recently took delivery of a true burner in every sense of the word - a
Dell 3.4 with 4 GB of RAM. I'm now into my 2nd month with it and it's been
just great...silky smooth and incredibly fast. Until the other day when I
noticed a slight "burp" or pause or hesitation when switching between
windows. If my cursor is over the taskbar, it will change to the arrows off
to either side look and pause. Sometimes it happens when I send an email,
then the pc pauses for a second or two. And opening Notepad - it sometimes
pauses. I mean, this pc would open Excel or Word in an instant, but now it's
slower there too.

I've defragged (Perfect Disk), run Spybot, Ad-Aware, spywareblaster and
spyware guard, cleared my cache, etc., etc. Possible culprit? The Google
Desktop search program. It isn't recently-installed, but I noticed that it's
taking up over 1 GB and indexes constantly. So I "paused" the indexing, but
that had no effect - the machine still sporadically hesitates.

All updates have been installed. And, like I said, the machine is cared
for....like one of my kids....what demon could be causing the pauses? Or is
it just aging a bit and getting broken in?

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[R. McCarty]

Quite a setup, to say the least & brings up an interesting situation.
Dell PCs (IMO) are fine hardware wise, but leave allot to be
desired as to their setup. With the kind of hardware you have it's
a shame to not have it streamlined to work at it's best. With any
PC as you install things the loading changes, so some degradation
will happen. Dell's tend to have many Startup & Watchdog apps
running that aren't necessary. I frequently setup new Dell PCs &
sell a service I jokingly call "De-Dellifying-It". Also with your setup
there are a few Registry Tweaks that would/could enhance it's
operation. Anyway I'm veering off the topic. I would use TaskMgr
and look at your Performance/Processes (TAB) and see what is
running and the loading. With 4 Gigabytes of RAM you shouldn't
ever have an issue with memory. Just a question - did you keep
the McAfee/Symantec security software or use something different.
Symantec would "Gum-Up' the best hardware available. Also, I
would make a run through Add/Remove programs and take off
the AOL, Media Junk-Ola and a good portion of the Dell Fluff &
Stuff they throw in to make you think your getting more for your
money.

 

[Tom Richards]

Ok, I don't use McAfee (uninstalled it right away) but rather Norton 2005
for av. I just uninstalled Dell Media Experience, Dell Picture Studio and
Dell driver reset. I don't keep much of anything running in the background
so that's very clean.

But.....it just hesitated when I opened windows explorer to get to a file.
The window opened and then a fairly long pause before I could highlight and
open the file. This is perplexing.

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[RonK]

Sometimes if you leave a cd in the drive you will get that type of pause.
Hit ctrl alt del and see what is using the most.
You can also use msconfig startup and see what is not needed to load at
startup.

 

[DL]

Google desktop seems to be using a lot of resources, but that might be down
to preferences you set.
Use msconfig.exe to disable all non ms startup items, see if it still
occurs.

 

[t.cruise]

I have a similar Dell setup. As the other poster advised, get rid of some of the unneeded
Dell resource hogging things. The Dell Alerts are unnecessary, the Dell Media Experience
is something I've never used, also change any apps that are configured to automatically
check for updates to the manually check option, and you check manually as warranted. If
you are doing another task, an app automatically searching for an update can make a
session not so smooth, and the countdown timing for of those automatic updates hogs system
resources. If I were you I would uninstall the Google Desktop. Although somewhat
utilitarian, and reminiscent of Longhorn (next version of Windows), it is a huge system
resource hog. Avoid installing any third party search web search utilities, and avoid
installing third party toolbars. Download the free utility HiJackThis, and see if
anything else might be draining your system resources.

 

[R. McCarty]

If I had a system like yours, I'd dump Norton & get Computer
Associates eTrust 7.0.7.7. eTrust can be obtained for a 1-year
free license from Microsoft's Partner Pack. After installing the older
version, you have to go to eTrust's website and get the latest version.
I've deployed it on over 75 systems (Many previously with Norton)
and not one has complained. Many have sent feedback with how
much better their PC performs.

 

[Tom Richards]

No cd in drive and I have everything possible trimmed from the startup tab
in msconfig.

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[Tom Richards]

Dumping Norton has been suggested to me quite often over the past year or so
that I've been runing it on all my pcs. Fact is - I love the interface and
many features. I used eTrust and it's predecessor Inoculate for years and
appreciate it's small footprint. And, if all else fails, I'll lose Norton
and troubleshoot that way. Thanks.

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[Tom Richards]

Yep - agreed. I just unistalled it and am testing the system now.

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[Tom Richards]

Google is gone and msconfig Startup is clear of all extraneous garbage.

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

I have a similar Dell setup. As the other poster advised, get rid of some
of the unneeded
Dell resource hogging things. The Dell Alerts are unnecessary, the Dell
Media Experience
is something I've never used, also change any apps that are configured to
automatically
check for updates to the manually check option, and you check manually as
warranted. If
you are doing another task, an app automatically searching for an update
can make a
session not so smooth, and the countdown timing for of those automatic
updates hogs system
resources. If I were you I would uninstall the Google Desktop. Although
somewhat
utilitarian, and reminiscent of Longhorn (next version of Windows), it is
a huge system
resource hog. Avoid installing any third party search web search
utilities, and avoid
installing third party toolbars. Download the free utility HiJackThis,
and see if
anything else might be draining your system resources.
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply

I recently took delivery of a true burner in every sense of the word - a
Dell 3.4 with 4 GB of RAM. I'm now into my 2nd month with it and it's
been
just great...silky smooth and incredibly fast. Until the other day when I
noticed a slight "burp" or pause or hesitation when switching between
windows. If my cursor is over the taskbar, it will change to the arrows
off
to either side look and pause. Sometimes it happens when I send an email,
then the pc pauses for a second or two. And opening Notepad - it
sometimes
pauses. I mean, this pc would open Excel or Word in an instant, but now
it's
slower there too.

I've defragged (Perfect Disk), run Spybot, Ad-Aware, spywareblaster and
spyware guard, cleared my cache, etc., etc. Possible culprit? The Google
Desktop search program. It isn't recently-installed, but I noticed that
it's
taking up over 1 GB and indexes constantly. So I "paused" the indexing,
but
that had no effect - the machine still sporadically hesitates.

All updates have been installed. And, like I said, the machine is cared
for....like one of my kids....what demon could be causing the pauses? Or
is
it just aging a bit and getting broken in?

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[Tom Richards]

I would appreciate the reg tweaks if you could send them along. Also -
someone emailed me about Diskeeper and I installed it and it suggested
increasing my mft sizes on both hard drives which I did the thoroughly
defragged after uninstalling the huge goggle desktop (1.3 gb with the index
file). *fingers-crossed*

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[Peter Foldes]

All updates have been installed. And, like I said, the machine is cared

for....like one of my kids....what demon could be causing the pauses? Or is
it just aging a bit and getting broken in?

Aside from installing all Updates what did you install prior to this issue that you are experiencing now
--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

"Tom Richards" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...

 

[Richard Urban]

I switched over to ZA Security Suite with the same results. AND, the
antivirus updates come in very frequently - al least twice per day,
sometimes faster. With Symantec you get them every Wednesday - unless you go
looking for them!

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Morituri-|-Max]

No cd in drive and I have everything possible trimmed from the startup tab
in msconfig.

The drive itself might be going bad.. try disconnecting it and see if it
helps once you reboot.. I had a guy I upgraded a computer for had a bad
drive.. it would make the whole computer hesitate for up to 20 seconds each
time it tried to access it.. maybe yours isn't at that point yet but it
might be the beginning of it going bad or the cable might just be loose.

 

[Tom Richards]

Nothing. Perhaps the last MS security updates? These 4 roughly coincide with
the genesis of my issue:

1) Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - May 2005 (KB890830) Successful
Sunday, May 15, 2005 Windows Update website

2) Security Update for Windows XP (KB890859) Successful Sunday, May 15, 2005
Windows Update website

3) Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP Service
Pack 2 (KB890923) Successful Sunday, May 15, 2005 Windows Update website

4) Security Update for Windows XP (KB893086) Successful Sunday, May 15, 2005
Windows Update website

BTW, the choppy performance is getting worse and happens quite often now
when opening programs, switching between windows...lots of pauses....burps.
I can't believe Norton 2005 av has suddenly started causing this....but
others seem to point that way?

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

All updates have been installed. And, like I said, the machine is cared
for....like one of my kids....what demon could be causing the pauses? Or
is
it just aging a bit and getting broken in?

Aside from installing all Updates what did you install prior to this issue
that you are experiencing now
--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

news:[email protected]...

 

[intelligusmaximus]

I recently took delivery of a true burner in every sense of the word - a
Dell 3.4 with 4 GB of RAM. I'm now into my 2nd month with it and it's been
just great...silky smooth and incredibly fast. Until the other day when I
noticed a slight "burp" or pause or hesitation when switching between
windows. If my cursor is over the taskbar, it will change to the arrows off
to either side look and pause. Sometimes it happens when I send an email,
then the pc pauses for a second or two. And opening Notepad - it sometimes
pauses. I mean, this pc would open Excel or Word in an instant, but now it's
slower there too.

I've defragged (Perfect Disk), run Spybot, Ad-Aware, spywareblaster and
spyware guard, cleared my cache, etc., etc. Possible culprit? The Google
Desktop search program. It isn't recently-installed, but I noticed that it's
taking up over 1 GB and indexes constantly. So I "paused" the indexing, but
that had no effect - the machine still sporadically hesitates.

All updates have been installed. And, like I said, the machine is cared
for....like one of my kids....what demon could be causing the pauses? Or is
it just aging a bit and getting broken in?

Tom...Just a thought..but does this machine run constantly? While I
am sure it has been restarted many times, has it ever been allowed to
cool down? With a system that fast, maybe excess temperature is at
least worth consideration. Couldn't hurt to leave 'er off overnight
just to make sure.

 

[Tom Richards]

My pc is hanging on by a thread. In Task Manager I finally discovered that
something is driving my cpu to 100% most of the time. I can barely type this
text. EG, Start | All Programs | select a directory or program group and the
menu that extends to the right or left is invisible....graphics
gone....nothing else in taskmgr is running high .... just the system idle
process......sapping all resources and sending the cpu to 90 to 100%...in
the past I've had issues on other pcs like this but there has always been a
process I could shut down....I played around in safe mode to no
avail...tried system restore...no go...could this be a trojan? Something
norton missed? I've:

1) Uninstalled norton av
2) removed all dell crap
3) startup tab in msconfig is clean
4) checked cd/dvd drive cables

And now I have a pc that struggles to compose an email

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[Tom Richards]

Thank you for that thought. Yes, it runs constantly. I'll try to leave it
off overnight.

Interesting but after using the always non-effective-for-me System Restore
feature, I restored the pc to an earlier time (3 days previous) after my cpu
ran amok and then, after discovering several fragmented prgs, like norton
av, I undid the restore and now have back my lightning-fast burner of a pc.
Nothing but eTrust av, direct update (the prog that updates my IP address to
allow me to connect via remote desktop) and zone alarm pro are configured to
load at startup and all is well. It's QUICK and fast and works ok. I truly
had envisoned a reformatting and was prepared to do so as I have everything
backed up to my 2nd hard drive. But so nice not to have to.

So what happened? What caused the cpu to spike consistently at 100%?
Strange.......

--

Tom Richards
(e-mail address removed)
http://webhandprint.com
http://brainsturgeon.com

 

[none]

A reading of 100% for system idle means your system is idle 100%, that is a
good thing!