S-L-O-W Response

[Daddy]

[For years I've been a spectator...lately I've been asking questions.]

I have Windows XP Home SP 2.

Over the last few days I've noticed that my computer is slow to respond. What I mean is, for example, I'll click on the red X to close a window, and the window just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds and then it closes. Or I'll click on a desktop shortcut, to open a document or to start a program, and the computer just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then the shortcut opens. Same thing if I click to open a program menu (File, Edit, View, etc.). And to make it even more annoying, this doesn't happen every time, but it seems to happen much of the time.

At first I thought: malware. But Kaspersky says I'm clean and so have several online scanners. My computer starts up as quickly as always, and my firewall (Kaspersky) doesn't show any unusual internet activity.

Following some advice I read, I have Task Manager running all the time, and when I observe the slow response I look to see what processes are taking up CPU capacity. But there's nothing there: Just the System Idle Process.

I have 1GB of RAM and I run very little in the background: Kaspersky Internet Security, Acronis True Image, SetPoint (Logitech's keyboard/mouse software) and my dictionary program (WordWeb Pro.) Tons of free disk space.

If anyone can suggest what might be causing the slow response I'd be grateful. I have this crazy idea: Logitech's Setpoint is taking it's sweet time to send mouse clicks to my computer. But that seems silly.

Appreciate your help.

Daddy

 

[Malke]

[For years I've been a spectator...lately I've been asking questions.]

I have Windows XP Home SP 2.

Over the last few days I've noticed that my computer is slow to respond. What I mean is, for example, I'll click on the red X to close a window, and the window just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds and then it closes. Or I'll click on a desktop shortcut, to open a document or to start a program, and the computer just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then the shortcut opens. Same thing if I click to open a program menu (File, Edit, View, etc.). And to make it even more annoying, this doesn't happen every time, but it seems to happen much of the time.

At first I thought: malware. But Kaspersky says I'm clean and so have several online scanners. My computer starts up as quickly as always, and my firewall (Kaspersky) doesn't show any unusual internet activity.

Following some advice I read, I have Task Manager running all the time, and when I observe the slow response I look to see what processes are taking up CPU capacity. But there's nothing there: Just the System Idle Process.

I have 1GB of RAM and I run very little in the background: Kaspersky Internet Security, Acronis True Image, SetPoint (Logitech's keyboard/mouse software) and my dictionary program (WordWeb Pro.) Tons of free disk space.

If anyone can suggest what might be causing the slow response I'd be grateful. I have this crazy idea: Logitech's Setpoint is taking it's sweet time to send mouse clicks to my computer. But that seems silly.

You can rule out the Setpoint software by uninstalling it and using a
different mouse. If that solves the issue, then you know. At that point,
you can try different Logitech drivers.

Another thing to check is if the hard drive is in PIO Mode instead of
DMA. Hans-Georg Michna has an explanation/fix here:

http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10


Malke

 

[dragonfly]

Sounds like a virus infection...

I just had the same problem, but EVREYONE doesn't care on how I fixed it,
and I got VERY rude comments. I think you should get spybot, avast!, Norton
AntiVirus, McAffe, or SpySweeper. I think you should download Avast, because
that will scan in the boot proccess, when the virus is inactive, due to the
virus in Operating Memory.

Hope this helps

Merry Christmas

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Sounds like a virus infection...

I just had the same problem, but EVREYONE doesn't care on how I fixed it,
and I got VERY rude comments.

That's only because you're a moron.

 

[Robert]

Sounds like a virus infection...

I just had the same problem, but EVREYONE doesn't care on how I fixed it,
and I got VERY rude comments. I think you should get spybot, avast!, Norton
AntiVirus, McAffe, or SpySweeper. I think you should download Avast, because
that will scan in the boot proccess, when the virus is inactive, due to the
virus in Operating Memory.

Hope this helps

Merry Christmas

While I'm not a computer expert I do know that Norton sucks and
wouldn't recommend anyone installing that on their computer. It's a
resource hog and causes nothing but problems.


Robert

 

[Unknown]

Have you run disk cleanup and defrag recently?
[For years I've been a spectator...lately I've been asking questions.]

I have Windows XP Home SP 2.

Over the last few days I've noticed that my computer is slow to respond.
What I mean is, for example, I'll click on the red X to close a window, and
the window just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds and then it closes. Or
I'll click on a desktop shortcut, to open a document or to start a program,
and the computer just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then the
shortcut opens. Same thing if I click to open a program menu (File, Edit,
View, etc.). And to make it even more annoying, this doesn't happen every
time, but it seems to happen much of the time.

At first I thought: malware. But Kaspersky says I'm clean and so have
several online scanners. My computer starts up as quickly as always, and my
firewall (Kaspersky) doesn't show any unusual internet activity.

Following some advice I read, I have Task Manager running all the time, and
when I observe the slow response I look to see what processes are taking up
CPU capacity. But there's nothing there: Just the System Idle Process.

I have 1GB of RAM and I run very little in the background: Kaspersky
Internet Security, Acronis True Image, SetPoint (Logitech's keyboard/mouse
software) and my dictionary program (WordWeb Pro.) Tons of free disk space.

If anyone can suggest what might be causing the slow response I'd be
grateful. I have this crazy idea: Logitech's Setpoint is taking it's sweet
time to send mouse clicks to my computer. But that seems silly.

Appreciate your help.

Daddy

 

[Daddy]

Thank you, Malke, for those two ideas. When I had similar trouble a few years ago, SetPoint was the cause. We also had trouble with SetPoint at work, and my IT department has 'banned' SetPoint. I'm also going to read through Hans' article, which looks very interesting and gave me the idea to see what the manufacturer of my hard drive (Seagate) has in their knowledgebase.

Going back to SetPoint for just a minute, the CD that ships with Logitech keyboards seems to work fine, but as the software updates itself (in the background) it eventually causes trouble.

Daddy

[For years I've been a spectator...lately I've been asking questions.]

I have Windows XP Home SP 2.

Over the last few days I've noticed that my computer is slow to respond. What I mean is, for example, I'll click on the red X to close a window, and the window just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds and then it closes. Or I'll click on a desktop shortcut, to open a document or to start a program, and the computer just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then the shortcut opens. Same thing if I click to open a program menu (File, Edit, View, etc.). And to make it even more annoying, this doesn't happen every time, but it seems to happen much of the time.

At first I thought: malware. But Kaspersky says I'm clean and so have several online scanners. My computer starts up as quickly as always, and my firewall (Kaspersky) doesn't show any unusual internet activity.

Following some advice I read, I have Task Manager running all the time, and when I observe the slow response I look to see what processes are taking up CPU capacity. But there's nothing there: Just the System Idle Process.

I have 1GB of RAM and I run very little in the background: Kaspersky Internet Security, Acronis True Image, SetPoint (Logitech's keyboard/mouse software) and my dictionary program (WordWeb Pro.) Tons of free disk space.

If anyone can suggest what might be causing the slow response I'd be grateful. I have this crazy idea: Logitech's Setpoint is taking it's sweet time to send mouse clicks to my computer. But that seems silly.

You can rule out the Setpoint software by uninstalling it and using a
different mouse. If that solves the issue, then you know. At that point,
you can try different Logitech drivers.

Another thing to check is if the hard drive is in PIO Mode instead of
DMA. Hans-Georg Michna has an explanation/fix here:

http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Gary Brandenburg]

snip>
but as the software updates itself (in the background) it eventually causes trouble.
end of snip>

It sure does-I 1st used my Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse when I only had Windows
98 with a P3 processor & it ,about crippled my computer.
I found out that it was their updater called Desktop Messenger, which installs
"backweb lite".

Logitech support says:

"By ensuring that our customers receive critical content such as notice of software
upgrades, patches, and product promotions in a seamless, timely and cost-effective
manner, Logitech is able to provide a high level of customer satisfaction with our
products. We accomplish this using BackWeb's Proactive technology and patented
Polite® communications technology, which avoids disrupting you by downloading content
in the background during network idle time."

See:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=logitech+&+backweb+lite

~Gary



Thank you, Malke, for those two ideas. When I had similar trouble a few years ago,
SetPoint was the cause. We also had trouble with SetPoint at work, and my IT
department has 'banned' SetPoint. I'm also going to read through Hans' article, which
looks very interesting and gave me the idea to see what the manufacturer of my hard
drive (Seagate) has in their knowledgebase.

Going back to SetPoint for just a minute, the CD that ships with Logitech keyboards
seems to work fine, but as the software updates itself (in the background) it
eventually causes trouble.

Daddy

[For years I've been a spectator...lately I've been asking questions.]

I have Windows XP Home SP 2.

Over the last few days I've noticed that my computer is slow to respond. What I
mean is, for example, I'll click on the red X to close a window, and the window
just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds and then it closes. Or I'll click on a
desktop shortcut, to open a document or to start a program, and the computer just
sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then the shortcut opens. Same thing if I
click to open a program menu (File, Edit, View, etc.). And to make it even more
annoying, this doesn't happen every time, but it seems to happen much of the time.

At first I thought: malware. But Kaspersky says I'm clean and so have several
online scanners. My computer starts up as quickly as always, and my firewall
(Kaspersky) doesn't show any unusual internet activity.

Following some advice I read, I have Task Manager running all the time, and when I
observe the slow response I look to see what processes are taking up CPU capacity.
But there's nothing there: Just the System Idle Process.

I have 1GB of RAM and I run very little in the background: Kaspersky Internet
Security, Acronis True Image, SetPoint (Logitech's keyboard/mouse software) and my
dictionary program (WordWeb Pro.) Tons of free disk space.

If anyone can suggest what might be causing the slow response I'd be grateful. I
have this crazy idea: Logitech's Setpoint is taking it's sweet time to send mouse
clicks to my computer. But that seems silly.

You can rule out the Setpoint software by uninstalling it and using a
different mouse. If that solves the issue, then you know. At that point,
you can try different Logitech drivers.

Another thing to check is if the hard drive is in PIO Mode instead of
DMA. Hans-Georg Michna has an explanation/fix here:

http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[Daddy]

I have a solution to my problem. Well, two solutions.

SetPoint was part of the problem. Completely uninstalling SetPoint did improve my computer's responsiveness somewhat, but not completely. Mostly the slow response was due to the fact that my hard disks were running in PIO instead of DMA.

Switching from PIO to DMA was not so simple, since I lacked the Advanced Settings tab under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller Properties in Device Manager. That little issue was due to the fact that I had not properly uninstalled the Intel Application Accelerator years ago. I had to install IAA again, then uninstall it, which returned my Primary and Secondary IDE channels to their original driver, whereupon the Advanced Settings tab reappeared and I was able to switch from PIO to DMA. Whew!

So now both my internal hard disks are running in UDMA-5 and I have an older version of SetPoint. And life is beautiful once again.

Hans Michna's interesting web site explained how my hard disks could have reverted to PIO. Good to know, in case it happens again.

Daddy

[For years I've been a spectator...lately I've been asking questions.]

I have Windows XP Home SP 2.

Over the last few days I've noticed that my computer is slow to respond. What I mean is, for example, I'll click on the red X to close a window, and the window just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds and then it closes. Or I'll click on a desktop shortcut, to open a document or to start a program, and the computer just sits there for maybe 5-10 seconds, and then the shortcut opens. Same thing if I click to open a program menu (File, Edit, View, etc.). And to make it even more annoying, this doesn't happen every time, but it seems to happen much of the time.

At first I thought: malware. But Kaspersky says I'm clean and so have several online scanners. My computer starts up as quickly as always, and my firewall (Kaspersky) doesn't show any unusual internet activity.

Following some advice I read, I have Task Manager running all the time, and when I observe the slow response I look to see what processes are taking up CPU capacity. But there's nothing there: Just the System Idle Process.

I have 1GB of RAM and I run very little in the background: Kaspersky Internet Security, Acronis True Image, SetPoint (Logitech's keyboard/mouse software) and my dictionary program (WordWeb Pro.) Tons of free disk space.

If anyone can suggest what might be causing the slow response I'd be grateful. I have this crazy idea: Logitech's Setpoint is taking it's sweet time to send mouse clicks to my computer. But that seems silly.

Appreciate your help.

Daddy

 

[Malke]

I have a solution to my problem. Well, two solutions.

SetPoint was part of the problem. Completely uninstalling SetPoint did improve my computer's responsiveness somewhat, but not completely. Mostly the slow response was due to the fact that my hard disks were running in PIO instead of DMA.

Switching from PIO to DMA was not so simple, since I lacked the Advanced Settings tab under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller Properties in Device Manager. That little issue was due to the fact that I had not properly uninstalled the Intel Application Accelerator years ago. I had to install IAA again, then uninstall it, which returned my Primary and Secondary IDE channels to their original driver, whereupon the Advanced Settings tab reappeared and I was able to switch from PIO to DMA. Whew!

So now both my internal hard disks are running in UDMA-5 and I have an older version of SetPoint. And life is beautiful once again.

Hans Michna's interesting web site explained how my hard disks could have reverted to PIO. Good to know, in case it happens again.

Glad you got things sorted. Thanks for taking the time to post back with
your solution.


Malke