Slow downs

[Brian Gaff]

Hi there. Having been used to 98 on a Celeron, I expected my new Athlon
1.8gig machine to fly. However, although some things are definitely faster,
some are like using a 386.

For no apparent reason, saving things in dialogue boxes can take a few
seconds, not always.. Then some folders in Outlook Express are very slow in
scrolling, but pull down menus go fast again. Then there are programs like
Regedit, which are so sluggish that they are just unusable.

Have defragged, removed most of Creative software, run Spybot and virus
scanners, Turned firewall on and off etc etc. and am no nearer a reason for
this. If it were always there, it would be one thing, but although the mail
folder and regedit are there all the time, the other symptoms are not, so it
seems to me there are two problems. I have all the updates as far as I know,
its XP Pro.

Brian

--

Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: (e-mail address removed)
____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________

 

[dev]

/Brian Gaff/ said:

Hi there. Having been used to 98 on a Celeron, I expected my new Athlon
1.8gig machine to fly. However, although some things are definitely faster,
some are like using a 386.

For no apparent reason, saving things in dialogue boxes can take a few
seconds, not always.. Then some folders in Outlook Express are very slow in
scrolling, but pull down menus go fast again. Then there are programs like
Regedit, which are so sluggish that they are just unusable.

Have defragged, removed most of Creative software, run Spybot and virus
scanners, Turned firewall on and off etc etc. and am no nearer a reason for
this. If it were always there, it would be one thing, but although the mail
folder and regedit are there all the time, the other symptoms are not, so it
seems to me there are two problems. I have all the updates as far as I know,
its XP Pro.

Perhaps there's something for you here...
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/northrup/restoreperf.asp

 

[Malke]

Hi there. Having been used to 98 on a Celeron, I expected my new
Athlon 1.8gig machine to fly. However, although some things are
definitely faster, some are like using a 386.

For no apparent reason, saving things in dialogue boxes can take a few
seconds, not always.. Then some folders in Outlook Express are very
slow in scrolling, but pull down menus go fast again. Then there are
programs like Regedit, which are so sluggish that they are just
unusable.

Have defragged, removed most of Creative software, run Spybot and
virus scanners, Turned firewall on and off etc etc. and am no nearer a
reason for this. If it were always there, it would be one thing, but
although the mail folder and regedit are there all the time, the other
symptoms are not, so it seems to me there are two problems. I have all
the updates as far as I know, its XP Pro.

Hi, Brian. You didn't tell us how much RAM you have. You'll want at
least 256, maybe more depending on what you are doing. There is no way
that Regedit should be sluggish. Something is wrong. Either you have a
trojan running that your av hasn't picked up, or perhaps too many
services going. Here's a link to a great place to learn about services
in XP:

http://www.blackviper.com/

Without knowing what av you used, I can't address that. Also, make sure
your computer is not overheating - open the case and observe all the
fans and feel how hot things are getting. You want to do this last by
*not* touching anything in the case, but you can carefully put your
hand there to feel. Or download Motherboard Monitor, a free app that
will tell you the temperature.

Malke

 

[Brian Gaff]

For the record, I have 512 Meg of memory. I was looking at the task manager
during the slow down in an OE folder just now and the processor use went up
to 99 percent!

It is only in big folders, and if a lot of the tree is open in Regedit, so
something is eating processor time. I'll go and have a look at the sites
mentioned. I do use screenreader software as I'm blind, but normally its not
that processor hungry, escpecially when idling.
Brian

--

Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email: (e-mail address removed)
____________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________

 

[Malke]

For the record, I have 512 Meg of memory. I was looking at the task
manager during the slow down in an OE folder just now and the
processor use went up to 99 percent!

It is only in big folders, and if a lot of the tree is open in
Regedit, so
something is eating processor time. I'll go and have a look at the
sites mentioned. I do use screenreader software as I'm blind, but
normally its not that processor hungry, escpecially when idling.
Brian

It is so awesome (in the true sense of the word) that you can compute
when you're blind. I bow before you, sir. As to your problem, the only
thing I can think of is that something is running and stealing cpu
cycles. Maybe spyware. Here's my stock spyware thing:

Remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org and Ad-aware from www.lavasoftusa.com. Be sure
to update these programs before running them. These programs are free,
so run them both since they complement each other. It is best to run
antivirus and spyware removal tools in Safe Mode. You may also need to
run CWShredder from http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html .
Please read the instructions carefully. A great resource for dealing
with spyware is http://www.spywareinfo.com.

Please do post back, and if it's possible, let's see what processes
you've got running when you experience the slowdown.

Malke