Slow performance

[Magsmom]

In the past, my computer would occasionally experience a slow down in
performance which would be easily corrected by doing a clean up/tune up. I
use several methods to do this. I am running XP, sp3 with Windows Live One
Care which includes regular tune ups. Somoetimes, if I have been doing a lot
of web surfing, I just do a manual cleanup using my IE tools, and
occasionally I use Speed Up My PC, which does a great job of optimizing.

But recently I started having problems that don't respond to these methods.
I have run several virus/spyware scans and can't find anything. I notice
that I frequently get the message that "Virtual Memory Is low". I started
watching my Task Manager Performance and see that my Page File History never
drops below 800 MB, even when I have no programs open. at the same time, it
shows my Physical Memory at 522,736 with 158,960 going to System Cache with
only 181,508 available.
How can I find out what is using up all my physical memory and why my Page
File History is so high all the time? BTW- What is Page File History anyway.
I can't find anything in the help files about it?

 

[Gerry]

What is the CPU speed?

How much RAM?

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?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes
before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures
for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

Many do not rate Windows Live One Care very highly. It includes a
Registry Cleaner, which many here think provides negligible benefits and
potentially can seriously damage the system. It also takes a lot of
resources to run, which may go some way to explaining your disappointing
system performance. You can use Windows Defender, a component of Windows
Live One Care, as a standalone. Are you using any other anti-virus and
anti-spyware software?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report . Open Disk
Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and click on Save
As and Save. Now find VolumeD.txt in your My Documents Folder and post a
copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it is more
informative.


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[usasma]

Check the columns in the Processes tab of Task Manager when the slowdown
happens. Ensure that you're viewing the processes from all users also. That
should give you an image name that's taking more than it's fair share of
resources.

I'd suspect that this is a malfunctioning/corrupted program - but it can
also be a corruption of your pagefile. To clear that, follow these steps:
a ) Go to Start...Run...and type in "sysdm.cpl" (without the quotes) and
press Enter.
-Then click on the Advanced tab,
-then on the Performance Settings Button,
-then on the next Advanced tab,
-then on the Virtual Memory Change button.
b ) In this window, note down the current settings for your pagefile (so you
can restore them later on).
-Then click on the "No paging file" radio button, and
- then on the "Set" button. Be sure, if you have multiple hard drives, that
you ensure that the paging file is set to 0 on all of them.
-Click OK to exit the dialogs.
c ) Reboot (this will remove the pagefile from your system)
d ) Then go back in following the directions in step a ) and re-enter the
settings that you wrote down in step b ). Follow the steps all the way
through (and including) the reboot.
e ) Once you've rebooted this second time, go back in and check to make sure
that the settings are as they're supposed to be.

- John

 

[MplsDude]

As of today, 11/06/2008, I started experiencing this same slow start of IE.
And when I got to the office this morning, all desktops are experiencing the
same delay in opening IE. All these machines have One Care installed on them
and I am guessing that somewhere in the middle of the night an update was
installed and is causing this problem.

 

[Magsmom]

CPU is Pentium 4 - 2.20 Ghz
Ram is 512 MB

Commit charge is:- Total 940,028 - Limit 1,263,628 - Peak 1,210,880

Here are the top 6 Memory using processes:
Peak VM size
iexplore.exe 167,184 49,308
Svchost.exe 164,568 25,914
pctsSvc.exe 164,108 178,220
MsMpEng.exe 153,692 91,694
IncMail.exe 64,612 35,692
iexplore.exe 59,472 48,528

Yes, I leave my computer on 24/7 due to having VOIP

Re: Windows Live One Care:- I have been using it for a number of years and
I love it. Never had these slow performance problems until recently. In
fact, although my computer is older and has a slower process, my computer
functions much faster than my friends computer, which is the same brand, but
she uses Norton. Also, Windows Live One Care does not include a registry
cleaner. However, they do have a registry cleaning function in the Windows
Live One Safety Scanner, so you may have the two confused.

I also have Spybot and Spyware Doctor programs, but I do not let them run
automatically. Only when I manually run a scan.

Here is my Defrag analyse report:-
Volume (C
Volume size = 55.84 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 46.78 GB
Free space = 9.06 GB
Percent free space = 16 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 4 %
File fragmentation = 7 %
Free space fragmentation = 1 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 168,177
Average file size = 436 KB
Total fragmented files = 1,982
Total excess fragments = 12,374
Average fragments per file = 1.07

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 755 MB
Total fragments = 4

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 18,081
Fragmented folders = 72
Excess folder fragments = 178

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 201 MB
MFT record count = 187,280
Percent MFT in use = 90 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
584 42 MB \Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\rt.jar
378 1.16 GB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\My
Documents\My Videos\Sony video clips\Cheeko\Cheeko 6.avi
364 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
280 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
273 17 MB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\65FJ70GT\scnAVavbase14500000[1].cab
182 736 KB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Application Data\Move Networks\BlackBox
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174276.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174029.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174122.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1338\A0173757.exe
157 10 MB
\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\DataColl\CollectedData_22947.xml
122 7 MB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\Local
Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\LNBTV4ME\scnAVasbase14500000[1].cab
119 476 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\INFO2
114 99 MB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\Local
Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Inbox.imm
108 1 MB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\Local
Settings\Application Data\HP\Digital Imaging\cache2\8.DB
105 24 KB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE.LOG
91 6 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1343\A0174230.rbf
91 11 MB \Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application
Data\Walgreens\Styles\wg-leapbooks\shared\pagedesigns\blueyellow-1\background.jpg
76 145 MB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\Local
Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Deleted Items.imm
70 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173905.exe
64 348 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\Dc32.db
63 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174254.rbf
61 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173889.dll
59 6 MB \Documents and Settings\Love Goddess\Local
Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Attachments\56601-MrsHughes.wmv
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1335\A0173673.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1345\A0174320.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174293.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1337\A0173709.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1341\A0174170.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\A0173686.dll

I guess I covered all your questions. What do you think?

 

[Daave]

CPU is Pentium 4 - 2.20 Ghz
Ram is 512 MB

Commit charge is:- Total 940,028 - Limit 1,263,628 - Peak 1,210,880

Here are the top 6 Memory using processes:
Peak VM size
iexplore.exe 167,184 49,308
Svchost.exe 164,568 25,914
pctsSvc.exe 164,108 178,220
MsMpEng.exe 153,692 91,694

<snip>

OneCare (and Spyware Doctor for that matter) sometimes cause conflicts
that can slow down a PC. See:

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2704162&SiteID=2

 

[Magsmom]

It probably is not One Care, but Microsoft's Automatic Udate. I think they
usually download the automatic updates on Wednesday mornings and sometimes
you will get slow performance if you're working while they are downloading
and installing.

 

[Magsmom]

I had heard that somewhere so I do no allow the Spyware doctor to run on
automatic. I only use is manually every once in awhile. I thought it would
not be a problem if I used it that way, and I have been doing it for a long
time, so I don't think it is the cause of this current problem which just
started.

 

[Gerry]

Magsmom

The system is heavily reliant on using the pagefile, which will result
in poor system performance. This is obvious as both the Total and the
Peak are greatly in excess of the installed RAM. You need to add RAM and
/ or reduce memory usage.

What is your computer make and model?

pctsSvc.exe = Spyware Doctor

MsMpEng.exe =Windows Defender a component of Windows LiveOneCare.

IncMail.exe = Incredimail

Leaving your computer on 24/7 means that if any programme has a memory
leak the memory does not get released even if the programme is closed.
This could be a significant cause of your problem. I do not know what
affect restarting your computer would have on VOIP. It is the act of
restarting your computer that releases memory. Thus you only need your
computer to be shutdown for a minute or two every 24 hours.

Norton and McAfee both have a major impact on system. However, just
because you have chosen to follow your friends example is hardly
justification for picking another example of poor software.

The Disk Defragmenter report shows you have minimal free disk space.
Ideally you should 20% to 25% free. You most likely can improve the
situation but eventually you should consider adding a further drive to
increase capacity.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the
Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internet
files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. The
default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offline
copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to
make the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is
held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us


Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Please let me know whether these suggestions help reduce the Total and
Peak fures in Task Manager. If not you we need to explore further ideas.


--



Hope this helps.

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

CPU is Pentium 4 - 2.20 Ghz
Ram is 512 MB

Commit charge is:- Total 940,028 - Limit 1,263,628 - Peak 1,210,880

Here are the top 6 Memory using processes:
Peak VM size
iexplore.exe 167,184 49,308
Svchost.exe 164,568 25,914
pctsSvc.exe 164,108 178,220
MsMpEng.exe 153,692 91,694
IncMail.exe 64,612 35,692
iexplore.exe 59,472 48,528

Yes, I leave my computer on 24/7 due to having VOIP

Re: Windows Live One Care:- I have been using it for a number of
years and I love it. Never had these slow performance problems until
recently. In fact, although my computer is older and has a slower
process, my computer functions much faster than my friends computer,
which is the same brand, but she uses Norton. Also, Windows Live One
Care does not include a registry cleaner. However, they do have a
registry cleaning function in the Windows Live One Safety Scanner, so
you may have the two confused.

I also have Spybot and Spyware Doctor programs, but I do not let them
run automatically. Only when I manually run a scan.

Here is my Defrag analyse report:-
Volume (C
Volume size = 55.84 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 46.78 GB
Free space = 9.06 GB
Percent free space = 16 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 4 %
File fragmentation = 7 %
Free space fragmentation = 1 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 168,177
Average file size = 436 KB
Total fragmented files = 1,982
Total excess fragments = 12,374
Average fragments per file = 1.07

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 755 MB
Total fragments = 4

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 18,081
Fragmented folders = 72
Excess folder fragments = 178

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 201 MB
MFT record count = 187,280
Percent MFT in use = 90 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
584 42 MB \Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\rt.jar
378 1.16 GB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\My Documents\My Videos\Sony video clips\Cheeko\Cheeko 6.avi
364 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
280 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
273 17 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\65FJ70GT\scnAVavbase14500000[1].cab
182 736 KB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Application Data\Move Networks\BlackBox
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174276.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174029.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174122.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1338\A0173757.exe
157 10 MB
\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\DataColl\CollectedData_22947.xml
122 7 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\LNBTV4ME\scnAVasbase14500000[1].cab
119 476 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\INFO2
114 99 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Inbox.imm
108 1 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application Data\HP\Digital Imaging\cache2\8.DB
105 24 KB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE.LOG
91 6 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1343\A0174230.rbf
91 11 MB \Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application
Data\Walgreens\Styles\wg-leapbooks\shared\pagedesigns\blueyellow-1\background.jpg
76 145 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Deleted Items.imm
70 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173905.exe
64 348 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\Dc32.db
63 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174254.rbf
61 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173889.dll
59 6 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Attachments\56601-MrsHughes.wmv
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1335\A0173673.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1345\A0174320.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174293.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1337\A0173709.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1341\A0174170.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\A0173686.dll

I guess I covered all your questions. What do you think?

What is the CPU speed?

How much RAM?

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?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the
boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the
figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

Many do not rate Windows Live One Care very highly. It includes a
Registry Cleaner, which many here think provides negligible benefits
and potentially can seriously damage the system. It also takes a lot
of resources to run, which may go some way to explaining your
disappointing system performance. You can use Windows Defender, a
component of Windows Live One Care, as a standalone. Are you using
any other anti-virus and anti-spyware software?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report . Open
Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeD.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as
it is more informative.


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Magsmom]

Gerry: WOW- You are full of info; Appreciate the time you put into your
answer:
Re: System is Dell Dimension 2350, originally only 256 RAM but I installed
512 awhile back. I expected to see a difference in performance then, but I
didn't notice any improvement. But I really wasn't having any trouble before
that. I just decided to update since a lot of the new programs require a
minimum of 512.

I realize that the pagefile usage is excessive and I need to reduce memory
usage, but I can't figure out what is using up so much memory, or why. The
programs that I have running should not be using that much.

I don't restart puter every 24 hrs. but I do restart it fairly often. Maybe
3 times a week or so. VOIP is no problem, it just takes awhile for
everything to load back up again.

Re: Windows Live One Care - I just don't get it. As I mentioned, I have
used it for years with good results and little problems. What is it about
the program that makes you think it is "poor"? I have tried a number of
other security systems and just about went crazy trying to decipher them. I
use Time Warner Road Runner Broadband and they offer CA (Computer Associates)
Security Suite software for free. What do you know about their program?

My disk drive is pretty full right now, mainly due to fact that I just
returned from a 10 day vacation out west and took a ton of digital photos and
video which I am going through and culling out the bad ones. That's also the
reason the recycle bin is so full. I usually keep it emptied out better than
that. When I get my photos and videos the way I want them, I will be moving
them to CD storage.

Temporary Internet Files allocation is set at the recommended minimum of 50 MB
History is set at 10 days
Default allocation for recycle bin is already set at 5%.
All uninstall folders in Windows are already compressed.
Dr. Watson did have the check in the "Append to" box, so I fixed that.

EVENT VIEWER:- WOW - When I went in to reset the maximum size settings for
each log from 512 to 128 per your suggestion, I found the maximum setting for
the MSFWSVC log was set at 15360 K. Don't know how that got set that way.
I've never messed with those settings before.

I use the Systems Tools/Disk Clean Up frequently between the Live One Care
scheduled clean ups

I'll get the recycle bin emptied and run the clean up and de frag and let
you know if it makes any difference. If you get any further ideas based on
the above, please let me know.

Magsmom

The system is heavily reliant on using the pagefile, which will result
in poor system performance. This is obvious as both the Total and the
Peak are greatly in excess of the installed RAM. You need to add RAM and
/ or reduce memory usage.

What is your computer make and model?

pctsSvc.exe = Spyware Doctor

MsMpEng.exe =Windows Defender a component of Windows LiveOneCare.

IncMail.exe = Incredimail

Leaving your computer on 24/7 means that if any programme has a memory
leak the memory does not get released even if the programme is closed.
This could be a significant cause of your problem. I do not know what
affect restarting your computer would have on VOIP. It is the act of
restarting your computer that releases memory. Thus you only need your
computer to be shutdown for a minute or two every 24 hours.

Norton and McAfee both have a major impact on system. However, just
because you have chosen to follow your friends example is hardly
justification for picking another example of poor software.

The Disk Defragmenter report shows you have minimal free disk space.
Ideally you should 20% to 25% free. You most likely can improve the
situation but eventually you should consider adding a further drive to
increase capacity.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click your My
Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore. Place the cursor
on your C drive select Settings but this time find the slider and drag
it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit. When you get to the
Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary internet
files, especially if you do not store offline copies on disk. The
default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your attitude to offline
copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In Internet Explorer select
Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary Internet Files, Settings to
make the change. At the same time look at the number of days history is
held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change to
5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before Compress
contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see the amount
gained by deducting the size on disk from the size. Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append to
existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us


Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Please let me know whether these suggestions help reduce the Total and
Peak fures in Task Manager. If not you we need to explore further ideas.


--



Hope this helps.

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

CPU is Pentium 4 - 2.20 Ghz
Ram is 512 MB

Commit charge is:- Total 940,028 - Limit 1,263,628 - Peak 1,210,880

Here are the top 6 Memory using processes:
Peak VM size
iexplore.exe 167,184 49,308
Svchost.exe 164,568 25,914
pctsSvc.exe 164,108 178,220
MsMpEng.exe 153,692 91,694
IncMail.exe 64,612 35,692
iexplore.exe 59,472 48,528

Yes, I leave my computer on 24/7 due to having VOIP

Re: Windows Live One Care:- I have been using it for a number of
years and I love it. Never had these slow performance problems until
recently. In fact, although my computer is older and has a slower
process, my computer functions much faster than my friends computer,
which is the same brand, but she uses Norton. Also, Windows Live One
Care does not include a registry cleaner. However, they do have a
registry cleaning function in the Windows Live One Safety Scanner, so
you may have the two confused.

I also have Spybot and Spyware Doctor programs, but I do not let them
run automatically. Only when I manually run a scan.

Here is my Defrag analyse report:-
Volume (C
Volume size = 55.84 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 46.78 GB
Free space = 9.06 GB
Percent free space = 16 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 4 %
File fragmentation = 7 %
Free space fragmentation = 1 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 168,177
Average file size = 436 KB
Total fragmented files = 1,982
Total excess fragments = 12,374
Average fragments per file = 1.07

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 755 MB
Total fragments = 4

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 18,081
Fragmented folders = 72
Excess folder fragments = 178

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 201 MB
MFT record count = 187,280
Percent MFT in use = 90 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
584 42 MB \Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\rt.jar
378 1.16 GB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\My Documents\My Videos\Sony video clips\Cheeko\Cheeko 6.avi
364 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
280 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
273 17 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\65FJ70GT\scnAVavbase14500000[1].cab
182 736 KB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Application Data\Move Networks\BlackBox
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174276.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174029.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174122.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1338\A0173757.exe
157 10 MB
\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\DataColl\CollectedData_22947.xml
122 7 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\LNBTV4ME\scnAVasbase14500000[1].cab
119 476 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\INFO2
114 99 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Inbox.imm
108 1 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application Data\HP\Digital Imaging\cache2\8.DB
105 24 KB \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE.LOG
91 6 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1343\A0174230.rbf
91 11 MB \Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application
Data\Walgreens\Styles\wg-leapbooks\shared\pagedesigns\blueyellow-1\background.jpg
76 145 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Deleted Items.imm
70 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173905.exe
64 348 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\Dc32.db
63 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174254.rbf
61 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173889.dll
59 6 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Attachments\56601-MrsHughes.wmv
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1335\A0173673.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1345\A0174320.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174293.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1337\A0173709.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1341\A0174170.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\A0173686.dll

I guess I covered all your questions. What do you think?

What is the CPU speed?

How much RAM?

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?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With
the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the
boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the
figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

Many do not rate Windows Live One Care very highly. It includes a
Registry Cleaner, which many here think provides negligible benefits
and potentially can seriously damage the system. It also takes a lot
of resources to run, which may go some way to explaining your
disappointing system performance. You can use Windows Defender, a
component of Windows Live One Care, as a standalone. Are you using
any other anti-virus and anti-spyware software?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report . Open
Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeD.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as
it is more informative.


--



Hope this helps.

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





Magsmom wrote:
In the past, my computer would occasionally experience a slow down
in performance which would be easily corrected by doing a clean
up/tune up. I use several methods to do this. I am running XP,
sp3 with Windows Live One Care which includes regular tune ups.
Somoetimes, if I have been doing a lot of web surfing, I just do a
manual cleanup using my IE tools, and occasionally I use Speed Up
My PC, which does a great job of optimizing.

But recently I started having problems that don't respond to these
methods. I have run several virus/spyware scans and can't find
anything. I notice that I frequently get the message that "Virtual
Memory Is low". I started watching my Task Manager Performance and

 

[Gerry]

Magsmom

Your computer has the capacity to have a maximum of 1 gb RAM. The
computer has two memory slots so to achieve 1 gb you need to install 2 x
512 mb. This could mean you need to replace your existing memory, if
your existing 512 mb is made up of 2 x 256 mb.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2350/specs.htm#1107033

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2350/replace.htm#1183874

Your latest post includes another hint as to what is might be causing
slow performance. Your photography. Graphics programmes require
considerable amounts of memory, especially when editing images. The
programmes incorporate undo features, which create the high demand for
memory. Saving at intervals could reduce the demand. You should also
restart your computer at the end of a session. Running disk defragmenter
after restarting might also help because graphics programmes handle
large files, which will both fragment and cause other files to fragment.

Windows Live OneCare is a composite and I am not a fan of all in one
solutions. You could look at the time activities are scheduled to ensure
that they only occur at times when you are not otherwise using your
computer. My employer has two computers with CA Anti-Virus. However, my
own set up consists of AVG 8 Anti-Virus, Spybot S& D, Windows Defender
and the Windows Firewall. All are free.

I have only just noticed your reference to "Speed Up My PC". This type
of programme is generally not recommended in these newsgroups. I would
uninstall the programme. Registry Cleaners and RAM optimisers can do
harm and in overall terms do not help.

Something else I have not so far suggested. A visit to Event Viewer.

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in the
System and Application logs in Event Viewer relating to the last boot in
normal mode . 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.

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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry: WOW- You are full of info; Appreciate the time you put into
your answer:
Re: System is Dell Dimension 2350, originally only 256 RAM but I
installed 512 awhile back. I expected to see a difference in
performance then, but I didn't notice any improvement. But I really
wasn't having any trouble before that. I just decided to update
since a lot of the new programs require a minimum of 512.

I realize that the pagefile usage is excessive and I need to reduce
memory usage, but I can't figure out what is using up so much memory,
or why. The programs that I have running should not be using that
much.

I don't restart puter every 24 hrs. but I do restart it fairly often.
Maybe 3 times a week or so. VOIP is no problem, it just takes awhile
for everything to load back up again.

Re: Windows Live One Care - I just don't get it. As I mentioned, I
have used it for years with good results and little problems. What
is it about the program that makes you think it is "poor"? I have
tried a number of other security systems and just about went crazy
trying to decipher them. I use Time Warner Road Runner Broadband and
they offer CA (Computer Associates) Security Suite software for free.
What do you know about their program?

My disk drive is pretty full right now, mainly due to fact that I just
returned from a 10 day vacation out west and took a ton of digital
photos and video which I am going through and culling out the bad
ones. That's also the reason the recycle bin is so full. I usually
keep it emptied out better than that. When I get my photos and
videos the way I want them, I will be moving them to CD storage.

Temporary Internet Files allocation is set at the recommended minimum
of 50 MB History is set at 10 days
Default allocation for recycle bin is already set at 5%.
All uninstall folders in Windows are already compressed.
Dr. Watson did have the check in the "Append to" box, so I fixed that.

EVENT VIEWER:- WOW - When I went in to reset the maximum size
settings for each log from 512 to 128 per your suggestion, I found
the maximum setting for the MSFWSVC log was set at 15360 K. Don't
know how that got set that way. I've never messed with those settings
before.

I use the Systems Tools/Disk Clean Up frequently between the Live One
Care scheduled clean ups

I'll get the recycle bin emptied and run the clean up and de frag and
let
you know if it makes any difference. If you get any further ideas
based on the above, please let me know.

Magsmom

The system is heavily reliant on using the pagefile, which will
result in poor system performance. This is obvious as both the Total
and the Peak are greatly in excess of the installed RAM. You need to
add RAM and / or reduce memory usage.

What is your computer make and model?

pctsSvc.exe = Spyware Doctor

MsMpEng.exe =Windows Defender a component of Windows LiveOneCare.

IncMail.exe = Incredimail

Leaving your computer on 24/7 means that if any programme has a
memory leak the memory does not get released even if the programme
is closed. This could be a significant cause of your problem. I do
not know what affect restarting your computer would have on VOIP. It
is the act of restarting your computer that releases memory. Thus
you only need your computer to be shutdown for a minute or two every
24 hours.

Norton and McAfee both have a major impact on system. However, just
because you have chosen to follow your friends example is hardly
justification for picking another example of poor software.

The Disk Defragmenter report shows you have minimal free disk space.
Ideally you should 20% to 25% free. You most likely can improve the
situation but eventually you should consider adding a further drive
to increase capacity.

The default allocation to System Restore is 12% on your C partition
which is over generous. I would reduce it to 700 mb. Right click
your My Computer icon on the Desktop and select System Restore.
Place the cursor on your C drive select Settings but this time find
the slider and drag it to the left until it reads 700 mb and exit.
When you get to the Settings screen click on Apply and OK and exit.

A default setting which could be wasteful is that for temporary
internet files, especially if you do not store offline copies on
disk. The default allocation is 3% of drive. Depending on your
attitude to offline copies you could reduce this to 1% or 2%. In
Internet Explorer select Tools, Internet Options, General, Temporary
Internet Files, Settings to make the change. At the same time look
at the number of days history is held.

The default allocation for the Recycle Bin is 10 % of drive. Change
to 5%, which should be sufficient. In Windows Explorer place the
cursor
on your Recycle Bin, right click and select Properties, Global and
move the slider from 10% to 5%. However, try to avoid letting it get
too full as if it is full and you delete a file by mistake it will
bypass the Recycle Bin and be gone for ever.

If your drive is formatted as NTFS another potential gain arises with
your operating system on your C drive. In the Windows Directory of
your C partition you will have some Uninstall folders in your Windows
folder typically: $NtServicePackUninstall$ and $NtUninstallKB282010$
etc. These files may be compressed or not compressed. If compressed
the text of the folder name appears in blue characters. If not
compressed you can compress them. Right click on each folder and
select Properties, General, Advanced and check the box before
Compress contents to save Disk Space. On the General Tab you can see
the amount gained by deducting the size on disk from the size.
Folder
compression is only an option on a NTFS formatted drive / partition.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System
Information, Tools, Dr Watson and verify that the box before "Append
to existing log" is NOT checked. This means the next time the log is
written it will overwrite rather than add to the existing file.

The default maximum size setting for Event Viewer logs is too large.
Reset the maximum for each log from 512 kb to 128 kb and set it to
overwrite.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us


Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp
to Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Please let me know whether these suggestions help reduce the Total
and Peak fures in Task Manager. If not you we need to explore
further ideas.


--



Hope this helps.

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

CPU is Pentium 4 - 2.20 Ghz
Ram is 512 MB

Commit charge is:- Total 940,028 - Limit 1,263,628 - Peak 1,210,880

Here are the top 6 Memory using processes:
Peak VM size
iexplore.exe 167,184 49,308
Svchost.exe 164,568 25,914
pctsSvc.exe 164,108 178,220
MsMpEng.exe 153,692 91,694
IncMail.exe 64,612 35,692
iexplore.exe 59,472 48,528

Yes, I leave my computer on 24/7 due to having VOIP

Re: Windows Live One Care:- I have been using it for a number of
years and I love it. Never had these slow performance problems
until recently. In fact, although my computer is older and has a
slower process, my computer functions much faster than my friends
computer, which is the same brand, but she uses Norton. Also,
Windows Live One Care does not include a registry cleaner.
However, they do have a registry cleaning function in the Windows
Live One Safety Scanner, so you may have the two confused.

I also have Spybot and Spyware Doctor programs, but I do not let
them run automatically. Only when I manually run a scan.

Here is my Defrag analyse report:-
Volume (C
Volume size = 55.84 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 46.78 GB
Free space = 9.06 GB
Percent free space = 16 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 4 %
File fragmentation = 7 %
Free space fragmentation = 1 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 168,177
Average file size = 436 KB
Total fragmented files = 1,982
Total excess fragments = 12,374
Average fragments per file = 1.07

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 755 MB
Total fragments = 4

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 18,081
Fragmented folders = 72
Excess folder fragments = 178

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 201 MB
MFT record count = 187,280
Percent MFT in use = 90 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
584 42 MB \Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\rt.jar
378 1.16 GB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\My Documents\My Videos\Sony video clips\Cheeko\Cheeko 6.avi
364 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
280 43 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\snapshot\_REGISTRY_MACHINE_SOFTWARE
273 17 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\65FJ70GT\scnAVavbase14500000[1].cab
182 736 KB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Application Data\Move Networks\BlackBox
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174276.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174029.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0174122.exe
177 11 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1338\A0173757.exe
157 10 MB
\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\DataColl\CollectedData_22947.xml
122 7 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files\Content.IE5\LNBTV4ME\scnAVasbase14500000[1].cab
119 476 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\INFO2
114 99 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Inbox.imm
108 1 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application Data\HP\Digital
Imaging\cache2\8.DB 105 24 KB
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE.LOG 91 6 MB
\System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1343\A0174230.rbf
91 11 MB \Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application
Data\Walgreens\Styles\wg-leapbooks\shared\pagedesigns\blueyellow-1\background.jpg
76 145 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Deleted Items.imm 70 4 MB \System
Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173905.exe
64 348 KB
\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-1132940392-1673125147-3913084170-1006\Dc32.db 63
4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174254.rbf
61 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1339\A0173889.dll
59 6 MB \Documents and Settings\Love
Goddess\Local Settings\Application
Data\IM\Identities\{8FB9562A-FB63-4AE5-B51A-AB42C467ABCC}\Message
Store\Attachments\56601-MrsHughes.wmv 58 4 MB
\System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1335\A0173673.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1345\A0174320.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1344\A0174293.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1337\A0173709.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1341\A0174170.dll
58 4 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{B37680B2-BA0A-4E5D-BF30-83E44C588624}\RP1336\A0173686.dll

I guess I covered all your questions. What do you think?



:

What is the CPU speed?

How much RAM?

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?

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager.
With the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check
the boxes before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What
are the figures for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

Do you leave your computer on 24/7?

Many do not rate Windows Live One Care very highly. It includes a
Registry Cleaner, which many here think provides negligible
benefits and potentially can seriously damage the system. It also
takes a lot of resources to run, which may go some way to
explaining your disappointing system performance. You can use
Windows Defender, a component of Windows Live One Care, as a
standalone. Are you using any other anti-virus and anti-spyware
software?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report . Open
Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeD.txt in your My
Documents Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk
Defragmenter as it is more informative.


--



Hope this helps.

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





Magsmom wrote:
In the past, my computer would occasionally experience a slow down
in performance which would be easily corrected by doing a clean
up/tune up. I use several methods to do this. I am running XP,
sp3 with Windows Live One Care which includes regular tune ups.
Somoetimes, if I have been doing a lot of web surfing, I just do a
manual cleanup using my IE tools, and occasionally I use Speed Up
My PC, which does a great job of optimizing.

But recently I started having problems that don't respond to these
methods. I have run several virus/spyware scans and can't find
anything. I notice that I frequently get the message that
"Virtual Memory Is low". I started watching my Task Manager
Performance and

 

[Magsmom]

Wonderful: I replaced my original 256 mg ram with 1- 512, so from what you
tell me, I should be able to simply add another 512 mg to expand up to 1 gb.

I think I need to clear up something. I am not having this slow performance
problem all the time, with everything. Just with some things at times when I
should not. I do not have slow performance problems when working with the
photo software, once the program opens up. Generally, the problem is slow
opening of programs, but once open, puter pretty much kicks butt. For
example, I frequently have problems with the "Start" menu. Sometimes, when I
click on the start button, the start menu takes longer than usual to open,
but once it opens, - no problem. At other times, the start menu will open
instantly when I click on the start button, but when I click on "Programs" it
may take a long time for the program list to open, or the blank screen may
open up right away, but the actual list takes a very long time to fill in.
This can happen when I have no other programs running except my voip, and
sometimes when I don't even have it open.
However, there is one program that ALWAYS takes a long time to open, and
that is my iWin Games Manager, and it also takes a long time to shut down as
well. Once the Games Manager is open, the games themselves may take a long
time to open, but once open, they scoot right along. I un-installed it and
re-installed it to see if that would help, but it didn't.
And my Incredimail program used to open up real fast, but now, sometimes it
takes awhile. Individual e mails open fast, but are slow in the deleting
process.
Internet explorer is generally fast, but every once in awhile, it hangs up
when I try to open it. Once open, it is fine. Problem is too inconsistant to
find a pattern. Sometimes I can have 5 or 6 different things open with no
problem, other times with only 1 think open I get the message that virtual
memory is too low. The only thing that seems consistant is that high Page
File Usage, even when cpu usage is almost "0". The inconsistancy acts like
something is running in the background, like a spyware or Live One scan, but
when they are running, I can tell by the icon in my notification area, and
know what is causing the slowdown.

I have been using the "Speed up my PC" for a long time, as well as the
Windows Live Once Care, and I usually notice improvement after I run the
"Speed up my PC" routine, and after My WLOC tune up, but this problem just
started recently and it's driving me mad.

I think I know what the problem is!!! I must have picked up some
poltergeists or gremlins.

 

[Magsmom]

Event Viewer:-
APPLICATION LOG:

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1524
Date: 11/9/2008
Time: 10:51:04 PM
User: JANET\Love Goddess
Computer: JANET
Description:
Windows cannot unload your classes registry file - it is still in use by
other applications or services. The file will be unloaded when it is no
longer in use.



For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1517
Date: 11/9/2008
Time: 10:52:00 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: JANET
Description:
Windows saved user JANET\Love Goddess registry while an application or
service was still using the registry during log off. The memory used by the
user's registry has not been freed. The registry will be unloaded when it is
no longer in use.

This is often caused by services running as a user account, try configuring
the services to run in either the LocalService or NetworkService account.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: EvntAgnt
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1003
Date: 11/9/2008
Time: 10:54:31 PM
User: N/A
Computer: JANET
Description:
TraceFileName parameter not located in registry; Default trace file used is .

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: EvntAgnt
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1015
Date: 11/9/2008
Time: 10:54:31 PM
User: N/A
Computer: JANET
Description:
TraceLevel parameter not located in registry; Default trace level used is 32.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SYSTEM LOG:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: Print
Event Category: None
Event ID: 23
Date: 11/9/2008
Time: 10:54:09 PM
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: JANET
Description:
Printer Fax failed to initialize because a suitable Microsoft Shared Fax
Driver driver could not be found.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event Type: Error
Event Source: MSFWDrv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Date: 11/9/2008
Time: 10:55:47 PM
User: N/A
Computer: JANET
Description:
The device, , did not respond within the timeout period.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00 00 42 00 01 00 9c 00 ..B...œ.
0008: 00 00 00 00 09 00 04 c0 .......À
0010: 00 00 00 00 02 01 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 4d 00 53 00 46 00 57 00 M.S.F.W.
0030: 44 00 52 00 56 00 20 00 D.R.V. .
0038: 41 00 50 00 50 00 49 00 A.P.P.I.
0040: 44 00 20 00 54 00 69 00 D. .T.i.
0048: 6d 00 65 00 6f 00 75 00 m.e.o.u.
0050: 74 00 00 00 57 00 67 00 t...W.g.
0058: 61 00 54 00 72 00 61 00 a.T.r.a.
0060: 79 00 2e 00 65 00 78 00 y...e.x.
0068: 65 00 e.

 

[Magsmom]

UPDATE:
I have solved MOST of the problems by uninstalling iWin Games Manager. I
finally remembered that most of my problems started after I downloaded iWin's
update. I still have a couple of issues with ie7, browser slow to open and
some problems with a window opening and just giving me one of those nasty
little red "x"s. Once ie browser is open everything kicks along nice.
I think I have been fighting those little red "x"s ever since I updated to
ie7. I've given up on that and started using Firefox. I don't have that
problem with Firefox.

 

[Gerry]

Magsmom

Please post further commit charge figures.

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?


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Sabrinna83]

I have tried to make my computer faster & I don't understand if I have 81%
free space why is it so slow anyway. With the Disk Defragmenter it says
Capacity 144 GB Free Space 117GB so if I have all this free space why is
everything so slow & what is the difference between physical memory & virtual
memory because it says for Physical Memory I have 1022.07 MB total & only
315.47MB free so how do I get that to go up to the total, & the Virtual
Memory I have 2 GB total & 1.79 GB are free so can I change it to use that
instead of the Physical & then it says Page File 2.40 GB total & 2.40 GB free
so I don't know if anyone can help me but if you think you know what I can do
to fix this or why it says this I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Gerry]

Sabrinna83

RAM is a card installed in the computer, which provides the system with
temporary memory storage. The hard drive can also be used for memory
through a pagefile. The system reads and writes to memory, which in the
first place is to RAM. When the RAM is being fully utilised some of the
data stored in RAM is moved to the pagefile. Reading and writing to RAM
is quicker than reading and writing to the pagefile. The pagefile is
needed to cope with times when the system requires more memory than RAM
is able to provide. If there is insufficient memory the system will
crash. If RAM cannot meet current memory requirements the system will
increasingly use the pagefile and operations slow down.

Increasing the size of the pagefile does not normally improve
performance. If the pagefile is of sufficient size or if it is set to
"Let Windows manage" it will normally prevent the system crashing from
lack of memory.

There are a number of factors that can cause slow performance and you
need to ascertain which apply to your computer. You then need to
consider what you can do to improve the performance. Wil lyou please
answer the questions which follow.

What is the CPU and how much RAM does your computer have? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties to get this
information.

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?

I would be interested in seeing a Disk Defragmenter report . Open Disk
Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and click on Save
As and Save. Now find VolumeD.txt in your My Documents Folder and post a
copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it is more
informative.

Something to do which will improve performance.

Select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp to
Empty your Recycle Bin and Remove Temporary Internet Files. Also
select Start, All Programs, accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp,
More Options, System Restore and remove all but the latest System
Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter.


--



Hope this helps.

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

 

[Olórin]

I have tried to make my computer faster & I don't understand if I have 81%
free space why is it so slow anyway. With the Disk Defragmenter it says
Capacity 144 GB Free Space 117GB so if I have all this free space why is
everything so slow & what is the difference between physical memory &
virtual
memory because it says for Physical Memory I have 1022.07 MB total & only
315.47MB free so how do I get that to go up to the total, & the Virtual
Memory I have 2 GB total & 1.79 GB are free so can I change it to use that
instead of the Physical & then it says Page File 2.40 GB total & 2.40 GB
free
so I don't know if anyone can help me but if you think you know what I can
do
to fix this or why it says this I would greatly appreciate it.

<.......sympathetically gasps for breath at the end of reading a monstrously
long, almost comma-less sentence..!>

First and foremost, speed is not determined by how much disk space you have
free - unless there's almost none.

As well as Gerry's reply, I'd suggest looking in Task Manager as he suggests
but also under the Processes tab. Click on the "CPU" column heading a couple
of times to sort by decreasing share of CPU usage and see if anything is
being greedy.