Slow response when opening files

[Guest]

I am having trouble with slow response times when opening
files on Windows XP Professional.
The computer is used on a network in my office at work.
The response time is slow regardless if I am connected to
the network or not.
An example of the problem I am experiencing is as follows.
I open "my computer", I then click on my "c" drive and
browse to any folder. In any folder I choose if I try to
open a file, be it a JPG, a DOC file, a XLS file, a
BMP .....ect., any type of file at all, the system will
take around 50 seconds to open the file.
The cursor will change to an hourglass indicating that
the system is doing something, time will elapse and the
file will finally open.

I have Norton Antivirus and I tried disabling it. Same
slow response times.
I closed as many applications in my task bar as I could
and it did not improve the performance.
I looked at the Windows Task Manager and see many
processes are running, but I don't know what they mean.
I did notice that there are multiple instances of a
process called scvhost.exe running. There are actually 5
of these svchost processes running. Three for system, one
for local service and one for network service.
I looked at these based on information I read on
Microsoft's support pages.
Microsoft indicates there could be a problem with memory
leakage with this process. But I don't know if this
applies to my trouble, as for these 5 svchost.exe
processes are using a combined total memory of only
around 35,000k of memory and my system has 256meg of ram.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Ken

 

[Guest]

This is what worked for me. I found it in a MS KB article

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;833041&Product=off2003

Here is the entry;

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open Find]
"EnableShellDataCaching"=dword:00000001

Brian Cook
MCSE 2000


----- (e-mail address removed) wrote: -----

I am having trouble with slow response times when opening
files on Windows XP Professional.
The computer is used on a network in my office at work.
The response time is slow regardless if I am connected to
the network or not.
An example of the problem I am experiencing is as follows.
I open "my computer", I then click on my "c" drive and
browse to any folder. In any folder I choose if I try to
open a file, be it a JPG, a DOC file, a XLS file, a
BMP .....ect., any type of file at all, the system will
take around 50 seconds to open the file.
The cursor will change to an hourglass indicating that
the system is doing something, time will elapse and the
file will finally open.

I have Norton Antivirus and I tried disabling it. Same
slow response times.
I closed as many applications in my task bar as I could
and it did not improve the performance.
I looked at the Windows Task Manager and see many
processes are running, but I don't know what they mean.
I did notice that there are multiple instances of a
process called scvhost.exe running. There are actually 5
of these svchost processes running. Three for system, one
for local service and one for network service.
I looked at these based on information I read on
Microsoft's support pages.
Microsoft indicates there could be a problem with memory
leakage with this process. But I don't know if this
applies to my trouble, as for these 5 svchost.exe
processes are using a combined total memory of only
around 35,000k of memory and my system has 256meg of ram.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Ken

 

[MGGP]

Sorry you are having problems. SVCHOST is a legitimate
Windows resource, it launches services on behalf of the
operating system. However, it has been the target of
trojans and viruses, see Symantec Security Response -
W32.Welchia.Worm:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32
..welchia.worm.html

Symantec Security Response - W32.Assarm@mm:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32
(e-mail address removed)
Normally if SVCHOST is infected (or has been replaced) you
would receive a message stating that it has experienced
problems and must be shut down.

I would try this: 1) Run MSCONFIG (Start, Run, type
MSCONFIG, hit OK) and uncheck all items on the Startup tab.
Hit Apply and OK and re-start as Windows will suggest. You
may receive messages about programs that didn't start when
Windows comes back up, don't worry about them. If the
system seems more responsive, run MSFCONFIG again and turn
on ONE of the items under Startup, then reboot and
continue doing this until you've identified the offending
program.
2)Re-start the system in SAFE mode and see if the computer
seems more responsive. If so it's probably a driver issue
or a startup program. If not, it may be a hardware issue.
Start in SAFE mode by tap-tap-tapping the F8 key (on re-
boot) after the BIOS messages but before the Windows logo
comes up. Select the SAFE MODE option. Or you can run
MSCONFIG, go to the BOOT.INI tab and select /SAFEBOOT.
3) Keep your anti-virus program up-to-date and scan your
system weekly. Get, install and run (and update) anti-
spyware software. Search for SpyBot and/or AdAware in
Google. Install ALL of the Windows Critical Updates, see
the TOOLS menu in Internet Explorer, go to Windows Update.
Good Luck and post back . . .

 

[Ken]

First off, I want to thank you for the help.
It appears to be a problem with one of the drivers.
I'm still not 100 percent sure, but I think it must be.
I ran msconfig and disabled all items in start-up.
This did not help.
I then started the system in safe mode, as you described,
and the problem seemed to be resolved.
In safe mode when I click a file to open it, the file
opens almost instantly.
Jpg,s GIF's Movie files, DOC files, PDF files....all seem
to be ok.
So, my guess is there must be a problem with a driver.
Now, how do I determine which driver is the culprit?
Can you offer any assistance to help me find which driver
may be causing the trouble?

Thanks again,

Ken

 

[Robert Tyler]

The last 4 or 5 times I have seen this happen, it was bad chipset
drivers. Specifically, Via 4-in-one drivers. And even more
specifically, the IDE drivers. Check your manual to see what chipset
is on your mainboard. Go to their website and download and install the
latest drivers for your mainboard. Good board providers will have the
latest, or a link to the latest chipset drivers on their site.

 

[Guest]

I will try this.
Thank you.
Look for my response, I will post a new message with the
same subject of "slow response when opening files"
It take too long to find this post, so many came after it.

Thanks again.

Ken