Slow System

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jennifer W
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J

Jennifer W

I have a another slow system here at work.

Dell Dimension
Windows XP Pro
Norton Internet Security 2006
Windows Defender (latest)
Task Manager: about 42 processes running.

I updated everything and ran scans and found nothing.

The user claims it all started with IE7 was installed.

I did read the recent thread "Slow even after format".

Other than formatting, I'm at a loss for other things to try. I'd
appreciate any ideas.

Thanks !
 
Jennifer said:
I have a another slow system here at work.

Dell Dimension
Windows XP Pro
Norton Internet Security 2006
Windows Defender (latest)
Task Manager: about 42 processes running.

I updated everything and ran scans and found nothing.

The user claims it all started with IE7 was installed.

I did read the recent thread "Slow even after format".

Other than formatting, I'm at a loss for other things to try. I'd
appreciate any ideas.

Thanks !
Click to expand...

The spec of the machine would help.

John.
 
OK this is just my two cents worth and by all means is not the fix for you
but it did help myself. I too have XP SP2 workstations here in the office. I
noticed that after running WSUS and installing IE7 that machines were slow
opening desktop configurations and kept getting these warnings about
Defender not being able to update. So as a test I removed Defender from a
workstation and "viola"!!! To simplify and ease my mind as to if Defender
was the culprit I reloaded (latest version) and same issue. Again my two
cents worth.
 
That's interesting that you mention that.
There was a problem with Windows Defender not being able to load. I removed
it and reinstalled it.

Also I forgot to mention that if I try to view Windows Firewall status from
the Control Panel, it says it cannot do this for an unexplained reason. I
use the Norton firewall anyway.

The system is a 2 year old Dell Dimenstion 2400, pentium - it's fast. It
has 256 meg RAM and 40 gig HD.
Virtual memory is set for system adjusted size.

I un-Dell'd it as much as possible with msconfig. It's really only used for
OExp. and Word.

I'm running Windows Defender and IE7 on my own machine with now problems.

Well - sounds like a flush is in order.

Thanks !
 
Here is what I do Jennifer. I turn off Windows Firewall and Auto Updates. We
use ISA firewall clients so using two firewalls can cause issues. I never
did like auto updates as Windows does come out with updates that do not
necessary pertain to my environment.
 
I would suggest you get more RAM as 256 with an Internet Security
Suite(especially Norton) is not enough. Dimension 2400's were bottom of the
line machines so I can't imagine it being too "fast" as you say. You should
add a 512 memory module to this. More than likely it will be DDR memory but
you need to do a test on this first. Go here and download CPU-Z

www.cpuid.com/cpuz

Install this and run it you will see a memory tab. Check out the Type (I am
guessing it will be ddr) and also check the Frequency. You will want to
match this to the new stick of memory. ie: if the type is ddr and frequency
is 400 then you need ddr 400 memory. Crucial.com is a great site for exact
match's you can also go to the local computer store and get this memory.
Any questions just get on here and ask us we will answer. Good Luck,

Joe

Kemco ITP
 
I agree. It's just that I have about 15 PC's to take care of here and it's
not my main job. So I'm more afraid not to auto-update.

My next thought is to get rid of Norton and see if that helps. Then perhaps
switch to McAfee or something else.

Well, thanks for your replies. If I ever learn anything definitive about
this I'll post it back here.

"God Bless Microsoft"

Jen
 
Well Jennifer's workstations are definitely more powerful than ours. we have
even older DELL's PIII 450Mhz with 256 MB and they run alright. Memory is
certainly always an issue however she states it's usage is very limited.
Again Jennifer here's a suggestion and what I do. Because I am skeptical
about Defender as it is still Beta mode I removed it from all my systems and
went with SpyBot. A much better and efficient search and destroy adware
program that I'm sure if you ask around will get great reviews. Try this on
one workstation and see if you can see a difference. Oh and yes it is free.
 
Kemco said:
I would suggest you get more RAM as 256 with an Internet Security
Suite(especially Norton) is not enough. Dimension 2400's were bottom
of the line machines so I can't imagine it being too "fast" as you
say.
Click to expand...

I also use a Dell Dimension 2400 with 256 MB RAM at work. It's plenty
fast for what I use it for (Web, word processing, and spreadsheets).
Then again, I am careful to avoid memory hogs such as Norton and McAfee
(I use ClamWin for AV).
 
Jennifer said:
I agree. It's just that I have about 15 PC's to take care of here and it's
not my main job. So I'm more afraid not to auto-update.

My next thought is to get rid of Norton and see if that helps. Then perhaps
switch to McAfee or something else.

Well, thanks for your replies. If I ever learn anything definitive about
this I'll post it back here.

"God Bless Microsoft"

Jen
Click to expand...

Hi Jen,

Certainly ditch Norton, but for goodness sake, do not install McAfee. It
will hog resources and you'll have a hell of a job uninstalling it. Have
a look on some of the trustworthy freeware sites for a replacement.

Regards,
John.
 
John said:
Hi Jen,

Certainly ditch Norton, but for goodness sake, do not install McAfee.
It will hog resources and you'll have a hell of a job uninstalling it.
Have a look on some of the trustworthy freeware sites for a
replacement.
Click to expand...

At home I use AVG free, which I am very happy with. However, you are not
allowed to use it for free in an organization. So at work, I use Clam
Win (open source), which I am also quite satisfied with:

http://www.clamwin.com/
 
Joe,

Thanks for your reply.

These days I think "fast" is a relative term. And how slow is "slow"
anymore ?

The machine was working fine and now it isn't for some unexplainable reason.
I do tend to favor 512 meg in these machines. I'm still hearing about more
strange problems with this PC and I am thinking of just wiping it clean and
reinstalling everything. The user is not very experienced and you never
know what web sites they are visiting or what they're going to do.

I do find Norton and McAfee very annoying but don't know much about any
other packages.

Well, that probably wraps up this thread. Thanks everybody for your advice.
If I actually learn anything I'll share it back here.

Jennifer
 
Jennifer W said:
I agree. It's just that I have about 15 PC's to take care of here and it's
not my main job. So I'm more afraid not to auto-update.

My next thought is to get rid of Norton and see if that helps. Then
perhaps switch to McAfee or something else.

Well, thanks for your replies. If I ever learn anything definitive about
this I'll post it back here.

"God Bless Microsoft"

Jen
Click to expand...


Symantec's Corporate AV offering is very good without any of the problems
that go along with the Norton home AV products.
 
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