Suddenly XP System SLOW

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lee Lord
  • Start date Start date
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Lee Lord

I'm running XP SP1 and am having a problem with everthing being slow.
This just occurred. I've scanned for viruses and nothing and haven't
installed anything new. I've also defragged. When I boot up my desktop
Icons load several times and when accessing any folder on the desktop
makes the Icons load again several times. Everything is very slow
loading as in using Netscape or IE or any other programs for that
matter. The whole system seems to have slowed to a crawl. Any
suggestions? I've deleted most Microsoft Hot Fixes as well. Typing
this thread right now is lagging also.

Thank you!
Lee Lord
 
Lee said:
I'm running XP SP1 and am having a problem with everthing being slow.
This just occurred. I've scanned for viruses and nothing and haven't
installed anything new. I've also defragged. When I boot up my desktop
Icons load several times and when accessing any folder on the desktop
makes the Icons load again several times. Everything is very slow
loading as in using Netscape or IE or any other programs for that
matter. The whole system seems to have slowed to a crawl.
Click to expand...

Following the installation of SP1, have you defragged? The installation
leaves files all over the place, not in the neat optimal arrangement.
If the setup is recent, it would pay to delete the old files from the
Windows\Prefetch folder, to let the Prefetch system rebuild them over a
few days and to start its rearrangement into an optimal pattern
 
Thanks so much Alex. I installed SP1 some time ago but this problem occurred
recently out of no where. I do notice that when my CPU reaches 100% and my
computer fans start running on my laptop is when everything I do on the
computer slows down. My CPU shows 100% or close to it most of the time by
the way.

You mentioned deleting the Windows\prefetch files which I have ALOT of. Can
I delete all of them? Is that safe to do?

I see you're still in the NGs giving your expert advice. You helped me many
many times years ago when I was new to computers which I'll always
appreciate, thank you so much!

Lee Lord
 
Lee said:
You mentioned deleting the Windows\prefetch files which I have ALOT of. Can
I delete all of them? Is that safe to do?
Click to expand...

Yes - but if you delete any, delete the lot and let things start over.
It may be a while before the pattern really settles again. I think it
is only something to do straight after a major rebuild like SP1 where
the old files will be referring to a setup that is no longer correct.

I think you have something else picked up that is resulting in that high
CPU usage - try Task Manager (from r-click in Task Bar) and look on the
processes page to see which specific process (other than System Idle) is
using a lot of CPU. If it is svchost, then it will be some service
that is being run on behalf of the system. In that case, Control -
Admin Tools - Services will allow you to select services (cautiously -
look at the descriptions of what they do) and Pause to see if that is
the culprit. Possible ones that have been identified with tying up the
CPU are
Background Intelligent Transfer
Routing and remote access

These are only really significant with business LANs (BIT is used by
Automatic Update but if it is disabled the manual use of update is
unaffected). You can double click a service and Stop, then set Startup
type to Manual, when it will only load if something really needs it.
I see you're still in the NGs giving your expert advice. You helped me many
many times years ago when I was new to computers which I'll always
appreciate, thank you so much!
Click to expand...

Thank you - you are welcome! Its rewarding to have such thanks - and
much more rewarding helping on genuine problems than reading some of the
junk that gets posted around here
 
Thanks so much for the help Alex. I deleted all the prefetch files and also
checked the processes (svchost) in Task Manager, two of which were very high,
then I went to AdminTools and found the two you mentioned and changed them to
Manual. This eliminated high usage in one svchost but have no idea what the
other high usage might be.

This did lower the CPU usage but when the laptop fans start the system still
slows to a crawl. Oddly enough when I reboot everything is nearly back to normal
even with the fans running. Any suggestions what could be causing this? Thanks
again Alex!

Lee Lord
 
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