upgrade XP Home to XP Prof

[Peter]

I have a very slow laptop. I am sure that it is very clean. However, I
suspect that over the years the Registry may have suffered a 'bump' or two.
If the reason for the slowness was there, would an upgrade from XP Home to
XP Professional make sure that any problems withe registry and other parts
of the system would be totally solved?

Thank you

JB

 

[R. McCarty]

No. Most slow computers can be fixed but it's a methodical and time
consuming process. The Registry is way down on the list of reasons
why a computer becomes sluggish.

 

[Peter]

I've tried just about everything. But, if you have the time and patience to
help me...

What about the upgrade?

Thanks

JB

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

No. Not in the least bit. In fact, the result would almost certainly be the
opposite.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

"just about everything" is not informative. Just what does that phrase
include, in a much detail as you can manage? What have you suspected, what
utilities have you run, etc.? What applications do you use regularly, and
what applications are running in the background?

 

[Malke]

I've tried just about everything. But, if you have the time and patience
to help me...

What about the upgrade?

It is extremely unlikely that the registry has anything to do with your
computer's slowness. It is also extremely unlikely that applying an
operating system upgrade will fix things. Since I have no idea what "just
about everything" entails, I can't give you a specific troubleshooting
path.

Some things to check:

1. If the drive is in PIO mode instead of DMA. See MVP Hans-Georg Michna's
page here - http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10

2. Make sure there's no problem with the RAM.

3. Boot with a Live Linux CD and see how the system responds. Still slow?
Then it's hardware.

If you want further help, you'll need to provide information about your
computer and what you've done.

Malke

 

[R. McCarty]

Upgrade would NOT help.

The general "Tune-Up" items include:
1. Backup your data & verify ( Preferably a full volume Image )
2. Chkdsk C:
3. Defrag C:
4. Review and modify Startups & Watchdog apps
5. Review Event Logs and resolve ALL warnings & errors
6. Uninstall all unnecessary or unused applications
*OEM computers are factory delivered with lots of questionable apps.
7. Update the "Common" applications, such as Sun Java, Adobe Reader
Flash & Shockwave ( if desired ).
8. Purge System Restore
9. Bring XP fully up to date ( Service Packs, Hotfixes )
10. Update all primary device drivers ( Video, Chipset, Sound and NIC )
11. If using McAfee or Norton consider replacement as both inflict severe
performance degradation.

Optional, but beneficial
A. Review System loading with TaskMgr or Performance Monitor

 

[Peter]

I did virus/trojan/spyware checks with various programs (McAfee, Kaspersky,
Trend, Spybot, Ad.aware, and several others) All is clean.
I uninstalled various programs to see if it helped. It did not.
I know McAfee slows things down considerably especially while it looks to
see if updates are needed, during download, and I suspect that it holds onto
memory after that. The same happens (I thgink) with Adobe Reader 8. I am
thinking of uninstalling it and trying to install an old Reader 5.

I have a Toshiba laptop Satellite 1900-303, it has 256 Mb of memory which I
think may be not enough to run XP Home SP3, McAfee, etc.

The biggest suspect at the moment is the question of programs like McAfee
and Adobe not releasing memory after download and use.

Eventually, I may have to install the XP Home that comes with the computer
and start all over again. That would be my fisrt 'failure' in many years
using computers. I have a full XP professional and thought maybe an upgrade
would be a way of cleaning things up if they need cleaning.

Incidentally, I have defragmented the 30 Gb disk which only has 12 Gb in it.

I do feel (I am not sure) that it runs faster in safe Mode. I have gone
through the rigmarole of selective start-ups and unchecked a whole load of
services and programmes from the start-up tabs in Msconfig. The problem may
be slightly better but the computer is still very slow on start-up (could be
due to hanshaking between the laptop, the router and McAfee all fighting
for an IP address). Then, later it gets better until I open a .PDF file or
there is McAfee or ASdobe downloads (I have stopped automatic downloads
now).

Any more ideas?

Thank you for your interest.

JB

 

[Peter]

Thanks Malke

I gave some details in another message a few minutes ago.

Before I start downloading progs to check PIO/DMA I wonder if it applies to
my system.

How do I check if RAM is ok? In Task Manager I see the 256 Mb go down to
anything between 100 Mb and 15Mb just now with only IE and OE open.
However, as I said elsewhere I had Adobe Reader open earlier and have not
restarted since.

Then I am sorry, but I don't know what a Live Linux CD is...?

Thanks for your interest.

JB

 

[Peter]

Thanks, I have done all that.

System restore was suspended during my virus checks and restarted when I was
sure the system was clean.

I DO have errors which wre discussed in another thread (22 July ' Error
7023'

I have not updated device drivers at the suggestion of Toshiba that reckoned
that the original ones are fine. My suspicion there would be regarding the
graphics driver. The mouse gets stuck often when the computer nearly hangs
(it does not, though) and on those occasions if I close a web page it rolls
down slowly as if it were a curtain. I am worried about updating drivers,
because Toshiba page is not very friendly and if I end up with the wrong
driver...

JB

 

[John]

I have a Toshiba laptop Satellite 1900-303, it has 256 Mb of memory which
I think may be not enough to run XP Home SP3, McAfee, etc.

I found it here:
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe....roadvision.session.new=Yes&PRODUCT_ID=44042#0

256MB?? *Ugh* You've got to be kidding. I bet you'd still have problem even
with 512MB.

The biggest suspect at the moment is the question of programs like McAfee
and Adobe not releasing memory after download and use.

No. The biggest suspect is your RAM being too little. Your laptop is busy
swapping memory pages from/to your hard disk (virtual RAM). Hard disk access
is veeerrryy slllloooooooowwwwwww compared to RAM.

I do feel (I am not sure) that it runs faster in safe Mode.

Of course it does. That's because a lot of things don't work in safe mode.

Any more ideas?

Install a total of 1GB of memory. You'll see a big difference.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

No. See...

My Computer is slow!
http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a very slow laptop. I am sure that it is very clean.

Exactly what makes you so sure? The most common cause of slowdowns
these days is malware infection, even on those computers whose owners
think they are clean. What anti-virus and anti-spyware programs do
you run, and are they up to date?

Besides the malware issue, issue the following questions:

The second most common cause of performance problems is
performance-robbing programs running in the background. What programs
do you have starting automatically?

What is your hardware configuration? What processor and how much RAM
do you have?

What applications do you run? Has it always been slow, or is this
something new?

Is it slow doing everything, or just some things? What things?

What changes did you make prior to the slowdown? What new software has
been installed?

However, I
suspect that over the years the Registry may have suffered a 'bump' or two.

Registries don't get "bumps." The thought that the registry gets
filled with clutter, resulting in a slowdown, and needs to be cleaned
periodically, is false, although many people unfortunately believe it.

If the reason for the slowness was there,

It almost certainly is not.

would an upgrade from XP Home to
XP Professional make sure that any problems withe registry and other parts
of the system would be totally solved?

No. Emphatically no. An upgrade from Home to Professional is the
easiest and most likely successful of all possible upgrades, since so
little has to be changed. But the one time when any upgrade is least
likely to be successful is when you are experiencing problems. An
upgrade to a problem-ridden computer is most like to exacerbate
problems, not solve them.

You should upgrade to Professional *only* after your problems are
solved, and *only* if you are sure that there's some benefit to you in
doing so. Are you aware that XP Home and Professional are identical
except that Professional includes a few features (mostly related to
security and networking) missing from Home? Most home users don't need
and would never use these extra features and will see no benefits by
upgrading.

For details go to

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp>

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Also note another point, not included in any of the above:
Professional allows ten concurrent network connections, and Home only
five.

 

[Malke]

Thanks Malke

I gave some details in another message a few minutes ago.

Before I start downloading progs to check PIO/DMA I wonder if it applies
to my system.

If you read the information at the page, it will show you how to check.
There is no point in downloading and running Hans-Georg's utility if your
drive isn't in PIO mode!

How do I check if RAM is ok? In Task Manager I see the 256 Mb go down to
anything between 100 Mb and 15Mb just now with only IE and OE open.
However, as I said elsewhere I had Adobe Reader open earlier and have not
restarted since.

As others told you, you don't have enough memory. Add some. Your machine
will never be a speed demon but more memory will make a big difference.


Malke

 

[Peter]

Thanks. Yes, I am aware that there is little difference. It is just that I
happen to have them both anyway, if it helped.

I have answered most of the questions you make in earlier messages.
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe....roadvision.session.new=Yes&PRODUCT_ID=44042#0

I could send a Hijackthis report if you could have a look at it.

Thanks

JB

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Exactly what makes you so sure? The most common cause of slowdowns
these days is malware infection, even on those computers whose owners
think they are clean. What anti-virus and anti-spyware programs do
you run, and are they up to date?

Besides the malware issue, issue the following questions:

Issue? Sometimes my typos amaze even me. Sorry, that was supposed to
be "answer."

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Thanks. Yes, I am aware that there is little difference. It is just that I
happen to have them both anyway, if it helped.

I have answered most of the questions you make in earlier messages.
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe....roadvision.session.new=Yes&PRODUCT_ID=44042#0

You answered some. If you don't want to answer them all, I can't help.

I could send a Hijackthis report if you could have a look at it.

Sorry, no. I don't publish my E-mail address here. Besides, I'm not a
Hijackthis expert.

 

[John]

How do I check if RAM is ok? In Task Manager I see the 256 Mb go down to
anything between 100 Mb and 15Mb just now with only IE and OE open.

THAT IS your slowness problem. In addition to IE and OE, there are tons of
other background services consuming your physical RAM.

 

[Gary S. Terhune]

"Peter" <[email protected]> wrote in message

I did virus/trojan/spyware checks with various programs (McAfee, Kaspersky,
Trend, Spybot, Ad.aware, and several others) All is clean.
I uninstalled various programs to see if it helped. It did not.
I know McAfee slows things down considerably especially while it looks to
see if updates are needed, during download, and I suspect that it holds
onto memory after that. The same happens (I thgink) with Adobe Reader 8.
I am thinking of uninstalling it and trying to install an old Reader 5.

Yes, McAfee is horrible. Recommend you uninstall it and replace with Avast!
Antivirus and other tools. I use SpywareBlaster and AdAware 2007 (2008 not
ready for prime time). Also, Spybot Search & Destroy, but DO NOT enable SD
Helper of TeaTimer, and don't Immunize. Just use it as an on-demand scanner
that you run whenever you do the rest of your maintenance. Same with
SuperAntiSpyware.

Adobe has just released Acrobat Reader 9.

I have a Toshiba laptop Satellite 1900-303, it has 256 Mb of memory which
I think may be not enough to run XP Home SP3, McAfee, etc.

You're absolutely right. WinXP, by itself, with light-weight stuff running
might be happy with 256MB, but you can't run anything more intensive,
aspecially if graphics are involved (pictures, videos, etc.)

The biggest suspect at the moment is the question of programs like McAfee
and Adobe not releasing memory after download and use.

Don't know about AcroReader, but get rid of McAfee.

Eventually, I may have to install the XP Home that comes with the computer
and start all over again. That would be my fisrt 'failure' in many years
using computers. I have a full XP professional and thought maybe an
upgrade would be a way of cleaning things up if they need cleaning.
Nope.

Incidentally, I have defragmented the 30 Gb disk which only has 12 Gb in
it.

Didn't help, did it?

I do feel (I am not sure) that it runs faster in safe Mode. I have gone
through the rigmarole of selective start-ups and unchecked a whole load of
services and programmes from the start-up tabs in Msconfig. The problem
may be slightly better but the computer is still very slow on start-up
(could be due to hanshaking between the laptop, the router and McAfee all
fighting for an IP address). Then, later it gets better until I open a
.PDF file or there is McAfee or ASdobe downloads (I have stopped automatic
downloads now).

Any more ideas?

You don't have enough RAM, it's that simple. Yes, get rid of McAfee, I don't
know about AcroReader 8, but you MUST upgrade your RAM.
http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Satellite 1900 Series (DDR)(I *think* that's your model, but you need to cross-reference with themanual.)> Thank you for your interest.Sure. Glad you finally mentioned the amount of RAM you have. It simply isn'tenough and explains pretty much everything.> "Gary S. Terhune" <none> escreveu na mensagem"just about everything" is not informative. Just what does that phraseinclude, in a much detail as you can manage? What have you suspected, whatutilities have you run, etc.? What applications do you use regularly, andwhat applications are running in the background?>>>> -->> Gary S. Terhune>> MS-MVP Shell/User>> http://grystmill.com>>>> "Peter" <[email protected]> wrote in messageI've tried just about everything. But, if you have the time andpatience to help me...>>>>>> What about the upgrade?>>>>>> Thanks>>>>>> JB>>>>>>>>>>>> "R. McCarty" <[email protected]> escreveu na mensagemNo. Most slow computers can be fixed but it's a methodical and time>>>> consuming process. The Registry is way down on the list of reasons>>>> why a computer becomes sluggish.>>>>>>>> "Peter" <[email protected]> wrote in messagehave a very slow laptop. I am sure that it is very clean. However, Isuspect that over the years the Registry may have suffered a 'bump' or two.If the reason for the slowness was there, would an upgrade from XP Home toXP Professional make sure that any problems withe registry and other partsof the system would be totally solved?>>>>>>>>>> Thank you>>>>>>>>>> JB>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Peter]

I followed Techsupportforum 5-step suggestions to the letter: which included
Panda Then, Mcafee, Kaspersky, Trend, Spybot, Ad.aware, all in safe mode.

I have pruned, through Msconfig Startup and services tab, down to the
minimum which includes most MS services and McAfee. On startup I have
wkfud, Rundll32 cwaprops, TPtray, Mcagent, CePMTray, CeEKey, Apoint, Ctfmon,
Wkdetect

It has been slow for some time, It does not hang (not often anyway)

I suspect low RAM, McAfee and especially Adobe Reader holding onto memory,
and the need for an updated Video driver which I cant find anywhere:

manufacturer : ATI
type : MOBILITYT RADEONT
memory : 16 MB
memory type : DDR Video RAM
graphics accelerator : 64 bit
connected bus : AGP bus


Thank you very much

JB

Thanks. Yes, I am aware that there is little difference. It is just
that I
happen to have them both anyway, if it helped.

I have answered most of the questions you make in earlier messages.
http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe....roadvision.session.new=Yes&PRODUCT_ID=44042#0

You answered some. If you don't want to answer them all, I can't help.

I could send a Hijackthis report if you could have a look at it.

Sorry, no. I don't publish my E-mail address here. Besides, I'm not a
Hijackthis expert.