windows/system32/config/system file is huge

[Jeff]

Hi,

My windows/system32/config/system file is huge -- the order of 200mb. This
seems a bit unusual, and I did get some popups on startup that there is not
enough room for the registry. I cleared out the paging file and reallocated
1.5*2gb (the size of my memory). Anyway, what can I do about this file to
make it "normal" again?

I will state that I am after a repair install because something happened to
my system and I needed to repair. Now things are indeed working alot better,
but there is still this issue, and I guess this is why my system works slowly
at times and after awhile the DCPS take up alot of the cpu time.

Is there something I can do, or am I doomed to format and make a new install?

Thanks.

 

[John John - MVP]

Hi,

My windows/system32/config/system file is huge -- the order of 200mb. This
seems a bit unusual, and I did get some popups on startup that there is not
enough room for the registry. I cleared out the paging file and reallocated
1.5*2gb (the size of my memory). Anyway, what can I do about this file to
make it "normal" again?

I will state that I am after a repair install because something happened to
my system and I needed to repair. Now things are indeed working alot better,
but there is still this issue, and I guess this is why my system works slowly
at times and after awhile the DCPS take up alot of the cpu time.

Is there something I can do, or am I doomed to format and make a new install?

Thanks.

What is DCPS?

Create a Restore Point then reboot the machine and immediately restore
to the point that you created earlier. Does this improve things?

John

 

[Daave]

Hi,

My windows/system32/config/system file is huge -- the order of 200mb.
This seems a bit unusual, and I did get some popups on startup that
there is not enough room for the registry. I cleared out the paging
file and reallocated
1.5*2gb (the size of my memory). Anyway, what can I do about this
file to make it "normal" again?

I will state that I am after a repair install because something
happened to my system and I needed to repair. Now things are indeed
working alot better, but there is still this issue, and I guess this
is why my system works slowly at times and after awhile the DCPS take
up alot of the cpu time.

Is there something I can do, or am I doomed to format and make a new
install?

Thanks.

I just looked at mine; it's about 6MB. I wonder why yours is so large.
What is the malware status of your PC?

How large is your hard drive and how much free space do you have on it?

What was wrong with your PC that necessitated a Repair Install? How is
the performance now?

What does "the DCPS" refer to?

Perhaps NTREGOPT can help you with the size of the registry:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

 

[Jose]

Hi,

My windows/system32/config/system file is huge -- the order of 200mb. This
seems a bit unusual, and I did get some popups on startup that there is not
enough room for the registry. I cleared out the paging file and reallocated
1.5*2gb (the size of my memory). Anyway, what can I do about this file to
make it "normal" again?

I will state that I am after a repair install because something happened to
my system and I needed to repair. Now things are indeed working alot better,
but there is still this issue, and I guess this is why my system works slowly
at times and after awhile the DCPS take up alot of the cpu time.

Is there something I can do, or am I doomed to format and make a new install?

Thanks.

What did the popup messages say exactly and do they happen every time
you reboot? Something like:

System has reached the maximum size allowed for the system part of the
registry.

Do you mean DPCs, and if yes how did you determine that? High DPCs
are fun to diagnose.

Do you have an NVIDIA video card installed?

What was the something that happened to your system that prompted a
Repair Install?

How did you clean out the paging file? Unless you know more about
managing memory than XP, you should set your paging file to System
managed size.

Please provide additional information about your system:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
the information back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to
be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted
information.

This will minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork.

 

[db]

that folder you mentioned is not a
file.


--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

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

 

[Gerry]

It is is described as a file in Windows Explorer! Look at the
Properties!


--


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

 

[Bruce Chambers]

that folder you mentioned is not a
file.

Yes, of course it's a file, an essential part of the registry. (How
can you, in good conscience, recommend the use of registry cleaners,
when you clearly don't even know the very most fundamental thing about it?)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

 

[db]

well, I have a good conscious
and will continue to recommend
one care.

perhaps, that is what the op needs
to run to fix the bloated file.

btw: so what if I made a mistake.

it still doesn't mean you not
an ass.




--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

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

 

[Jeff]

Hi,
I will try to answer all your questions at once.
I weote DCP instead of DPC -- sort of a silly mixup, but sorry for the
confusion.

Paging: I removed the virtual memory (made it 0) and then returned it.
This, I understood weas supposed to rebuild it, should there be problems with
it. I took 1.5*2GB as the amount and I did not use the option "let the system
choose itself". Perhaps it is better to let the system choose for itself...

I do have an NVIDIA based system. The mother board is NVIDIA based (from
gigabyte) and I have, of course, an NVIDIA screen card.

Restore points: I also stopped the restore points and then restarted this. I
heard that there were viruses that "hide" in the restore point storage and
that it is good, once and awhile to rebuilt the restore point storage.

I did the repair install because I got to the popint where I could not do
updates -- most of them failed, and I could not install antiviruses and I
could not start the computer in safe-mode. So I did the repair. Excluding
this file and some minor things, it seems that the repair was basically
successful.

I hope I answered most, if not all, your questions. I thank you for your
comments. If you have more to say, please do.

Jeff

 

[Daave]

Hi,
I will try to answer all your questions at once.
I weote DCP instead of DPC -- sort of a silly mixup, but sorry for the
confusion.

Paging: I removed the virtual memory (made it 0) and then returned
it. This, I understood weas supposed to rebuild it, should there be
problems with it. I took 1.5*2GB as the amount and I did not use the
option "let the system choose itself". Perhaps it is better to let
the system choose for itself...

I do have an NVIDIA based system. The mother board is NVIDIA based
(from gigabyte) and I have, of course, an NVIDIA screen card.

Restore points: I also stopped the restore points and then restarted
this. I heard that there were viruses that "hide" in the restore
point storage and that it is good, once and awhile to rebuilt the
restore point storage.

I did the repair install because I got to the popint where I could
not do updates -- most of them failed, and I could not install
antiviruses and I could not start the computer in safe-mode. So I did
the repair. Excluding this file and some minor things, it seems that
the repair was basically successful.

I hope I answered most, if not all, your questions. I thank you for
your comments. If you have more to say, please do.

System-managed Size is usually best for Virtual Memory.

It sounds like you had malware at one point. There's a good chance you
still do. Since you didn't perform a Clean Install, I highly recommend
scanning *thoroughly* for malware:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

 

[John John - MVP]

...

Restore points: I also stopped the restore points and then restarted this. I
heard that there were viruses that "hide" in the restore point storage and
that it is good, once and awhile to rebuilt the restore point storage.

For all its worth it wouldn't change the virus status of your machine
one iota if you were to take a snapshot and then immediately after
restore that same snapshot, you won't get a new virus in a 30 second old
restore point!

The point about taking a snapshot and immediately restoring it is that
this has the same effect as saving the registry hive and then restoring
it. Saving the hive compacts it and the bloated hive is then replaced
with the compacted hive.

200MB is a surreal size for the system hive. Try these commands at a
command prompt and give us the results, these commands are perfectly
safe to run:

cd %systemroot%\system32\config
reg save HKLM\System system.hiv
dir system*

What are the reported sizes of the SYSTEM and system.hiv files?

John

 

[Jose]

Hi,
I will try to answer all your questions at once.
I weote DCP instead of DPC -- sort of a silly mixup, but sorry for the
confusion.

Paging: I removed the  virtual memory (made it 0) and then returned it.
This, I understood weas supposed to rebuild it, should there be problems with
it. I took 1.5*2GB as the amount and I did not use the option "let the system
choose itself". Perhaps it is better to let the system choose for itself....

I do have an NVIDIA based system. The mother board is NVIDIA based (from
gigabyte) and I have, of course, an NVIDIA screen card.

Restore points: I also stopped the restore points and then restarted this.. I
heard that there were viruses that "hide" in the restore point storage and
that it is good, once and awhile to rebuilt the restore point storage.

I did the repair install because I got to the popint where I could not do
updates -- most of them failed, and I could not install antiviruses and I
could not start the computer in safe-mode. So I did the repair. Excluding
this file and some minor things, it seems that the repair was basically
successful.

I hope I answered most, if not all, your questions. I thank you for your
comments. If you have more to say, please do.

Jeff

Did you follow the directions to delete the pagefile completely?
Setting it to zero and setting it back does nothing to help you.
Follow the directions and then let XP manage it. If the directions
are not clear, point out the unclear part.

Of course you have NVIDIA - why would I ask?

Where is the msinfo32 information?

Perform some scans for malicious software first, then fix any
remaining issues:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.