Windows XP PRO slow file opening only when on network

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Guest

As the subject says, I have a problem with files opening slow(at least 5
second delay) when attached to a network. When the system is not on a network
connection it runs fine.
The problem is not restricted to file type or size. It occurs regardless if
the file is 200meg video file or a 1k text file. My first thought is that
maybe the system is trying to check the internet for the appropriate program
to open the file BEFORE it checks the local program database. Why it would be
doing so, I have no idea.

This has been the case ever since the PC was taken out of the box,
preconfigured.

I've tried removing and reinstalling the NIC driver with no luck, and I've
also booted in safe more(thinking maybe it was a 3rd party program) but the
problem occurs there as well.

If anyone has ideas please let me know. Its become more then an annoyance as
of late and I really wanna get it fixed. Otherwise I'm reformatting and
reinstalling XP and praying I dont lose something I may have forgotten to
back up.

Thanks in advance
 
On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 10:01:02 -0700, Cliff LBC <Cliff
As the subject says, I have a problem with files opening slow(at least 5
second delay) when attached to a network. When the system is not on a network
connection it runs fine.
The problem is not restricted to file type or size. It occurs regardless if
the file is 200meg video file or a 1k text file. My first thought is that
maybe the system is trying to check the internet for the appropriate program
to open the file BEFORE it checks the local program database. Why it would be
doing so, I have no idea.

This has been the case ever since the PC was taken out of the box,
preconfigured.

I've tried removing and reinstalling the NIC driver with no luck, and I've
also booted in safe more(thinking maybe it was a 3rd party program) but the
problem occurs there as well.

If anyone has ideas please let me know. Its become more then an annoyance as
of late and I really wanna get it fixed. Otherwise I'm reformatting and
reinstalling XP and praying I dont lose something I may have forgotten to
back up.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Cliff,

You've done a good start in analysing the problem. Try running Process
Explorer, and watch what's going on. And try Filemon / Regmon too.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/04/watching-what-your-computer-is-doing.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/04/watching-what-your-computer-is-doing.html

If it's been this way since the computer came out of the box, it's probably not
obnoxious (illegal) malware. But it could well be an unnecessary add on from
the vendor. Maybe reformatting would be a good idea, as long as you selectively
examine all of the wonderful extra value bundles provided so thoughtfully by the
vendor.
 
Thanks for the reply Chuck.

I tried out the tool you advised. Pretty handy deal there, though it didnt
help bring me any closer to a solution. When I got the comp one of the first
things I did was uninstall all of the 3rd party crap that I didnt need in the
PC so I've been always pretty positive that it had nothing to do with spyware
and the like.

As a network admin at a company full of download happy noobies, I have
become pretty adept at finding and fixing odd issues, but I've never come
across anything quite like this one. It has the feel of a setting in the
system rather then a 3rd party deal. Especially since there is no error when
it cant reach a network, it just bypasses the step.

I'm probably going to ghost image the machine before I do anything to it.
Any further help or suggestions would be greatly appareciated.

Thanks
 
Thanks for the reply Chuck.

I tried out the tool you advised. Pretty handy deal there, though it didnt
help bring me any closer to a solution. When I got the comp one of the first
things I did was uninstall all of the 3rd party crap that I didnt need in the
PC so I've been always pretty positive that it had nothing to do with spyware
and the like.

As a network admin at a company full of download happy noobies, I have
become pretty adept at finding and fixing odd issues, but I've never come
across anything quite like this one. It has the feel of a setting in the
system rather then a 3rd party deal. Especially since there is no error when
it cant reach a network, it just bypasses the step.

I'm probably going to ghost image the machine before I do anything to it.
Any further help or suggestions would be greatly appareciated.
Click to expand...

Cliff,

Well, if what you were doing explicitly involved network activity, like maybe a
browser, I'd suspect a system setting or maybe a protocol problem. But with the
problem coming up simply when you open a file (of any type), and only when
attached to the network, and having been doing that since "out of the box", it's
normal to suspect that something on the computer when it was delivered is part
of the problem. So I was thinking OEM add-ons.

But now you say it's a corporate computer, at a company full of noobies who do
downloads (unsupervised Internet activity?). Tell us more about the computer -
did you ghost it when you took it out of the box? Have you setup lots others
using the same ghost image? Any hardware differences?

What processes did Process Explorer identify? Anything interesting?
 
Check for a 'power-saving' option on the LAN card. These options are often
defective, and give rise to trouble if the machine is left idle for a few
minutes.

Since Explorer scans ALL driveletters on the computer when a file..open
dialog is requested, a defective network mapping (or dud CD in the drive)
will delay the process even if it's not the place where the file is.
 
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