windows xp pro slow...

[Robbo]

I have windows XP Pro installed looong time ago (I guess it was back in
2004). I have made all updates as of last week.
The system is running weird slow. I have checked all viruses/spyware/malware
(I have made a deep research and read a lot about it, used many tools from
antivirus vendors etc.). System seems to be clean.

However, there seem to be some corrupted files, because when I use system
event viewer and click on Application snap-in, I get an error that there was
a problem with the snap-in (it crashed). Sometimes I get an error like
"Instruction at 0x (address here) refers to memory at address 0xXXX. Memory
cannot be "read". This happens very rarely but probably leads to some system
overall instability.
Memory has been checked with memtest running all evening and one night.

Recently I have made a fresh install for a friend of mine (on another
computer) and I was amazed of the speed that his XP was running. That
computer had only 512MB RAM and I have 1.5 GB RAM (for christ sakes, mine
should be as fast as lightning).

Now it would be hard for me to completely re-install the XP, so I was
wondering if for example I could reinstall the SP2 to have some possible
corrupted files reinstalled? Also the question is, would it speed up overall
system performance?

Why is it that the system performance gradually falls down after working 2
years without XP fresh reinstall ?
What am I making wrong ? What are the critical points that could slow down
WIN XP ?

 

[Roberto]

I have windows XP Pro installed looong time ago (I guess it was back in
2004). I have made all updates as of last week.
The system is running weird slow. I have checked all
viruses/spyware/malware (I have made a deep research and read a lot about
it, used many tools from antivirus vendors etc.). System seems to be
clean.

However, there seem to be some corrupted files, because when I use system
event viewer and click on Application snap-in, I get an error that there
was a problem with the snap-in (it crashed). Sometimes I get an error like
"Instruction at 0x (address here) refers to memory at address 0xXXX.
Memory cannot be "read". This happens very rarely but probably leads to
some system overall instability.
Memory has been checked with memtest running all evening and one night.

Recently I have made a fresh install for a friend of mine (on another
computer) and I was amazed of the speed that his XP was running. That
computer had only 512MB RAM and I have 1.5 GB RAM (for christ sakes, mine
should be as fast as lightning).

Now it would be hard for me to completely re-install the XP, so I was
wondering if for example I could reinstall the SP2 to have some possible
corrupted files reinstalled? Also the question is, would it speed up
overall system performance?

Why is it that the system performance gradually falls down after working 2
years without XP fresh reinstall ?
What am I making wrong ? What are the critical points that could slow down
WIN XP ?

Many things contribute to system slowdown, EG
having unwanted programs starting at bootup, limited free space on the
HDD, a badly fragmented HDD.
Look in the systray, run msconfig for clues as to what actually is
loading.

rgds
Roberto

 

[Robbo]

news:[email protected]...

Many things contribute to system slowdown, EG
having unwanted programs starting at bootup, limited free space on the
HDD, a badly fragmented HDD.
Look in the systray, run msconfig for clues as to what actually is
loading.

Thanks for response. I did many things already with the systray, msconfig
(all is cut to absolute minimum) and other spyware/malware oriented scanners
and yet the system is not as fast as I think it could be.

Could it be the large amount of registry entries? I ran some reg cleaner an
dit found about 800 invalid items.
Also my HDD is 4GB free of 40GB. That is only 10% free space, and I heard
that it is always better to have minimum 20% free space for better
performance. Does that hit the performance really that bad?

 

[Alias~-]

Thanks for response. I did many things already with the systray,
msconfig (all is cut to absolute minimum) and other spyware/malware
oriented scanners and yet the system is not as fast as I think it could be.

Could it be the large amount of registry entries? I ran some reg cleaner
an dit found about 800 invalid items.
Also my HDD is 4GB free of 40GB. That is only 10% free space, and I
heard that it is always better to have minimum 20% free space for better
performance. Does that hit the performance really that bad?

Yes, you should have at least 15% free space or defrag won't work
properly. Free up some space, defrag and see if it isn't faster.

Alias

 

[Malke]

I have windows XP Pro installed looong time ago (I guess it was back
in 2004). I have made all updates as of last week.
The system is running weird slow. I have checked all
viruses/spyware/malware (I have made a deep research and read a lot
about it, used many tools from antivirus vendors etc.). System seems
to be clean.

However, there seem to be some corrupted files, because when I use
system event viewer and click on Application snap-in, I get an error
that there was a problem with the snap-in (it crashed). Sometimes I
get an error like "Instruction at 0x (address here) refers to memory
at address 0xXXX. Memory cannot be "read". This happens very rarely
but probably leads to some system overall instability.
Memory has been checked with memtest running all evening and one
night.

Recently I have made a fresh install for a friend of mine (on another
computer) and I was amazed of the speed that his XP was running. That
computer had only 512MB RAM and I have 1.5 GB RAM (for christ sakes,
mine should be as fast as lightning).

Now it would be hard for me to completely re-install the XP, so I was
wondering if for example I could reinstall the SP2 to have some
possible corrupted files reinstalled? Also the question is, would it
speed up overall system performance?

Why is it that the system performance gradually falls down after
working 2 years without XP fresh reinstall ?
What am I making wrong ? What are the critical points that could slow
down WIN XP ?

There is really no way we can tell you why your computer is slow. You
say you are sure the machine is virus/malware-free. Here are some
general malware removal steps:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Please review the procedures and if you did not follow something
similar, it would be wise to run through the steps. If you did, then
obviously don't bother.

RAM is not the only hardware component that can fail. I would also check
your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr.'s website. Create the bootable media and then boot with it
and do a thorough test. If the drive fails any physical tests, replace
it.

Since "running weird slow" doesn't really tell me anything, you might
also check to see if the hard drive is running in PIO mode instead of
DMA. Here is an explanation and the fix from MVP Hans-Georg Michna:
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

I very much doubt that reinstalling SP2 would help, although you might
consider a Repair Install. You will need to slipstream your original XP
install media with SP2 if SP2 is not included in it.

Most definitely you should back up your data if you have not done so
already.

Malke

 

[Robbo]

U¿ytkownik "Malke" <[email protected]> napisa³ w wiadomo¶ci

Thanks for your detailed reply.

RAM is not the only hardware component that can fail. I would also check
your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr.'s website. Create the bootable media and then boot with it
and do a thorough test. If the drive fails any physical tests, replace
it.

I checked the disks with diagnostic tools. Everything is OK.

Since "running weird slow" doesn't really tell me anything, you might

"running weird slow" is a feeling when I compared my 2 year old system to a
fresh installed system.
PCs are very similar and mine should be even better. My system is P4 2.8 GHz
HT Prescott, 1.5 GB RAM. The other PC with fresh install was P4 2.4 GHz HT
and 768MB Ram.
After few minutes of working with the fresh install I had a feeling that it
is working significantly better than mine.
It may also be that I am overreacting after that comparision that I have
experienced. Much of the performance I gained by uninstalling antyvirus
scanner... But I need it anyway, and the other PC also had some antyvir
installed. I will check again with some other antivir software.

I also have a feeling that sometimes the system could have cached some of
the files, beacuse I see reads from HDD very often

also check to see if the hard drive is running in PIO mode instead of
DMA. Here is an explanation and the fix from MVP Hans-Georg Michna:
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

It is in UDMA mode 5. Disk transfers are fine.

 

[Malke]

Użytkownik "Malke" <[email protected]> napisaÅ‚ w wiadomoÅ›ci

Thanks for your detailed reply.


I checked the disks with diagnostic tools. Everything is OK.


"running weird slow" is a feeling when I compared my 2 year old system
to a fresh installed system.
PCs are very similar and mine should be even better. My system is P4
2.8 GHz HT Prescott, 1.5 GB RAM. The other PC with fresh install was
P4 2.4 GHz HT and 768MB Ram.
After few minutes of working with the fresh install I had a feeling
that it is working significantly better than mine.
It may also be that I am overreacting after that comparision that I
have experienced. Much of the performance I gained by uninstalling
antyvirus
scanner... But I need it anyway, and the other PC also had some
antyvir installed. I will check again with some other antivir
software.

I also have a feeling that sometimes the system could have cached some
of the files, beacuse I see reads from HDD very often


It is in UDMA mode 5. Disk transfers are fine.

I see in another one of your posts that you don't have a lot of hard
drive space. I would definitely free up some space as another poster
suggested.

Then do clean-boot troubleshooting. Aside from that, I really can't give
you any further suggestions since I can't see your computer and I don't
know what you have installed. If you have loads of resource-hungry
programs running resident - Norton products, etc. - then that could
certainly slow down a machine.

Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Malke