windowsXP performance woes

[gimp]

i just "upgraded" to winXP pro after using win2K for about 4 yrs. why is
the CPU overhead in winXP so terrible...? every minute or so the
processor usage seems to go up 20 percent or so for an instant... not
huge but not acceptable either. is that normal for XP and if so WTF is
it ??? its really bizarre. i have Norton firewall and AV but it still
happens with them disabled... i've tried to keep a look-out for the
process causing the surge in Task Mgr but it seems to vary - i think one
could be msmsgs.exe... btw is it normal to have like 10 svchost.exe
processes running...?

i have an athlon64 with 1GB ram so its not my system. the nVidia
graphics drivers don't seem to be as snappy as with 2K either in my
applications... despite upgrading to the latest.

i've switched to the classic windows theme...disabled window shadows and
fading... is there anything else i can do to fix these performance
problems...?

 

[Dave - Dave.net.nz]

i've switched to the classic windows theme...disabled window shadows and
fading... is there anything else i can do to fix these performance
problems...?

right click on my computer, choose properties, choose advanced, choose
performance settings, choose "adjust for best performance" or just
select/deselect the options you wish to disable.

 

[~misfit~]

i just "upgraded" to winXP pro after using win2K for about 4 yrs. why
is the CPU overhead in winXP so terrible...? every minute or so the
processor usage seems to go up 20 percent or so for an instant... not
huge but not acceptable either. is that normal for XP and if so WTF is
it ??? its really bizarre. i have Norton firewall and AV but it still
happens with them disabled... i've tried to keep a look-out for the
process causing the surge in Task Mgr but it seems to vary - i think
one could be msmsgs.exe... btw is it normal to have like 10
svchost.exe processes running...?

i have an athlon64 with 1GB ram so its not my system. the nVidia
graphics drivers don't seem to be as snappy as with 2K either in my
applications... despite upgrading to the latest.

i've switched to the classic windows theme...disabled window shadows
and fading... is there anything else i can do to fix these performance
problems...?

What are you using to report processor usage?

I've had XP Pro running on a Celeron 400 in the past and it sits on about 2%
CPU if I'm not doing anything and pretty much stays there. I've got an
overclocked XP1800+ here running XP Pro and with two IE windows open and OE
with QuoteFix, with 11 things in the systray including AV software both MBM5
and Windows Task Manager report 0% CPU. If I move the mouse over the toolbar
(set to auto-hide) it flicks to 1%.

I have XP set to 'best performance' as Dave described. There's nothing wrong
with the CPU overhead with XP, there's something wrong with your set-up.

 

[wogers nemesis]

i just "upgraded" to winXP pro after using win2K for about 4 yrs. why is
the CPU overhead in winXP so terrible...? every minute or so the
processor usage seems to go up 20 percent or so for an instant... not
huge but not acceptable either. is that normal for XP and if so WTF is
it ??? its really bizarre. i have Norton firewall and AV but it still
happens with them disabled... i've tried to keep a look-out for the
process causing the surge in Task Mgr but it seems to vary - i think one
could be msmsgs.exe... btw is it normal to have like 10 svchost.exe
processes running...?

i have an athlon64 with 1GB ram so its not my system. the nVidia
graphics drivers don't seem to be as snappy as with 2K either in my
applications... despite upgrading to the latest.

i've switched to the classic windows theme...disabled window shadows and
fading... is there anything else i can do to fix these performance
problems...?

Read a tweak guide...

http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/xptweaks/supertweaks1.htm

basically there are many services you really don't need.
msmsgs is msn messenger - it can be killed..

have a poke around with msconfig

and I hear that Norton Antivirus 2004 like to chew up your processor
usage..

 

[Bruce Flyger]

i just "upgraded" to winXP pro after using win2K for about 4 yrs. why is
the CPU overhead in winXP so terrible...? every minute or so the
processor usage seems to go up 20 percent or so for an instant... not
huge but not acceptable either. is that normal for XP and if so WTF is
it ??? its really bizarre. i have Norton firewall and AV but it still
happens with them disabled... i've tried to keep a look-out for the
process causing the surge in Task Mgr but it seems to vary - i think one
could be msmsgs.exe... btw is it normal to have like 10 svchost.exe
processes running...?

i have an athlon64 with 1GB ram so its not my system. the nVidia
graphics drivers don't seem to be as snappy as with 2K either in my
applications... despite upgrading to the latest.

i've switched to the classic windows theme...disabled window shadows and
fading... is there anything else i can do to fix these performance
problems...?

Via or Nforce chipset?

Have you installed the latest drivers?

Was your "upgrade", an install over the top of, or a fresh install?

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Indexing Service

Have you carried out routine housekeeping? Essential after major system
changes.


Poor system performance can be the result of a single problem or a
combination of factors. Listed
below are issues, which you may wish to examine if you are experiencing poor
performance after
the boot process has completed. Some items may help with slow starting of
Windows XP but the
list has not been prepared for tackling that problem. Work through the list
until you achieve an
acceptable result.
Regular and effective housekeeping is essential. What you do and how often
you do it will depend
on how you use your computer. A suggested routine may include:
1. In Outlook Express empty your Deleted Items folder.
2. In Outlook Express run File, Folder, Compact All whilst OFFLINE.
3. Run Disk Cleanup. Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk
Cleanup with
Temporary Internet Files, Offline Web Pages (optional), System Restore (
more Options tab )
and Recycle Bin selected for deletion. If you have more than one drive /
partition you may
need to do this operation for each drive / partition.
4. Remove Cookies. Start, Control Panel, Internet Options, General, Delete
Cookies.
5. Run Disk Defragmenter.

Check whether you could reduce the number of days the History of sites
visited is retained. Start,
Control Panel, Internet Options, General, History.
Spyware causes many problems. If not installed download Adaware and / or
update Reference file
from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ and use it to remove
parasites. If Spyware
persists as a problem try a Hosts file.
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html
Slow performance resulting from insufficient memory, causing over reliance
on virtual memory,
may be especially noticed by those upgrading to Windows XP from an earlier
version of Windows.
Windows XP will run with 64 MB of RAM memory. However, a minimum of 256 MB
is
recommended and many users will recommend 512 MB. You may check on pagefile
(virtual
memory) usage with Page File Monitor for XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/

Check how much free space you have on the hard drive / partition where your
pagefile is located.
You need a minimum of 15% but 20% or more is better.

Check your setting for the Indexing Service. Start, Administrative Tools,
Services, Indexing
Service. The default setting is Manual. Check that it is not running. More
information here:
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm#Indexing_Service
You can have too many programmes running in the background. Close
programmes/windows after
use. Check whether all the programmes loading when Windows is started are
really necessary.
http://aumha.org/a/loads.htm
Check whether you can identify slow performance with a particular programme.
Look in Google to
see whether others have encountered the same problem and found a solution.
http://groups.google.com/
Are there any error messages in Event Viewer? You can access Event Viewer by
selecting Start,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning of the
error, information
regarding Event ID: and Source Description is important.
HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427&Product=winxp

~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[gimp]

right click on my computer, choose properties, choose advanced, choose
performance settings, choose "adjust for best performance" or just
select/deselect the options you wish to disable.

mmmk. i just did that and it fixed *everything* my 3D app is also
quicker even while using NAV.

i'm curious to know which one(s) on that list are problematic so might
go thru them just to see... anyway crisis averted. looks like i won't
have to go out with a baseball bat and hunt down that MS rep afterall

cheerz

 

[Dave - Dave.net.nz]

mmmk. i just did that and it fixed *everything* my 3D app is also
quicker even while using NAV.

heh, it's the first thing I always do with XP, I can't stand all the
candy floss graphics.

Whats your videocard?

 

[gimp]

heh, it's the first thing I always do with XP, I can't stand all the
candy floss graphics.

Whats your videocard?

its a GeForce4-MX 440SE [waits for laughter to die down]. it hasn't been
used as a gaming box obviously. i'll be getting a quadroFX 700 from the
states soon, but the GF4 has actually been ok with 3D in win2K.

 

[Dave - Dave.net.nz]

its a GeForce4-MX 440SE [waits for laughter to die down]. it hasn't been
used as a gaming box obviously. i'll be getting a quadroFX 700 from the
states soon, but the GF4 has actually been ok with 3D in win2K.

that might have been it.
I noted that it ran kinda slow with the "pretty" shit enabled on my old
card(GF2MX), but once I got a GF4 Ti, all is fine no matter what I set
it at.

I did have the same problem with Gnome and KDE on Linux, so it appears
just to be the way things are going.

Longhorn is meant to supposedly require a DX9 card, although by the time
it is released, it'll be fairly common

 

[Alex Nichol]

i just "upgraded" to winXP pro after using win2K for about 4 yrs. why is
the CPU overhead in winXP so terrible...? every minute or so the
processor usage seems to go up 20 percent or so for an instant... not
huge but not acceptable either. is that normal for XP and if so WTF is
it ??? its really bizarre. i have Norton firewall and AV but it still
happens with them disabled... i've tried to keep a look-out for the
process causing the surge in Task Mgr but it seems to vary - i think one
could be msmsgs.exe... btw is it normal to have like 10 svchost.exe
processes running...?

msmsgs is Windows Messenger. It will use a little CPU regularly
checking who of your contacts is on line. But not much cumulatively;
using it quite a bit and with a fair amount of file transfers in the
past couple of days since I booted, it is showing about a minute of
cumulative CPU.

SVChost is support for a whole slew of system services, loaded in
batches, hence multiple instances. But usually about five. I currently
have seven running, that I know is the result of having started a couple
of things that use a service of their own, and stopping/ starting them