XP Home startup aps

[KenK]

When I run msconfig>startup in XP I see a lot of stuff I don't recognize.
Is there a utility to help analyze these or do I need to Google each of
them?

My computer is getting VERY slow.

TIA

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

When I run msconfig>startup in XP I see a lot of stuff I don't recognize.
Is there a utility to help analyze these or do I need to Google each of
them?

Google each of them.

My computer is getting VERY slow.

One or more of those *might* be the problem, but not necessarily.

 

[Paul]

When I run msconfig>startup in XP I see a lot of stuff I don't recognize.
Is there a utility to help analyze these or do I need to Google each of
them?

My computer is getting VERY slow.

TIA

Try Autoruns.

It's probably just displaying some info coming from
the application itself. Sort of the same thing you
could get by holding the mouse over the .exe as
a balloon popup.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

*******

On my laptop, I had to remove the printer package
for my printer, because it was eating too many
resources *even when the printer was unplugged* .
Now what kind of idiot writes software like that ?
It should at least do a "presence check" and stand
down if the hardware is not present. Instead of
having three or four services, it could have
one service, that polls once every five minutes
to see if the printer is there. The printer
isn't ready to print the instant you turn it
on anyway, and has its own special dance it does with
the print head, to suit itself. It's like the
Nutcracker Waltz with print cartridges.

Paul

 

[BillW50]

In KenK typed:

When I run msconfig>startup in XP I see a lot of stuff I don't
recognize. Is there a utility to help analyze these or do I need to
Google each of them?

My computer is getting VERY slow.

Slow booting up or slow in general? Slow booting up is generally too
many startups. Slow in general is usually something else. My MSCONFIG
Startup is about three pages worth. What is yours like?

 

[BillW50]

In BillW50 typed:

In KenK typed:

Well I like "AnVir Task Manager" which also monitors startups. I haven't
used the free version in years, but I believe it should be fine for this
task (it does a lot of nice stuff). And they rate each startup and give
it a Security Risk Rating. Anything less than 50% is probably just fine.

 

[Don Phillipson]

When I run msconfig>startup in XP I see a lot of stuff I don't recognize.
Is there a utility to help analyze these or do I need to Google each of
them?

Just unselect all these items, and run as normal, and later reactivate
those it turns out you really need. (They remain in the list when you
select them off.)

 

[Mayayana]

As Paul said, use Autoruns. MSConfig is primitive.
Most of these things you can check out by looking at
the file. Autoruns will also show you icons, which helps.
Then click the item and click Properties to see the
property page for the EXE file that's starting up. Often
that will tell you what the file does.
AV, music players, hardware, and things like Skype
are all examples of programs that will get installed and
set to run at startup without asking you. I was cleaning
up a machine recently that had 4 nonsense programs
loading at startup because the person had to install
iTunes in order to download an audio file. He doesn't
use the software and had no use for it. Apple just wouldn't
allow him to download without getting all that crap.

AV is usually the biggest drag on the system. If you
want AV then you're stuck with that problem. Beyond
that, here are a few other things to check for slow XP:

Open Internet Explorer -> Tools -> Internet
Options. Delete all cache (stored files) and
set the cache limit small -- maybe 50 MB.

Also in IE, disable any add-ons that are not
necessary. If they don't use IE then remove
all extensions and BHOs via the Registry.

(IE is tied into the system, affecting Explorer.)

Do a disk cleanup and have it delete all Temp
files.

Disable any unnecessary services; especially
indexing.

Never use Symantec software.

A lot of firewalls have turned into bloated multi-
function programs. Likewise with malware hunters,
etc. They're junk. You shouldn't need to be dynamically
hunting for malware. And both AV and malware hunters
have become a losing proposition. You end up with
every file action being scanned for 10s of thousands
of signatures, while most attacks are being done with
vulnerabilities that are not even officially known yet.

Download Procmon from Sysinternals and see
what is happening when nothing should be.

 

[Mayayana]

| Slow booting up or slow in general? Slow booting up is generally too
| many startups. Slow in general is usually something else. My MSCONFIG
| Startup is about three pages worth. What is yours like?
|
Your startup list is 3 pages! I have my firewall and
my trackball program listed in Startup on MSConfig.

(Though I don't think MSConfig is worth the trouble
to look at it. Those two programs are only a small
fraction of what's actually starting up. They only
represent what's in the Registry's HKLM\....\Run key.)

 

[BillW50]

In Mayayana typed:

Your startup list is 3 pages! I have my firewall and
my trackball program listed in Startup on MSConfig.

Yes 12 items per page and a total of 31 items.

(Though I don't think MSConfig is worth the trouble
to look at it. Those two programs are only a small
fraction of what's actually starting up. They only
represent what's in the Registry's HKLM\....\Run key.)

Yes I agree. AnVir Task Manager for example, lists 656 startups. 7 are
Microsoft, 478 are Windows programs and 171 are non-Microsoft programs
on this same machine. 598 out of the 656 total are things like shell
extensions and decoder filters.

 

[KenK]

In KenK typed:

Slow booting up or slow in general? Slow booting up is generally too
many startups. Slow in general is usually something else.

General. Guess I'll have to monitor Task Manager > Processes and see if
it gives me a clue. I had thought perhaps something in Startup was
hogging the CPU.

My MSCONFIG
Startup is about three pages worth. What is yours like?

Much smaller.

 

[KenK]

As Paul said, use Autoruns. MSConfig is primitive.
Most of these things you can check out by looking at
the file. Autoruns will also show you icons, which helps.
Then click the item and click Properties to see the
property page for the EXE file that's starting up. Often
that will tell you what the file does.

Thank you.

AV, music players, hardware, and things like Skype
are all examples of programs that will get installed and
set to run at startup without asking you. I was cleaning
up a machine recently that had 4 nonsense programs
loading at startup because the person had to install
iTunes in order to download an audio file. He doesn't
use the software and had no use for it. Apple just wouldn't
allow him to download without getting all that crap.

I don't run AV, music, photos, Skype, etc.

AV is usually the biggest drag on the system. If you
want AV then you're stuck with that problem. Beyond
that, here are a few other things to check for slow XP:

Open Internet Explorer -> Tools -> Internet
Options. Delete all cache (stored files) and
set the cache limit small -- maybe 50 MB.

I use Firefox, currently 30.0.

Also in IE, disable any add-ons that are not
necessary. If they don't use IE then remove
all extensions and BHOs via the Registry.

(IE is tied into the system, affecting Explorer.)

Do a disk cleanup and have it delete all Temp
files.

That's one thing I quit doing several Windows' versions ago. Does it
really help that much?

Disable any unnecessary services; especially
indexing.

Never use Symantec software.

I learned that on my last system.

A lot of firewalls have turned into bloated multi-
function programs. Likewise with malware hunters,
etc. They're junk. You shouldn't need to be dynamically
hunting for malware. And both AV and malware hunters
have become a losing proposition. You end up with
every file action being scanned for 10s of thousands
of signatures, while most attacks are being done with
vulnerabilities that are not even officially known yet.

I use Kaspersky. Maybe I shouldn't. I'd get nervous running without
malware control.

Download Procmon from Sysinternals and see
what is happening when nothing should be.

I'll try that.

Thank you for all the tips!

 

[Nil]

That's one thing I quit doing several Windows' versions ago. Does it
really help that much?

You have never cleaned out your temp folder?!?!? There are probably
gigabytes of trash there. It may not affect performance, but what a
waste of disk space.

 

[BillW50]

In KenK typed:

General. Guess I'll have to monitor Task Manager > Processes and see
if it gives me a clue. I had thought perhaps something in Startup was
hogging the CPU.

Oh ok. One thing that the Task Manager misses is a process of sorts that
I have forgotten what it is called. Microsoft's free Process Explorer
shows it. It has to do with DMA and polling. If you see the Task Manager
showing the CPU is busy and no process shows in the list as being the
one, then this is probably it.

Much smaller.

Oh ok. <grin>

 

[Mayayana]

It sounds like you're in very good shape. (Except for the
slowness. I'm not certain
about TEMP files, but I think it may slow down Explorer
when they get backed up. (They can also be in several
places.) Likewise with Recycle Bin. With IE temp I know
for sure that it can drag things down. You might want to
just check that and set a very small cache size. Even if
you don't use IE, some software can use the cache. Typically
it's set at a very high limit and when it gets backed up
the whole system can go in slow motion. I'm not sure why.
I suspect it's because IE and Explorer are linked, so that
Explorer monitors the IE cache as it's also tracking folder
files.

TEMP folders on XP:
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\LocalService\Local Settings\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp

 

[Daave]

My computer is getting VERY slow.

Please answer the following:

1. How much RAM do you have?

2. What antivirus program or suite are you running?

3. Have you scanned for malware with MBAM or aswMBR?

Here is my usual "causes of sluggishness":

1. Malicious software (malware). You need to rule this out first! This
page has excellent information:

http://www.selectrealsecurity.com/malware-removal-guide

2. Not enough free space on the hard drive. At the very least, you
should have at least 15% free space. A good goal to shoot for is 50%.

3. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton
and McAfee). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply
use way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other
programs. Fortunately, there are other antimalware programs available
that use far fewer resources (e.g., NOD32, MSE, and Avira).

4. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile. A
quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values
under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit,
and Peak.
The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that
very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you
used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of
Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM. In case
you want to explore this further, you may run Page File Monitor for
Windows XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

5. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode
didn't change from DMA to PIO:
http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/
and
http://winhlp.com/node/10

 

[casey.o]

In KenK typed:

Slow booting up or slow in general? Slow booting up is generally too
many startups. Slow in general is usually something else. My MSCONFIG
Startup is about three pages worth. What is yours like?

Holy shit.....

On my laptop with XP-Pro, I have 9 items.

In Win98, I only have 4 items that load. (using Msconfig). I have
always disabled everything at startup except parts of Windows itself.


I actually had 10 in XP, but I disabled a thing called "Digital Line
Detect". I dont have a clue what that is for, but it was something that
was with one of the Lenovo drivers and it got installed and dont seem to
be needed.

 

[casey.o]

On my laptop, I had to remove the printer package
for my printer, because it was eating too many
resources *even when the printer was unplugged* .
Now what kind of idiot writes software like that ?

Probably the same idiots who write these tv commercials that say "If
you've sufferred a stroke, heart attack, or death, call this number
800-xxx-xxxx so we can file a lawsuit". I'm still trying to figure out
how a dead person can make a phone call .....

 

[KenK]

Please answer the following:

1. How much RAM do you have?
512M

2. What antivirus program or suite are you running?
Kaspersky

3. Have you scanned for malware with MBAM or aswMBR?

No, I rely on Kaspersky.

Here is my usual "causes of sluggishness":

1. Malicious software (malware). You need to rule this out first! This
page has excellent information:

http://www.selectrealsecurity.com/malware-removal-guide

2. Not enough free space on the hard drive. At the very least, you
should have at least 15% free space. A good goal to shoot for is 50%.

About 75% free.

3. Certain programs that are designed to combat malware (e.g., Norton
and McAfee). Ironically, they can slow things down because they simply
use way too many resources. Sometime they cause conflicts with other
programs. Fortunately, there are other antimalware programs available
that use far fewer resources (e.g., NOD32, MSE, and Avira).

4. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile.
A quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager
(Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three
values under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total,
Limit, and Peak.
The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that
very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory
you used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value
of Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM.

True in my case.

In
case you want to explore this further, you may run Page File Monitor
for Windows XP:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm

5. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode
didn't change from DMA to PIO:

Will have to research that soon using your links. I suspect not.

 

[Paul]

Will have to research that soon using your links. I suspect not.

You can use HDTune and run the read benchmark on your
hard drive. And see if it looks like sustained reads
are happening at the right rate.

http://www.hdtune.com/files/hdtune_255.exe

Old drives would be 65MB/sec near the beginning, and
about 30MB/sec at the end.

A modern drive (cheapie) would be 135MB/sec near the
beginning, and around 70MB/sec near the end. hard drives
have a "declining curve", while SSDs and USB flash drives
are a flat line. And if you ever see a flat line, the
rate can tell you whether some artificial bottleneck
is involved.

The very best hard drive, is 180MB/sec at the beginning.
Whereas the very best SSD is in the 500MB/sec range.
Nothing in the house here, does more than 135MB/sec

In this old example, you can see how jumpering a drive
for operation in SATA I mode (150MB/sec), limits the
transfer rate to 123.2MB/sec. When the disk connection
is not a bottleneck, the faster portion of the disk
(near the beginning) gets a bit more "wavy" in the trace.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/842/500gb3500418ascomposite.gif

A hard drive in PIO mode, gives a flat line at around
7MB/sec, instead of a nice curve.

Paul

 

[BillW50]

Nothing in the house here, does more than 135MB/sec

You have no SSD drives yet? They are really nice. You know how fast
running applications from a RAMDisk is like. Well it is a lot like that.
Not quite the speed of a RAMDisk, but most applications launch in a
blink of an eye. Most everything is no wait time at all.

I pretty much moved all of my XP, 7, and 8 Gateway M465 machines over to
SSD now. Next I'll be upgrading my Alienware machines over to SSD. They
are already running dual video cards (works like dual core GPUs), but
they also support dual drives running RAID as well. Two drives
delivering simultaneously 500MB per sec each... wow! Talk about smoking!