XP is TOO SLOW!!!

[Harrier .45]

I am running XP on a Dell Dimension DIM 4400, 1.70 GHz
with 128 MB RAM. Start up is excruciatingly slow before I
can access any programs -- upwards of 4 minutes! Switching
between users (logout/logon) is the same. I've just about
had it with XP! If I can't find some way to speed up this
system, I'll be ripping XP out and returning to ME, which,
by the way, I'm running on a Sony VAIO 900 MHz Duron with
absolutely no problems.

Can someone tell me how to streamline XP so that it runs
faster? A 1.7 GHz PC should not be this slow. All
configurations are original.

Thanks

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Upgrade your RAM to 512MB.....128MB is barely adequate for Windows XP.

How to Set Performance Options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308417&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


|I am running XP on a Dell Dimension DIM 4400, 1.70 GHz
| with 128 MB RAM. Start up is excruciatingly slow before I
| can access any programs -- upwards of 4 minutes! Switching
| between users (logout/logon) is the same. I've just about
| had it with XP! If I can't find some way to speed up this
| system, I'll be ripping XP out and returning to ME, which,
| by the way, I'm running on a Sony VAIO 900 MHz Duron with
| absolutely no problems.
|
| Can someone tell me how to streamline XP so that it runs
| faster? A 1.7 GHz PC should not be this slow. All
| configurations are original.
|
| Thanks

 

[jim sturtz]

right click your taskbar and see what is running. no way it s/b that slow
so maybe something is eating it up. i had a 'crash' once and for some
reason the winXP loaded a diagnostic called 'kernelfaultcheck' and that
started running. took forever to get to the desktop.

try running msconfig and stop everything from loading on boot, then add back
one at a time until the slowdown happens again.

good luck.

jim

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

I would start by at least doubling the RAM, more if practical.

Also see this link:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Quadruple your ram, or at the very least double it - 128 is an absolute
minimum. At that level you can expect minimal performance, and it sounds
like that is just what you are seeing. At the very least, turn off all the
eye candy and put everything in classic mode.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[camperdave]

Upgrade to at least 250MB Ram and be sure to download SP-1 from Microsoft's
website

 

[R. McCarty]

Before you upgrade your memory, go to the Vendor's website
and look up the specifications for your model. Most notebooks
have only two memory slots. You need to verify the Maximum
amount of memory the notebook can support and that it does
indeed have two slots.
Some notebooks can handle memory modules up to a certain
size and no larger, e.g. 256 meg single module may work but
a 512 may not be recognized by the PC.

 

[Plato]

I am running XP on a Dell Dimension DIM 4400, 1.70 GHz
with 128 MB RAM. Start up is excruciatingly slow before I

Upgrade to 512 ram. Your CPU is just fine for XP. Your RAM is NOT !!!!

 

[Ken Blake]

In

I am running XP on a Dell Dimension DIM 4400, 1.70 GHz
with 128 MB RAM. Start up is excruciatingly slow before I
can access any programs -- upwards of 4 minutes! Switching
between users (logout/logon) is the same. I've just about
had it with XP! If I can't find some way to speed up this
system, I'll be ripping XP out and returning to ME, which,
by the way, I'm running on a Sony VAIO 900 MHz Duron with
absolutely no problems.

Can someone tell me how to streamline XP so that it runs
faster? A 1.7 GHz PC should not be this slow. All
configurations are original.

How much RAM you need depends on what applications you run, but
128MB is insufficent for anyone who does much more than play
solitaire. Most people don't start to see decent performance
without at least 256MB. Some people, for example those who edit
large photographic images, can see substantial speed increases by
going well above that number.

 

[?? Ben]

Intel Application Accerator is called IAA, maybe its helpful to you.
My computer uses 256mb ram, and I have to wait for a minute before I can
open a program.
I think how a program runs is more important than how a computer starts.

 

[Guest]

I had the same problem with my new Gateway computer with a 256MB memoery card. I was told XP needs at least 126Mb just to work. So I added a 512MB card and it works great.

 

[Guest]

Hey Harrier,

I looked at the manual.
See link http://support.jp.dell.com/docs/systems/dim4400/specs.htm#1101572

It should fly even with 128MB, but it does take 512 MB chips.

It is loaded with devices so all interrupts are used.

The disk can be 66 or 100.

It has AGP 4X. and a 400 Mhz bus.

There are only two common conditions that could make it so slow at boot up.

1. The bios is taking a long tome to resolve the devices
You could try setting the bios to the other method. I.E. Turn on/off PNP OS.
Use / don’t use ESDS? Use don’t use ACPI?

2. The disk drive. Make sure you have an 80-wire cable and the drive is UDMA66 rated.
If not get a new ATA100 drive kit, which contains 80-wire cable.

Do a clean install of Win XP and format the drive with NTFS using a cluster of 4096, and if you are want go to 8092 as it will not be slower but may be faster.
When an upgrade is done over 98, ME the NTFS cluster default to 512 KB.
Your disk is issuing 8 times more reads than 4096 and 16 times more than 8092.
The MFTS is weak on a conversion; a clean install will make it much better.

SJ

P.S. A zip drive on the slave of the primary? Not sure this will allow the ATA100 or 66 to go beyond the zip speed? Make sure the zip is not running PIO mode.

Do this and I will bet it will start up in 55 seconds or less.

 

[Hilary Karp]

In addition to the excellent suggestion to increase ram, do some general
tuning:

1. Make sure your system is nice and clean from spyware/adware and trojans.

Run these programs to check for spyware/malware. After installing
update them, then boot into safe mode and run them. You should run
update and run them weekly.

Cwshredder
http://209.133.47.200/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10247783.html

After your system is clean use these programs to help keep it clean:

Spywareblaster
www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html

Spywareguard
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html

IE-SPYAD
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm

2. For viruses:

Online and Downloadable Virus Scanning:

Bit Defender Online Virus Scan:
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php

Symantec Online Virus and Security Scan:
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp

TrendMicro:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

McAfee Stinger, Downloadable Virus Scanner:
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger

McAfee Online Virus Scan:
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

Panda ActiveScan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

RAV AntiVirus - Scan Online
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/

3. Make sure you have a firewall active at all times. If nothing else
use the one built into XP, but there are a variety of free third party
ones that do a better job from Sygate, Zone Alarm or Kerio.

Sygate Personal Firewall
http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Zone Alarm
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp?lid=staticcomp_za

Kerio Personal Firewall
http://www.kerio.com/kpf_download.html

4. Check your system for vulnerabilities.

Websites which will check for vulnerabilities:

Browser Security Tests:
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/


Symantec Security Check
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
https://testzone.secunia.com/browser_checker/
www.pcpitstop.com

5. Defrag the hard drive

6. Run the disk clean up utility regularly.

6. Go to this site to read about how to set the pagefile for optimum
performance:

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

 

[Roberts]

All your suggestions are good stuff.

I think it would probably be a very good idea to get a firewall up as the
_first_ thing. I can't believe how often I get bad stuff knocking at my door
per minute. Yes, it would mean going to the local computer store and buying
the CD but I'd do it.

Comments?

roberts

 

[Ken Blake]

In

All your suggestions are good stuff.

I think it would probably be a very good idea to get a firewall up as
the _first_ thing. I can't believe how often I get bad stuff knocking
at my door per minute. Yes, it would mean going to the local computer
store and buying the CD but I'd do it.

Comments?

You don't have to buy a firewall. Windows comes with one you can
turn on, or you can download a free one such as the free version
of Zone Alarm.

 

[Hilary Karp]

You don't have to buy a firewall program at the local store. There are
several free ware downloadable ones I mention in the above post that
work well.

 

[Roberts]

That's right. Our friend does have XP so that means Harrier can use the
built-in firewall.

But if a person doesn't have one and tries to download one from the internet
then that means they are exposed for the entire time of the download. Or am
I being waaaaayyy to paranoid on this.

--roberts

 

[Hilary Karp]

But XP has the in built one.

 

[J. S. Pack]

I am running XP on a Dell Dimension DIM 4400, 1.70 GHz
with 128 MB RAM. Start up is excruciatingly slow before I
can access any programs -- upwards of 4 minutes! Switching
between users (logout/logon) is the same. I've just about
had it with XP! If I can't find some way to speed up this
system, I'll be ripping XP out and returning to ME, which,
by the way, I'm running on a Sony VAIO 900 MHz Duron with
absolutely no problems.

Can someone tell me how to streamline XP so that it runs
faster? A 1.7 GHz PC should not be this slow. All
configurations are original.

Thanks

Maybe you've picked up a worm or trojan. Check w/ spyware removers and
virus scanners, both updated.

Disable all the unneeded background apps w/ msconfig or other startup
manager.

Then see http://home.earthlink.net/~rikhardk/index.htm and do all the
optimization steps there. He mentions blackviper's site, which has free
..reg files to turn off all those unneeded services running in the
background--highly recommended.

Turn off hibernation.

After you turn off system restore, use ERUNT on a
schedule for registry backups. Clean out the registry w/ a regcleaner and
then optimize it w/ the optimizer that comes w/ ERUNT. Get it here:

http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt

Use a much smaller and faster alternative shell like bblean (free; learning
curve required but you can get support from a friendly forum) or Aston (I
like both better than explorer anyway; and Aston rocks, too (in 6MB, fully
config'd, as opposed to explorer's sometimes 36MB or so . . . .)).

Finally, use XPlite to get rid of much bloat. I think there's a freeware
version.

Most posters here are not aware of how fast XP can be, as they've never run
with such a minimal installation w/ alternate shell, so don't be
discouraged. Try the above and let us know.

 

[Jim Macklin]

To the OP, careful with posting with your true email
address, it will draw stuff you don't want. To speed up
your booting I suggest three things...
1. Buy some more RAM, at least add a 256 MB stick, it is
cheap and easy.
2. Scan for viruses and spyware
3. As was said, turn off un-needed services and start-up
programs (see www.blackviper.com for info on that.)


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 14:45:40 -0700, "Harrier .45"
<[email protected]>
| wrote:
|
| >I am running XP on a Dell Dimension DIM 4400, 1.70 GHz
| >with 128 MB RAM. Start up is excruciatingly slow before I
| >can access any programs -- upwards of 4 minutes!
Switching
| >between users (logout/logon) is the same. I've just about
| >had it with XP! If I can't find some way to speed up this
| >system, I'll be ripping XP out and returning to ME,
which,
| >by the way, I'm running on a Sony VAIO 900 MHz Duron with
| >absolutely no problems.
| >
| >Can someone tell me how to streamline XP so that it runs
| >faster? A 1.7 GHz PC should not be this slow. All
| >configurations are original.
| >
| >Thanks
|
|
| Maybe you've picked up a worm or trojan. Check w/ spyware
removers and
| virus scanners, both updated.
|
| Disable all the unneeded background apps w/ msconfig or
other startup
| manager.
|
| Then see http://home.earthlink.net/~rikhardk/index.htm and
do all the
| optimization steps there. He mentions blackviper's site,
which has free
| .reg files to turn off all those unneeded services running
in the
| background--highly recommended.
|
| Turn off hibernation.
|
| After you turn off system restore, use ERUNT on a
| schedule for registry backups. Clean out the registry w/ a
regcleaner and
| then optimize it w/ the optimizer that comes w/ ERUNT. Get
it here:
|
| http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt
|
| Use a much smaller and faster alternative shell like
bblean (free; learning
| curve required but you can get support from a friendly
forum) or Aston (I
| like both better than explorer anyway; and Aston rocks,
too (in 6MB, fully
| config'd, as opposed to explorer's sometimes 36MB or so .
.. . .)).
|
| Finally, use XPlite to get rid of much bloat. I think
there's a freeware
| version.
|
| Most posters here are not aware of how fast XP can be, as
they've never run
| with such a minimal installation w/ alternate shell, so
don't be
| discouraged. Try the above and let us know.
|
|