XP Service pack 2 performance

[Tony Patriarche]

I loaded XP SP2 and performance is seriously degraded.
Noted in particular: logon & display of desktop - 3 to 5
times slower. I have 512MB of memory - do I need to
upgrade? Any other suggestions?

Performance was already slow -- 2 years without major
cleanup. But the only way I know to do this is save
everything essential, format HD, reload Windows &
currently used software -- a very big job. Is a registry
cleanup utility likely to help? Suggestions?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

I would suggest performing the following maintenance after
installing SP2:

Description of the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310312&Product=winxp

How to Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315265&Product=winxp

HOW TO: Analyze and Defragment a Disk in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305781&Product=winxp


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

Be Smart! Protect Your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/default.aspx

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:

| I loaded XP SP2 and performance is seriously degraded.
| Noted in particular: logon & display of desktop - 3 to 5
| times slower. I have 512MB of memory - do I need to
| upgrade? Any other suggestions?
|
| Performance was already slow -- 2 years without major
| cleanup. But the only way I know to do this is save
| everything essential, format HD, reload Windows &
| currently used software -- a very big job. Is a registry
| cleanup utility likely to help? Suggestions?

 

[Ted Zieglar aka \Rocky\]

1. Defragment your hard disk.
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter.

2. Run the Disk Cleanup wizard.
Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
Tip: To save time, uncheck 'Compress old files.'

You need to get into the habit of regularly maintaining your computer. Like
almost everything else in life, a computer works better when it's
well-maintained.

 

[Tony Patriarche]

Thanks for the info -- I was not aware of these tools. I
will do a disk cleanup & defrag, but I doubt this is the
problem as I have 63 GB free on the HD.

I am still suspicious about registry size. I will try
users with less on their desktop to see if there's a
difference. Anyone know how to find the registry file for
a particular user?

TP

 

[Gordon]

Thanks for the info -- I was not aware of these tools. I
will do a disk cleanup & defrag, but I doubt this is the
problem as I have 63 GB free on the HD.

Ah, but that's the point of defragging. the disk MIGHT have 63GB free, but
it's not necessarily CONTIGUOUS free space. In fact if you have never
defragged, then it probably isn't.

 

[Tony Patriarche]

I do these maintenance operations fairly regularly, and
usually don't see any improvement in performance,
especially desktop loading or refresh, which just gets
slower & slower as time goes by.

Defrag always reports "no defrag needed". Of course, a
lot depends on which files are fragmented, so I do it
anyway. I notice a couple of large WIN dll's are
fragmented, so I will defrag before complaining further
<g>.

TP

 

[Ted Zieglar aka \Rocky\]

I'll be blunt, my friend: If you didn't know about basic maintenance
operations like disk defragmenter, disk error checking and disk cleanup, you
aren't qualified to work in the registry. In any case, with the speed of
today's hardware, the size of a registry has an insignificant effect on the
performance of your computer.

 

[theratster]

I seem to be having the exact same problem. I HAVE been
keeping regular with performance maintainance (scandisk,
defrag, virus-scans, ad-aware, etc.) with a stunningly
fast computer prior to installation of SP2. Once I did
that however, my system has slowed down A LOT, and in the
same area, attempting to log-in to my account.
Effectively, I click on the username, it pops up as
loading user settings, and although the CPU or harddisk
are not being used, it just remains at the "loading
personal settings" screen for a very long time...
sometimes I just have to reboot and try again. (I have
now had SP2 loaded for longer than a week)

I want to do something BESIDES uninstalling SP2 to solve
this problem, but I will if I have to.

Any ideas?

 

[Tony Patriarche]

Maybe we'll just have to hope for an SP2 update/bulletin
from MS....

Re performance degrading over time (regardless of SP2), I
did a little research on the registry, and discovered some
of it is stored in "hive" files. Two of these I was able
to locate are called SOFTWARE and SYSTEM, 21 and 6 MB
respectively. There may be many more that I don't know
where to look for. If all these are loaded or read at
logon, that could account for slow logon, esp. as new
programs are added. IMHO, most software uses the registry
WAY too much, instead of using .ini or similar files that
are only read when the application launches, thus leading
to overall system bloat.

TP

 

[andrede32]

try to use a free software named pagedefrag.
It works very well for me .
All the best andrede

 

[Guest]

I'm having the exact same problem.
Login takes 5-7 minutes when the computer is connected on network.
I tried to startup Windows without a network cable connected and the "login"
process was quickly (30 seconds max.). After "login" I put the network cable
and Windows recognize the network and get a IP from server quickly.

It seems incompatibility with the Domain Server (in my case a Microsoft
Windows Terminal Server 2000) Controller.

Any ideas?

Thanxs.

 

[Guest]

Ah, but that's the point of defragging. the disk MIGHT have 63GB free, but
it's not necessarily CONTIGUOUS free space. In fact if you have never
defragged, then it probably isn't.

Question: under Windows XP (currently running SP1), how does one set it so
that it makes the free space contiguous as well as the files? If there is a
way, I have yet to find it, regardless of how many times I've gone through
the help file. L8r.

 

[Guest]

To solve the problem I performed these steps:

1) Fdisk, Format;
1) Install XP
2) Apply SP2 before install any other softwares;
3) Install other softwares.

Maicon.