Diagnostics software (slightly O/T)

  • Thread starter Thread starter GT
  • Start date Start date
G

GT

My computer is getting slower and slower to start up as the months pass. The
hard disk rattles on for a good couple of minutes after windows 'looks'
ready and I want to know what is going on!

I don't detect any hardware problems (hence the O/T), but there must be
software that you 'hardware guys' use to diagnose exactly what a PC is doing
during boot. I know that the registry gets clogged up with junk after a lot
of installing and uninstalling, but I want to log what the PC is loading
during boot.

Incidentally, can anyone recommend which of the few thousand software groups
might have been a better place for me to ask this question.

Thanks
GT
 
My computer is getting slower and slower to start up as the months pass. The
hard disk rattles on for a good couple of minutes after windows 'looks'
ready and I want to know what is going on!

I don't detect any hardware problems (hence the O/T), but there must be
software that you 'hardware guys' use to diagnose exactly what a PC is doing
during boot. I know that the registry gets clogged up with junk after a lot
of installing and uninstalling, but I want to log what the PC is loading
during boot.

Incidentally, can anyone recommend which of the few thousand software groups
might have been a better place for me to ask this question.

Thanks
GT
Click to expand...



http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/startup.html
http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html


HTH :)
 
My computer is getting slower and slower to start up as the months pass.
Click to expand...

When was the last time you defragmented it?

Also, what percentage of the boot disk is free space?



--

"All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient
and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of
God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is
the task of religion to fit man into this lawfulness. Religion
must remain an outlet for people who say to themsleves, 'I am
not the kind of person I want to be'."
--Frank Herbert, "Dune"
 
Citizen Bob said:
When was the last time you defragmented it?

Also, what percentage of the boot disk is free space?
Click to expand...

Of 20GB, 3GB is free. Defragmentation - I used to use defragmentation tools
fairly regularly, but I don't use them anymore for 2 (linked) reasons:
1. I read that a defrag on the system drive can actually moves files (normal
file, not system files) that the system deliberately places on fast parts of
the drive, thereby reducing performance at boot.
2. I experienced things running slower following a defrag and assumed point
1 above, was correct.

Any comments on this. I can't quote web pages, it was a couple of years ago!

GT
 
Thanks for the links. I tried the first application and unfortunately, there
is nothing listed that I didn't already know about. Perhaps it is a defrag
issue as Citizen Bob has suggested.
Click to expand...

For Winxp I use AusDefrag,
http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/index.php

free.I do a lot of gaming which fragments the drive a lot so I use
this utility a lot in WinXP.For Win98/SE you can use the faster WinMe
defrag,
http://members.cox.net/scotterpops/enhancements/enhancements9c.html

I also clean and compact the registry,
http://www.filedudes.com/MISPBO_Free_Registry_Cleaner-download-43275.html

and regularly clean temp files etc,
http://www.ccleaner.com/

all free stuff worth having.

Make sure you are not running out of disk space as well just in case
there's no room for the swapfile/pagefilsys to work.
HTH :)
 
Of 20GB, 3GB is free.
Click to expand...

Try cleaning some of the unused stuff off. You may not have enough
free space to support the pagefile if it expands.

Defragmentation - I used to use defragmentation tools
fairly regularly, but I don't use them anymore for 2 (linked) reasons:
1. I read that a defrag on the system drive can actually moves files (normal
file, not system files) that the system deliberately places on fast parts of
the drive, thereby reducing performance at boot.
2. I experienced things running slower following a defrag and assumed point
1 above, was correct.
Click to expand...

Defrag the hard disk. Use the defragger that comes with Windows.


--

"All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient
and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of
God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is
the task of religion to fit man into this lawfulness. Religion
must remain an outlet for people who say to themsleves, 'I am
not the kind of person I want to be'."
--Frank Herbert, "Dune"
 
When was the last time you defragmented it?
Click to expand...

Wont be what produces that rattles on effect, and
is unlikely to be the cause of the slowdown either.

That rattles on effect is MUCH more likely to be the antivirus.
Also, what percentage of the boot disk is free space?
Click to expand...

Wont be that either.
 
Of 20GB, 3GB is free.
Click to expand...

That wont be what produces the rattles on effect.
Defragmentation - I used to use defragmentation tools fairly regularly, but I don't use them
anymore for 2 (linked) reasons: 1. I read that a defrag on the system drive can actually moves
files
(normal file, not system files) that the system deliberately places
on fast parts of the drive, thereby reducing performance at boot.
Click to expand...

That can certainly happen.
2. I experienced things running slower following a defrag and assumed point 1 above, was correct.
Click to expand...
Any comments on this.
Click to expand...

Defragging isnt necessary with modern systems except in a
very few specialised situations with personal desktop systems.
I can't quote web pages, it was a couple of years ago!
Click to expand...

The problem is more likely to be your anti virus with that rattles on effect.
 
GT said:
.... snip ...

Of 20GB, 3GB is free. Defragmentation - I used to use
defragmentation tools fairly regularly, but I don't use them
anymore for 2 (linked) reasons:

1. I read that a defrag on the system drive can actually moves
files (normal file, not system files) that the system deliberately
places on fast parts of the drive, thereby reducing performance at
boot.

2. I experienced things running slower following a defrag and
assumed point 1 above, was correct.

Any comments on this. I can't quote web pages, it was a couple of
years ago!
Click to expand...

If you don't have ECC memory the defrag process can also destroy
arbitrary files as it moves them through a memory buffer. This
could be caused by a stray cosmic ray, and the memory will always
check as perfectly good. The results of the error may not show up
for months or years, if ever. By that time all your backups are
also faulty.

The only reasonable check (without ECC) is to have and use a MD5sum
check (or equivalent) on all the files, and to backup everything
before doing a defrag. This is the sort of thing my validate.exe
was designed to catch, but only the executable remains (source lost
in a disk crash). See my site, download section. However MD5sum
is a more modern equivalent, without some of the gotchas of
validate (which lengthens a file by two bytes, possibly three for
text files).
 
GT said:
My computer is getting slower and slower to start up as the months pass. The
hard disk rattles on for a good couple of minutes after windows 'looks'
ready and I want to know what is going on!

I don't detect any hardware problems (hence the O/T), but there must be
software that you 'hardware guys' use to diagnose exactly what a PC is doing
during boot. I know that the registry gets clogged up with junk after a lot
of installing and uninstalling, but I want to log what the PC is loading
during boot.

Incidentally, can anyone recommend which of the few thousand software groups
might have been a better place for me to ask this question.

Thanks
GT
Click to expand...

Your system must be running some software once win is up and running.
Autoruns will tell you what its upto, or at least list everything that
runs.

It might be malware, or might be software apps you installed. If the
latter, disabling their startup stuff, which in most cases is entirely
unnecessary, will free ram and speed startup. However software that
behaves like this is often ill behaved, and may degrade performance in
other ways. When picking software there are usually several choices,
some of which are obese, some of which are slim svelt and fast. The
trick is getting all the features you want without bloat.

So many PCs go this way, people install so much stuff without really
understanding the consequences, and this typically results.

Clean reinstall of win is generally the quick way to address it.
Suggest always using Total Uninstall 2 when installing things, then
you'd be able to solve this properly and easily without a clean
reinstall. You might well fix it another quicker way, but on the whole
I tend to just reinstall, as it is on average quicker and more often
successful IME.


NT
 
GT said:
Of 20GB, 3GB is free. Defragmentation - I used to use defragmentation tools
Click to expand...

It seems like the problem is right at the end of 3GB <bg>

1. Hard drive is so cheap these days for us being cheap <g>

2. Windows requires disk space for swapping, and swapping helps to speed
thing up.
fairly regularly, but I don't use them anymore for 2 (linked) reasons:
1. I read that a defrag on the system drive can actually moves files (normal
file, not system files) that the system deliberately places on fast parts of
the drive, thereby reducing performance at boot.
2. I experienced things running slower following a defrag and assumed point
1 above, was correct.
Click to expand...

Defrag program may need space for swaaping too, and I may not even try to
defrag hard drive with lacking of space for swapping.
 
1. Hard drive is so cheap these days for us being cheap <g>
Click to expand...

It's time to get a larger hard disk. The best price point is the 80GB
WD Caviar with 8MB cache for around $40.

http://www.directron.com/wd800jb.html

The 40GB is a few bucks cheaper but it is not as cost effective as the
80GB. Of course the larger drives are an even better bargain in terms
of dollar per GB, but if you do not want to spend more money, get the
80GB.

Then there is the option of going over to SATA but that is more
expensive and your mainboard has to support it.


--

"All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient
and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of
God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is
the task of religion to fit man into this lawfulness. Religion
must remain an outlet for people who say to themsleves, 'I am
not the kind of person I want to be'."
--Frank Herbert, "Dune"
 
It's time to get a larger hard disk. The best price point is the 80GB
WD Caviar with 8MB cache for around $40.

http://www.directron.com/wd800jb.html
Click to expand...

It seems like I posted the info on other newsgroup. Best Buy is now
selling the WD 500GB SATA for $150 (no rebate needed). And I wouldn't stick
anything less than 250-300GB to my system to draw juice from Power Supply
and creating more heat for no good reason said:
The 40GB is a few bucks cheaper but it is not as cost effective as the
80GB. Of course the larger drives are an even better bargain in terms
of dollar per GB, but if you do not want to spend more money, get the
80GB.
Click to expand...

Here I gave away several 100GB cuz I am working with multimedia and
photograph, and 100GB won't go very far. Before the 500GB and larger were
available I have (3) 250GB (just found out drive C is 100GB partitioned of
250GB), and I just added a 500GB SATA (external as I am a little lazy to
open the case yet)
 
Citizen said:
It's time to get a larger hard disk. The best price point is the 80GB
WD Caviar with 8MB cache for around $40.
Click to expand...

wish we had those kind of prices here!

NT
 
Best Buy is now selling the WD 500GB SATA for $150 (no rebate needed).
Click to expand...

Helluva deal - why not buy two.

However it is backordered.

+++
Shipping: Backordered. Usually leaves our warehouse within 1-2 weeks
+++

However it may be available at a local store.


--

"All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient
and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of
God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is
the task of religion to fit man into this lawfulness. Religion
must remain an outlet for people who say to themsleves, 'I am
not the kind of person I want to be'."
--Frank Herbert, "Dune"
 
wish we had those kind of prices here!
Click to expand...

Which Socialist Workers Paradise do you live in?

Directron is a mail order wholesaler. So is Newegg which usually has
the same or maybe even slightly better prices. But since I live a few
miles away from Directron, I cite it.


--

"All men seek to be enlightened. Religion is but the most ancient
and honorable way in which men have striven to make sense out of
God's universe. Scientists seek the lawfulness of events. It is
the task of religion to fit man into this lawfulness. Religion
must remain an outlet for people who say to themsleves, 'I am
not the kind of person I want to be'."
--Frank Herbert, "Dune"
 
Which Socialist Workers Paradise do you live in?

Directron is a mail order wholesaler. So is Newegg which usually has
the same or maybe even slightly better prices. But since I live a few
miles away from Directron, I cite it.
Click to expand...


Since buy.com currently has the Google Checkout $20 off $50
discount (only a few days remaining for that, IIRC), you can
get a 250GB in various flavors for around $66 delivered, not
bad for a non-rebate price. Newegg recently had a 400GB for
$100 delievered after a promo coupon, though it might be
sold out at the moment... I don't see how 80GB for $40 is
the best price point unless the only goal is the cheapest
thing that's modern... and even then, since Seagate is now
at 200GB per platter (IIRC, might be higher by now) with
their perpendicular 7200.10 drives, 80GB would be one
generation old from them, 100GB would be the smallest *new*
generation tech available using one side of one platter.
 
Helluva deal - why not buy two.

However it is backordered.

+++
Shipping: Backordered. Usually leaves our warehouse within 1-2 weeks
+++

However it may be available at a local store.
Click to expand...

You installed and O/S to a SATA drive yet<grin> :)
 
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