Progressive slowing - a chronic condition

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve
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Steve

Can anyone comment on or explain the following?

1. I bought a new 2.8 GHz laptop in January. Windows XP. Performance was
never great, but I noticed perceptible slowing by about March.

2. Having experienced similar progressive slowing with my last computer, I
felt suspicious and took a few rough timings... The time it took for menus
to appear, for example.

3. Now, I've been using computers for around 15 years and have NEVER before
had to worry about how long it took for menus to appear!!!

4. I reappraised the situation this week. Here's what I found.
a. In March, it took (near as I could estimate it) about half a second for
the Accessories submenu to reveal from the Start menu. (I chose this because
it's reasonably large and doesn't change.) I timed this immediately after a
boot up.
b. It now takes more than a full second for the same submenu to reveal
under the same circumstances.
c. A music programme which ran beautifully back in January no longer runs
without the sound completely breaking up and repeating. I'm no expert in
this, but my guess is the problem is it's using virtual memory and the
programme's having to wait for the disk to catch up. Whatever, it didn't
have to do this under the same circumstances back in March.
d. Even my word processor is slowing to a standstill. It can sometimes take
nearly a second for a single key to register.

5. My computer does NOT have a virus. That is, I have had a fully updated
NAV installed and active from the start. So, if I do have a virus, it must
be one that has escaped Symmantec's attention since January. I also use
RegScrubXP to keep the registry trim, and manually trim down the prefetch
directory.

6. It seems to me there are only two possibilities.
a. There's something wrong with the computer hardware.
b. There's something wrong with the operating system.

7. The fact that I noticed a similar effect with my last computer (Pentium
2, 333MHz running Windows 98) might suggest it isn't the computer, unless
it's a problem with Intel chipsets generally. It seems more likely it is
something to do with the operating systems.
8. Microsoft/Intel have been accused of bloating software to reduce computer
lifetimes.
I don't know anything about this, and don't make any such accusation. But
Whatever is going on here, it seems clear something somewhere's getting
progressively clogged up.
What?
Either someone with too much power is doing something very cynical, or
someone with too great a monopoly is producing substandard software.
 
1. I bought a new 2.8 GHz laptop in January. Windows XP. Performance was
never great, but I noticed perceptible slowing by about March.
Click to expand...

Have you checked for advertising software surreptitously installing itself on
your computer? It can do what you're describing. Although you and I might
consider that a virus, Symantec and the virus people don't since technically
you authorised the installation at some point -- probably without realizing
it. Hence NAV lets it through.

Try downloading and running Ad-Aware or one of their competitors. It should
find that kind of stuff and give you the option of removing it.

Good luck....

Bill -- (Remove KILLSPAM from my address to use it)
 
Hi M8

Could be a few things, please don't discount anything,
and try everything!

1. www.pandasoftware.com
(use their onlince activescan for a virus scan,
sometimes it finds stuff that NAV misses)
2. www.download.com - Download Ad-Aware
(Give this a try, it's free and loads of people have
success with it)

3. This may be the scarry thing, but, does your laptop
get very hot? is there air being blown out the back or
side, tell u why...

The CPU needs to be cooled for the machine to function at
its best, and sometimes a faulty fan or overheating
processor, may allow the system to run, but you will see
performance degradation such as you described. I won't
name makes or models, but it is a well known fact in
repair circles that some makes of laptops are notorious
overheaters. Always use a laptop on a level surface in a
well ventelated or temprature regulated room.

This may not solve your problem, but may be the stepping
stone to getting closer to a result.

If it is the fan - take it back to your supplier - your
machine should still be covered by it's one year
warranty, and have the unit replaced.

If you want to chat about it catch me as a contact on
MSNMSNGER :-(note to silly people - THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE
TO GET INTO SILLY CONVERSATIONS)-:
 
Thanks for your helpful suggestions.

I did the Panda scan, which found nothing. (I already used Ad-Aware, which
is good, but it hasn't helped with this.)

You've made me a bit worried about the fan, though. How do I know for sure
whether its faulty or not? - I'd need something specific to tell the
supplier. The fan is working - insofar as it makes a noise, and some air is
expelled. But is it working properly? The laptop does get warm when it's
been on for a little while. Not burning hot, though. Should it be completely
cool? Also (I don't know if this is normal) there's a sound of the fan motor
(I assume) starting up for several seconds before the fan itself kicks in. I
do avoid using it on soft surfaces (laps, beds, carpets...) because I think
it does block the airflow and I think it does get slightly hotter.
 
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