Slow opening JPG; XP cache?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry Pinnell
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Terry Pinnell

When I open JPG files in IrfanView by d-clicking from a My Computer
folder, the delay seems to get progressively longer. Can take 5 or 6
secs to open a 200 KB JPG. Elsewhere someone suggested this might be
cache related, and probably due to lots of processes running. Can I
isolate this conclusively? And, more important, apart from closing
services, is there any WinXP setting , such as size of cache, that I
can alter to try for a speed up please?

Or maybe there are other likely causes of this slow-down I should
pursue?
 
Terry Pinnell said:
When I open JPG files in IrfanView by d-clicking from a My Computer
folder, the delay seems to get progressively longer. Can take 5 or 6
secs to open a 200 KB JPG. Elsewhere someone suggested this might be
cache related, and probably due to lots of processes running. Can I
isolate this conclusively? And, more important, apart from closing
services, is there any WinXP setting , such as size of cache, that I
can alter to try for a speed up please?

Or maybe there are other likely causes of this slow-down I should
pursue?
Click to expand...

this delay could be caused by many things.

First I would suggest running an anti-spyware utility to elminate any
spyware that may be running in the background.

If you are using a third party firewall and/or antivirus, consider
turning some of their features off. Because of all the checking that is
done on files as you open/copy/create/... them, your computer may slow
down to 30% of its normal speed because of an antivirus program. But
before you turn it off completely make sure you know enough about viruses
to keep them away.

A third option is to check what programs are running in the background.
If you have a lot of icons in the system tray (right side of the windows
taskbar) it might be a good idea to remove some of these programs. In
Control Panel click on Software, and remove everything that you don't
need.

Changing your cache is one of the last things I'd do. Usually the system
sets these settings to something that should work fine for your computer.
If you do want to change it, right click on My Computer and select
Properties. In the Advanced tab click on the settings button for
performance. You'll get another dialog, again with an Advanced tab.
There you can set your cache size.
 
Anando said:
Hi,

Irfanview being a third party application, you might want to head to http://www.irfanview.com/ and
check out if there are any ways to resolve your issues.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but maybe I should have said that I get similar slowness if I
open images with other viewers or editors as well.

I'm assuming this is a Windows XP issue, and I was just guessing that
it had something to do with caching?
 
zero said:
this delay could be caused by many things.

First I would suggest running an anti-spyware utility to elminate any
spyware that may be running in the background.
Click to expand...

I run SpyBot and AdAware regularly. Rarely see any problems.
If you are using a third party firewall and/or antivirus, consider
turning some of their features off. Because of all the checking that is
done on files as you open/copy/create/... them, your computer may slow
down to 30% of its normal speed because of an antivirus program. But
before you turn it off completely make sure you know enough about viruses
to keep them away.
Click to expand...

I do run NAV, and I'd be reluctant to discontinue it.
A third option is to check what programs are running in the background.
If you have a lot of icons in the system tray (right side of the windows
taskbar) it might be a good idea to remove some of these programs. In
Control Panel click on Software, and remove everything that you don't
need.
Click to expand...

By implication said:
Changing your cache is one of the last things I'd do. Usually the system
sets these settings to something that should work fine for your computer.
If you do want to change it, right click on My Computer and select
Properties. In the Advanced tab click on the settings button for
performance. You'll get another dialog, again with an Advanced tab.
There you can set your cache size.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the paging file (VM), which I believe is not the same as
cache? FWIW, mine is set to 757MB on this 512MB PC. It's set for my
system partition C:, and my (much larger) data partition D: has no
paging file set.
 
Terry Pinnell said:
I do run NAV, and I'd be reluctant to discontinue it.
Click to expand...

In my (very personal) opinion NAV is one of the worst when it comes to
slowing down your computer. Don't get me wrong, their security responce
team is top notch - I often check their website for threats or hoaxes -
it's just the program that wants to do way too much.
I myself use the much smaller AVG as antivirus, and the built in xp
firewall.
By implication, those I use are those I think I need <g>.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised how often I see a program on a friend's computer, ask
him what it is, and he doesn't even know what it does or how it got
there. Those really take up processor time. But of course you know best
what you need :-)
Isn't that the paging file (VM), which I believe is not the same as
cache? FWIW, mine is set to 757MB on this 512MB PC. It's set for my
system partition C:, and my (much larger) data partition D: has no
paging file set.
Click to expand...

Yes that is the paging file actually. And 757MB sounds good. Most OS
recommend a size of more or less twice your physical RAM.
As I understand it, the only way to change the cache size is to use the
LargeSystemCache registry key - but as far as I can tell that doesn't
affect system performance much. See
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/931/

But maybe you should look elsewhere for the culprit. If you first run
the program, and then open the different files, does it take a long time
too? Or is it only if you double click the files to open them when the
program is not yet running?
 
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