XP speed question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard
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Richard

Looking for some ideas .... I am using XP Home w/ SP2 on a Dell w/ 1g ram on
a 1.7 g P4. Computer is a Dimension 8200.

I do have a fair amount of software on the machine - so the boot time & save
settings time is long. It would be nice to speed that up - but I am tolerant
of that problem.

What would delay the opening of a window - or the saving of a file? It is
pretty clear that the computer slows down at times. I am noticing it more
now that I am using Dragon Naturally Speaking Pref 9. It takes an
esxtraordinary amount of time to process and type the dictation. Other
functions seem slow at times as well. I am using Norton as an antivirus
program (2004) - and I have noticed that Norton can slow things down
scanning a file.

I am looking globally for reasons the machine is slow - not all the time -
but on occasion. Another thing I noticce is there is hard drive activity
after the desktop appears - and looks ready to go - and when I look at the
task monitor - the usage is by normal things like explorer airsvcu - and
svchost - etc.

Would it make sense to create users for different kinds of use - would that
prevent all of the drivers from being loaded (if that is the problem).
Currently I have one user.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Start by using Windows Disk Cleanup to free up disk space if you haven't
done so already.

Next you need to find the specific sub-process or application that's taking
all
the CPU resources and slowing down your PC.
To do this try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
Then expand the process named 'Explorer' (click on the + sign)
In the column on the left named 'CPU', look for any high CPU usage.
Next click on the CPU column to sort the processes by %CPU usage (Highest to
Lowest).
Then click on the process that's using most or all the CPU % to highlight
it,
Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
Search Online
This should display what out there on the web about that process.
You can also double click on any process to open up a more detailed
'Properties' window.

Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, Svchost may need to be
expanded to show the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left of the
entry.


Finally to see what loading when you boot your PC (background
applications/Norton, Etc.)
Try Autoruns from the MS Windows SysInternals site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx
AutoRuns will show/list all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot
(Boot Execute tab),
when you logon (Logon tab) and other programs that load (grouped by labeled
tabs) for easy viewing.
It also provides the ability to selectively allows you to stop (use with
care) any program that you don't want to load. You can undo any changes you
have made.

Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you may need to
highlight the item (right click) and use the 'Search Online' option to get
the details, especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

JS
 
Use msconfig to disable all start-ups, reboot, except the warning msg see
how it runs then.
IMO Norton is resource hungry, there has been at least 4 Norton app updates
since 2004
You have of course run system clean up, defrag etc?
What is your free space on C?
 
Richard

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance
Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as it
is more informative.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Thanks all - here is some of the info about the machine:

Thanks for all of your input. I do clean the HD often - and have 3+gig
available on a 40gig drive - which I offload to a USB drive of larger size
as I use more space for documents. I usually keep about 9-10 gig available.

I have Norton 2007 on my laptop - w/ license for 3 machines - ut 04 has some
nifty tools (wiper, etc) that the newer Norton does not have.

As to the commit charge - when the machine is quiet here are the numbers:

401004
2521528
445356
 
One thing I don't like about Norton AV (I use it) is Live Update, I turn
automatic updates off and manual run Live Update.
Why: Live Update has a bad habit of running at random times of the day and
can slow things down when it downloads and installs one or more updates.

JS
 
Thanks - here is the info - any issues I should address?

As to the commit charge - when the machine is quiet here are the numbers:

401004
2521528
445356

Volume (C:)
Volume size = 37.24 GB
Cluster size = 4 KB
Used space = 25.95 GB
Free space = 11.29 GB
Percent free space = 30 %

Volume fragmentation
Total fragmentation = 5 %
File fragmentation = 10 %
Free space fragmentation = 0 %

File fragmentation
Total files = 193,578
Average file size = 211 KB
Total fragmented files = 671
Total excess fragments = 4,037
Average fragments per file = 1.02

Pagefile fragmentation
Pagefile size = 1.50 GB
Total fragments = 51

Folder fragmentation
Total folders = 15,634
Fragmented folders = 4
Excess folder fragments = 34

Master File Table (MFT) fragmentation
Total MFT size = 290 MB
MFT record count = 209,620
Percent MFT in use = 70 %
Total MFT fragments = 3

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fragments File Size Most fragmented files
139 55 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169668.msi
110 8 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169521.dll
110 8 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169530.dll
109 8 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169527.dll
109 8 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169524.dll
108 8 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169533.dll
73 5 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP275\A0168995.old
72 6 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169512.DLL
64 5 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP278\A0169743.dll
64 5 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP278\A0169742.DLL
59 5 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169517.DLL
54 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP278\A0170365.dll
50 5 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169600.dll
49 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP279\A0170462.dll
42 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169624.dll
40 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP278\A0170317.msi
37 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169561.dll
37 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169559.dll
36 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169539.dll
36 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169544.dll
36 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169558.dll
36 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169562.dll
35 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169557.dll
35 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169541.dll
35 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169542.dll
35 3 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169560.dll
34 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169540.dll
34 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP278\A0169819.rbf
34 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP276\A0169543.dll
30 2 MB \System Volume
Information\_restore{8513C62E-889D-4878-A5C3-816F635D0F0E}\RP278\A0169735.DLL
 
Richard

The Commit Charge figures are reasonable for a machine with 1 gb RAM.
What Commit Charges figures do you get after running Dragon Naturally
Speaking Pref 9 for 5 minutes?

Your C partition is quite small but you have adequate free disk space.
Is this your only internal partition / drive as a Dell Dimension 8200
can have two internal drives?

Your pagefile is in 51 fragments so it is not contiguous. I imagine it
is scattered across the drive. Your pagefile is presumably system
managed. The problem with a non-contiguous file is that when other large
files are written to they are likely to be fragmented. A fragmented
pagefile is no problem.

Is the space for system restore set to the default 12%. If yes I would
reduce to 700 mb. Otherwise you should select Start, All Programs,
Accessories, System
Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System Restore and remove all but the
latest System Restore point. Run Disk Defragmenter

Others have mentioned Norton? Are your 3 computers home computers as you
could see improved performance by replacing Norton with freeware if they
are.

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Looking for some ideas .... I am using XP Home w/ SP2 on a Dell w/ 1g
ram on a 1.7 g P4. Computer is a Dimension 8200.

I do have a fair amount of software on the machine - so the boot time
& save settings time is long. It would be nice to speed that up - but
I am tolerant of that problem.

What would delay the opening of a window - or the saving of a file?
It is pretty clear that the computer slows down at times. I am
noticing it more now that I am using Dragon Naturally Speaking Pref
9. It takes an esxtraordinary amount of time to process and type the
dictation. Other functions seem slow at times as well. I am using
Norton as an antivirus program (2004) - and I have noticed that
Norton can slow things down scanning a file.

I am looking globally for reasons the machine is slow - not all the
time - but on occasion. Another thing I noticce is there is hard
drive activity after the desktop appears - and looks ready to go -
and when I look at the task monitor - the usage is by normal things
like explorer airsvcu - and svchost - etc.

Would it make sense to create users for different kinds of use -
would that prevent all of the drivers from being loaded (if that is
the problem). Currently I have one user.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Well, if you have your AV set to scan every file that is copied, moved,
created, saved etc., that is adding to the delays you're experiencing an
dit's a global thing.
IIRC Norton 2004 is no longer supported and can not be updated: Is
that right? IF so, it means you have a large hole in your protection.
Will it update its AV files? If not, you need to move on to something
else.

Indexing is a service that can keep the disk working at odd times. You
could have other third parties doing similar things.

Delays at startup, even after the icons fill the screen, aren't unusual:
It's just finishing up installing all the things you have set to run in
the background.
The answer here is to eliminate some of the startup items you have,
or live with it.

If you're using Norton GoBack, that causes a lot of delays; part of the
nature of the beast. Once I got imaging software going I dispensed with
GoBack and that made a very noticeable difference.

IMO It's unlikely creating other users will do anything for you since
you've mentioned nothing that would put heavy loads on the cpu.

Lastly, are you CERTAIN you've done everything you can to get rid of
spyware/malware. You need to run at least three, more is better,
scanners to cover the majority of the possibilities, and be sure they're
all reputable programs. And like your AV, they ALL have to be up to
date to be useful.
--
--
Regards,

Twayne

Open Office isn't just for wimps anymore;
OOo is a GREAT MS Office replacement
www.openoffice.org
 
Thanks all - here is some of the info about the machine:
Thanks for all of your input. I do clean the HD often - and have 3+gig
available on a 40gig drive - which I offload to a USB drive of larger
size as I use more space for documents. I usually keep about 9-10 gig
available.
Click to expand...

You are LOW on disk space! Defrag requires at least 15% free and other
programs have similar requirements. 3 gig is 7.5% available; not
enough, especially considering the room needed for Restore Points etc.,
and maybe some of Norton's stuff, depending on which of the apps you're
using.
Ten Gig is 25% of a 40 Gig drive, but ... you don't have any way of
knowing all that space is returned for use; it might not be.
I have Norton 2007 on my laptop - w/ license for 3 machines - ut 04
has some nifty tools (wiper, etc) that the newer Norton does not have.
Click to expand...

Keep 2004 if you wish, but do NOT use it for AV! Your 2007 is
apparently a different version than the 04 so ... it's not going to be
the same. It sounds like you want Norton SystemWorks for your machines.
As to the commit charge - when the machine is quiet here are the
numbers:
401004
2521528
445356
Click to expand...

No comment.

HTH




--
--
Regards,

Twayne

Open Office isn't just for wimps anymore;
OOo is a GREAT MS Office replacement
www.openoffice.org
 
You have insufficient free space, your issues wont be addressed untill you
do something about that
 
I only have a 40g in the box - I guess hetting a second internal will help -
I do have a 160 usb hooked up - but use it only for storage. I was told it
is a bad idea to install programs to the usb drive. Will it be better to
replace the 40 - or add a drive for more space?
thanks for your comments...
 
Thanks for taking the time to make the suggestions. The 40 is the only
drive - I was considering putting a larger internal in the box - I do have a
160 USB hooked up - but use it only for storage - no programs installed on
it. Would I lose speed with an internal and programs installed on the D
drive? Would that cure the fragmented pagefile? And would that speed things
up?
 
Richard said:
Looking for some ideas .... I am using XP Home w/ SP2 on a Dell w/ 1g
ram on a 1.7 g P4. Computer is a Dimension 8200.

I do have a fair amount of software on the machine - so the boot time
& save settings time is long. It would be nice to speed that up - but
I am tolerant of that problem.

What would delay the opening of a window - or the saving of a file?
It is pretty clear that the computer slows down at times. I am
noticing it more now that I am using Dragon Naturally Speaking Pref
9. It takes an esxtraordinary amount of time to process and type the
dictation. Other functions seem slow at times as well. I am using
Norton as an antivirus program (2004) - and I have noticed that
Norton can slow things down scanning a file.

I am looking globally for reasons the machine is slow - not all the
time - but on occasion. Another thing I noticce is there is hard
drive activity after the desktop appears - and looks ready to go -
and when I look at the task monitor - the usage is by normal things
like explorer airsvcu - and svchost - etc.

Would it make sense to create users for different kinds of use -
would that prevent all of the drivers from being loaded (if that is
the problem). Currently I have one user.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Dragon Naturally Speaking looks to be a demanding application. Although
your processor is faster than the absolute minimum of 1 GHz, the
real-world requirements are closer to "Intel Pentium IV 2.4 GHz or
faster, or dual core processor e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo with speed of 1.6
GHz or faster." See:

http://www.viva-voce.com.au/public/info_and_faqs.aspx#q11

And as others have mentioned, Norton is known to slow down systems.

One last idea: maybe you have an unused network connection. From:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/northrup_restoreperf.mspx

Disconnect Unused Network Connections

If you've ever had a network with more than one computer, you probably
found it useful to share files between the computers by mapping a
network drive. Network drives allow one computer to read and write files
to another computer's hard disk as if it were directly connected. I use
network drives all the time, and for me, they were the most significant
source of slowness.

The problem with network drives is that Windows XP will attempt to
connect to the network drives when Windows starts. If the remote
computers don't respond immediately, Windows will wait patiently.
Additionally, some programs will attempt to connect to the network
drives when you browse for files and folders. If you've ever tried to
open a file and had to wait several seconds (or minutes!), it's probably
because the program was trying to establish a network connection-even if
the file you are opening is on your local computer.

I am not as patient as Windows, and I'd rather not wait for unused
network connections to respond. To reduce this problem, disconnect any
unused drives by following these steps:

1. Open My Computer.

2. On the Tools menu, click Disconnect Network Drive.

3. Select the network drives that you no longer need, and then click OK.

After I disconnected the network drives on my computer, my computer was
able to restart in 1 minute, 45 seconds-about 40% faster!
 
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