General crappyness

GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
edited November 2003 in Science & Tech
I've only had windows installed for a few weeks and it's already slowing down. It takes several (5-10) seconds for internet explorer to open up after I click the icon. Navigating the start menu has gotten slower too. I don't have that many programs installed, either.

Any tips?

Thanks.

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Is it XP?
  • Park_7677Park_7677 Missouri Member
    edited November 2003
    1) Real-time virus scan? Some are HDD & CPU intensive, really killing the PC's performance.

    2) Have you tried to install a new version of Windows Messenger or tinkered with the old one?

    3) IDE Transfer mode. Check to make sure your HDD is in DMA mode (not PIO).

    4) CTRL + ALT + DEL -- see what's using the CPU & memory. Maybe it's a memory leak or a CPU greedy MS app..

    5) Is your IDE light on your case always on?
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Switch to Firebird and you will be more than Happy!! IE Gets Teh F!!!
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Park_7677 had this to say
    1) Real-time virus scan? Some are HDD & CPU intensive, really killing the PC's performance.

    2) Have you tried to install a new version of Windows Messenger or tinkered with the old one?

    3) IDE Transfer mode. Check to make sure your HDD is in DMA mode (not PIO).

    4) CTRL + ALT + DEL -- see what's using the CPU & memory. Maybe it's a memory leak or a CPU greedy MS app..

    5) Is your IDE light on your case always on?

    Yup, Win XP.

    1 - I'm using NAV 03. I'll try turning auto protect off and see if that speeds anything up.

    2 - The chat program, not the service, right? I don't use it. I disabled its startup with windows.

    3 - While posting it's listed as ATA 100. Is there another setting in Windows I should check?

    4 - LOL - That reminds me. I'm a moron. Only half of my memory is installed right now because my damned board isn't recognizing any memory in the second or third slot since I changed my heatsink. I can't believe I forgot. Right now I'm only running 256mb. :banghead:

    5 - It's weird - my case leds worked in the first case this board was installed in, but not the last three cases. :confused2

    Thanks :D
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    It sounds like Windows XP doing what it does best on my PC. Being snappy and fast for 2 weeks, then turning into a slow pile of ****, making my computer feel like a 600mhz athlon with 128mb of pc100.

    It's why I use 2k.

    Sorry for my lack of suggestions, as I never bothered fixing the problem with anything but Windows 2000. Seems to work nicely.

    <font size=-7>PS, Fireturd sucks</font>
  • Park_7677Park_7677 Missouri Member
    edited November 2003
    Gargoyle had this to say
    3 - While posting it's listed as ATA 100. Is there another setting in Windows I should check?

    3) Control Panel > System > Hardware (Tab) > Device Manager (1/2 way down window). Up comes a new window. Find the "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" tree and expand it. Find which channel your HDD is on (Primary or Secondary) and right click, go to Properties.

    Click on the "Advanced Settings" tab and you'll see something like below. Mines on Primary as Device 0 ;) for example. Let us know what yours says.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2003
    Gargoyle had this to say
    Yup, Win XP.

    1 - I'm using NAV 03. I'll try turning auto protect off and see if that speeds anything up.

    2 - The chat program, not the service, right? I don't use it. I disabled its startup with windows.

    3 - While posting it's listed as ATA 100. Is there another setting in Windows I should check?

    4 - LOL - That reminds me. I'm a moron. Only half of my memory is installed right now because my damned board isn't recognizing any memory in the second or third slot since I changed my heatsink. I can't believe I forgot. Right now I'm only running 256mb. :banghead:

    5 - It's weird - my case leds worked in the first case this board was installed in, but not the last three cases. :confused2

    Thanks :D
    1) NAV 03 will slow things down a smidgen, but not that much.

    2) Not sure which you meant when you said "disabled". Make sure the service is disabled.

    3) Go into device manager and check your Primary & Secondary IDE controllers. Under the "Advanced Settings" tab you'll see what you need to check; use "DMA If Available".

    4) Bingo!

    5) Try reversing the connector - the polarity matters with LED's.
  • Park_7677Park_7677 Missouri Member
    edited November 2003
    Gargoyle had this to say
    2 - The chat program, not the service, right? I don't use it. I disabled its startup with windows.

    2) Yes, the chat program. I "uninstalled" mine via Add/Remove Programs > Windows Components. Well OE, IE, & Startup still tried to call it. Caused ~10 seconds lag looking for the stupid thing (everytime I opened IE or OE :eek2: ). I reinstalled it, the just "disabled" it (renamed the folder). Don't ask why it's fine "disabled" vs "uninstalled".. Just checking with yours :)

    4) 256MB from 512MB is evil to do to yourself.. Is the pagefile being used a lot?
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    With 256 MB's of memory on XP, the swapfile would be swapping so much that even the partners at a square dance would be jealous.

    Have you tried deleting all temporary files, uninstalling useless programs, disabling services you don't use and defragging your hard disk(s)?
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    Park_7677 had this to say

    4) 256MB from 512MB is evil to do to yourself.. Is the pagefile being used a lot?

    Not sure how much is a lot. This screenshot is with all the normal background stuff running (including folding - explains CPU usage) plus one Internet Explorer window.

    Also, I can't remember if I unistalled the Messenger program or not. I couldn't find it in the add/remove programs window. It sounds like the kind of thing I may have done though. I know I did disable the service.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited November 2003
    Thrax had this to say
    It sounds like Windows XP doing what it does best on my PC. Being snappy and fast for 2 weeks, then turning into a slow pile of ****, making my computer feel like a 600mhz athlon with 128mb of pc100.

    It's why I use 2k.

    Sorry for my lack of suggestions, as I never bothered fixing the problem with anything but Windows 2000. Seems to work nicely.

    I dunno Thrax, I've never had such sluggishness issues with XP, on this machine, or on the other 3 I installed it to and use daily.

    Could it have to do with something you tweaked?
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