Slow start-up

phantom_lord

I've a six month odd advent laptop, one thing I've noticed is the time between logging in and windows loading and actually being able to do stuff has grown.

I'm guessing this is due to some programs switchiing on at start-up and other stuff like this. Is there any rememedy to this? Anything I can do that will stop/remove whatever is slowing the computer down?

Ruu_Old

Give us some system details to help you out better. RAM, CPU, etc.

Capt'n Midnight

have you scanned for malware ?
have you installed anything on it ?

phantom_lord

1024 ddr ram
1.8gh

I reg scan using spybot and other software. I did download a good few things from that esstential free software list, and I think some of it may be clogging up my system a bit.

Ruu_Old

What have you got running at startup, apart from your Startup folder, you could check the Startup tab is msconfig.exe. Got a viruscan running?

Paul Tergat

This has been happening to me too recently, so what i did was the old ctrl/alt/delete and went to task manager, go to the processes tab and sort the processes by how much CPU it takes up (obviously the file with like 97 takes up almost all your CPU)....i found out that it was a file running with SOPHOS so i eneded the process and got rid of that file.

Start up works fine for me now....doubt it will help you but never know!

Tom Dunne

Not stricltly a laptop problem.

Moving to Computers/Technology where you'll get a better response.

phantom_lord

Ruu wrote:

What have you got running at startup, apart from your Startup folder, you could check the Startup tab is msconfig.exe. Got a viruscan running?

Thanks, I never heard of that before, I've three anti virus/firewall programs running at startup, should I change this?

phantom_lord

tom dunne wrote:

The band I'm in is playing different tunes.

You know where I'll see you.

On the dark side of the moon!








sorry...

Ruu_Old

phantom_lord wrote:

Thanks, I never heard of that before, I've three anti virus/firewall programs running at startup, should I change this?

What are the names of the programs? if one of them is Norton that could be part of the issue.:)

phantom_lord

nortan,avg and win defender.

Tom Dunne

phantom_lord wrote:

On the dark side of the moon!

Very good, I'm impressed.

As for your problem, having more than one virus checker is a very bad idea. You have three seperate programs scanning every file, and that's not including the program actually using the file.

As Ruu said, dump Norton and burn the CD it came on. I use AVG and have never had a problem.

Capt'n Midnight

tom dunne wrote:

As Ruu said, dump Norton and burn the CD it came on. I use AVG and have never had a problem.

Download a replacement firewall first

phantom_lord

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Download a replacement firewall first

Yeah that's the only reason I've norton, anywhere I can get a free firewall?

Ruu_Old

Windows has a firewall (with XP Service Pack 2), Kerio or Zone Alarm. They all have free versions.

PogMoThoin

Kerio is very good, its in the essential software guide at the top of the forum

phantom_lord

tom dunne wrote:

Very good, I'm impressed.

As for your problem, having more than one virus checker is a very bad idea. You have three seperate programs scanning every file, and that's not including the program actually using the file.

As Ruu said, dump Norton and burn the CD it came on. I use AVG and have never had a problem.

You probably get that all the time


Why the big hatred against norton? Is it much hassle to get rid of? Will my windows firewall be good enough or should I get something else?

8T8

While Norton is an effective program it hooks so deep into the OS to achieve that, it degrades the performance of the machine as a consequence.

Also if anything bad should happen and Norton is compromised by something like a virus or spyware it will royally screw you as a damaged Norton install is a pain in the ass to remove.

(Plus due to the fact that Norton is shipped pre-installed on many machines certain viruses actually target Norton to disable it)

The standard Windows firewall is perfectly fine for normal usage, you only need a third party firewall if you want finer control over out bound programs.

Either AVG and Avast Home Edition (both free & I prefer Avast personally) are good alternatives to Norton and don't have the same impact on the systems resources like Norton does.

Also a sweep with Windows Defender wouldn't hurt either to make sure the system is spyware free, you can disable it so it doesn't run in the background all the time.

Capt'n Midnight

8T8 wrote:

The standard Windows firewall is perfectly fine for normal usage, you only need a third party firewall if you want finer control over out bound programs.

substitiute "finer" with "any"
XP SP2 firewall only tries to block incoming connections, it won't block or alert you to anything trying to dial home, stuff like malware that is installed just by visiting specially crafted sites.

aidan_walsh

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

substitiute "finer" with "any"
XP SP2 firewall only tries to block incoming connections, it won't block or alert you to anything trying to dial home, stuff like malware that is installed just by visiting specially crafted sites.

Indeed. Thats all been saved as "new features" for the Vista Firewall.

phantom_lord

Ugh, I can't get avg to update. I was on dial up at home, and it was set up for that, but I'm using a lan in college now and can't seem to find the correct settings to change.

shayser

The slowness might be a DNS issue (switching between home and college). Windows tries forever to resolve DNS.