Computer very sloooowwwww.......!!

Dinarius

Over the last few weeks, my 4 year old Fujitsu Siemens (Windows XP) laptop has started operating very slowly.

Outlook takes an age to open. Creating a new email takes an age to open.

Firefow also takes an age to open.

And I sometimes have to click on the Firefox and Outlook icons twice in the System Tray to get them activated.

I'm running AVG free anti-virus as well as Spamnet for email.

Is this just age?

I've defragged twice in the last week to no avail.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

D.

pdevo

have you done any tests for spyware or tested hardware

Hagar

Is AVG running a full system scan in the background? Slows thing down considerably.

hinduhamster

It might be no harm running a registry check. You can get a free version (limitations obviously) at www.pctools.com or maybe you know one yourself and that might be able to fix a few problems.

Dinarius

Cheers guys.

AVG is always running and has never given me any problems, so don't think that's the problem.

With just Outlook and one Firefox window open, if I open Task Manager I see that CPU usage is 100%. This is surely nuts?!

The computer sounds like it's working overtime too. Fan very loud.

I think that Outlook may be the problem. For example, when I'm reading through emails and clicking on the arrow button at the top of the Outlook window (to open the next email down) it takes 15-20 seconds to open the next email or, worse, I get a Not Responding message at the top of the screen.

Does that suggest anything other solutions?

Thanks again.

D.

Overheal

Worth trying:

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055274237

Adder1

This happened to a friends dell laptop we ran several spyware apps on it nothing turned up also ran registry cleaner no good. tried disc scan no good. In the end I borrowed a xp pro install disc and ran a repair install this fixed the problem you don`t lose you data/programmes this way. A short while later it happened again ran the repair again and disabled automatic up dates. downloaded servicepack 3 and installed it no problem after that. It appears some updates were causing the problem the laptop was 3-4 years old

dxhound2005

Maybe this is too simple but have you looked in Windows Task Manager to see what percentage of the CPU is being used. You can kill off most of the Processes running to see if one of them is causing the slowness.

toe_knee

Have you tried running cclener. Its free software. It will do a scan for all junk files and check your registry. There is also a startup feature in it which will let you see what is starting up with your laptop and disable anything you don't need. As for defrag if you are using the windows defrag you might as well not have bothered. Use something like Smart Defrag which is also free and works well.

Dinarius

Thanks guys.

After startup, with no programs open (not even Firefox or Outlook) CPU usage in Task Manager is 100%!!

Shurely shome mishtake!

Will try the registry cleanup idea.

D.

Dinarius

Using System Configuration Utility, I have isolated the culprit to something called SynTPEnh.

With this turned off, CPU usage after startup is under 2%.

Any idea what it is?

There is also something above it on the list called SynTPLpr, but this doesn't seem to cause a problem.

What should I do now?

Many thanks.

D.

h2s

check this out - http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/syntpenh/

Dinarius

Thanks for the suggestion.

I installed that Uniblue utility, but it won't run.

I keep getting a "Uniblue has encountered a problem and needs to close. Send error report message." error message.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

D.

NotMe

SynTPEnh.exe is the software for your touchpad. I'd try reinstalling it. You should be able to find it here:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.ie/support/downloads_1.html

Hagar

Try disbling the touch pad altogether( in the control panel, device manager) and use a USB mouse. The touchpad might be knackered and hogging the system with spurious feedback.

Dinarius

Cheers guys.

As it happens I did buy a new mouse a couple of weeks back (haven't used the touch pad in a couple of years) and wonder if that caused a problem to arise when I plugged it in - though it works fine.

Anyway, in Device Manager there is an item called Mice and other pointing devices, but no Touchpad is listed anywhere that I can see - even when I turn on SynTPEhn again and reboot.

Where should I be looking?

Thanks.

D.

Hagar

What is listed under Mice and other pointing devices?
Anything called Alps perhaps?

Dinarius

Hagar wrote: »

What is listed under Mice and other pointing devices?
Anything called Alps perhaps?

Only 'HID - Compliant Mouse' and 'PS/2 Compatible Mouse'. That's it.

Thanks.

D.

Hagar

I'm puzzled why your touchpad isn't showing up. Have you already disabled in the Bios or something?

mukki

maybe it disables when you connect an external mouse

Dinarius

Yes, it is odd that it's not showing up.

I unplugged the mouse and the touchpad works fine (though SynTPEnh is off now) but there is still nothing listed.

D.

Hagar

Is it running slow with the external mouse unplugged?

ynotdu

Dinarius wrote: »

Over the last few weeks, my 4 year old Fujitsu Siemens (Windows XP) laptop has started operating very slowly.

Outlook takes an age to open. Creating a new email takes an age to open.

Firefow also takes an age to open.

And I sometimes have to click on the Firefox and Outlook icons twice in the System Tray to get them activated.

I'm running AVG free anti-virus as well as Spamnet for email.

Is this just age?

I've defragged twice in the last week to no avail.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

D.

Hi,
I have had almost exactly the same problem You have described three seprete times recently

1)after installing .net framework 3.5 on the 2nd of february from windows update My computer became almost totally non responsive,I tried everything within My limited knowledge without sucess.Simply turning the computer off and leaving it off for twenty four hours fixed that ?It would not even system restore to a point before the insallation of .net 3.5.It remains a mystry to Me:o

2)a key on my board was jambed very slightly against its contact.I improvised two nail files and gave each key a gentle tug outwards,worked a treat!

3)using Windows defender > tools > software explorer > start-up programmes I disabled My security suite(it kicks in about a minuate after boot-up now.The increase in speed of my boot time increased spectaculorly!Icons appear immediatly and browser operational almost immediatly.

The high tech solutions offered to You by other posters most likely the key to Your problem as I am far from expert:).I just thought I would post as a first step to people attracted to Computer running so slowwwwwwwwww title of Your posting as there is a lot of it about.

Dinarius

I downloaded the touchpad driver from the Fujitsu Siemens site and installed it.

It is now appearing in the Device Manager list and CPU usage after startup is @ 1-2% with all Startup items turned on.

Phew, everything back to normal!

Thanks to all.

D.

ynotdu

NotMe wrote: »

SynTPEnh.exe is the software for your touchpad. I'd try reinstalling it. You should be able to find it here:
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.ie/support/downloads_1.html

You solved it ! Thanks for Your willingness to share Your knowledge:)

bunsers

check the RAM on your laptop. the more RAM you have on it the quicker it is. I had 512 Ram on my PC and it was very slow. I bought 2 gigs of RAM recently and this made it much faster

Sparkicks

Go Start->run->msconfig (enter)
click diagnostic startup (disables a lot of the random junk that can load)
reboot and see how it works out don't worry if some things don't work just re-enable everything afterwards see if that helps
Common things that slow down computers.
Active scans on anti viruses (even ones you might not know are on your computer but came with it)
Live scanning of files that are open so every time you try do something your anti virus trys to analyze it before you open it
Hard drive activity. I know this one sounds a little odd but i've found that major time if you're copying something big (that takes ages) or decompressing something etc or even someone pulling something accross the network it slows down your computer. This can take the form of an av scan or a music player indexing your drive or windows update downloading and installing updates.
contrary to popular belief having programs installed on your drive doesn't actually slow them down so you needn't go uninstalling all your games although ones that add things to autostart when you boot your pc can be easily disabled instead of having to uninstall them.

The easiest thing to of course do is to backup save files and user data and do a clean wipe as said. A flash drive/cds/external hdd works good