Windows XP verrrrrrrryryyyy slow

komodosp

Hi folks

Can't figure out why my (girlfriend's parents') computer, running Win XP is running so slowly... Wondering if anyone had any suggestions...

Anyway, running Win XP (forget which service pack but anyway), 224MB RAM, 2GHz AMD .... The only thing running of note was Firefox - using about 100MB according the task manager. All other processes - about 15 of them were 7MB max.

But the HDD is rumbling away like something from the '90s, and programs take an age to start. The page file usage (again according to Task Manager) is about 500-600MB, though the only other "extra" process (in the System Tray) is AVG, which isn't currently running a scan or update.

There hasn't been much activity on this computer since the last installation of Windows so there isn't much installed on it that would be causing the slowdown. Disk has been defragmented, and it's using NTFS.

Just thought of something... If several users are logged on, does the reported page file usage include all of them? But it still shouldn't slow down the computer as it's not swapping in and out the memory allocations of other users... ??

Anything else I can check to see what's causing the problem? Could there be malware that doesn't show up on the Task Manager?

Quazzie

It seems like your R button is sticking too.

Gingernuts31

224mb of ram or 2024mb of ram but thought they only came in 512 which would be 2048 mb? Im running XP and I have 1024 mb ram and got this pc back in 2006. I find Kaspersky interner security can hang up XP but then it moves on again once a process called msinm is ended. I know this may seem simple but have you or they cleared out the history, defraged it lately?

Torqay

Gingernuts31 wrote: »

224mb of ram or 2024mb of ram but thought they only came in 512 which would be 2048 mb?

Most likely 256 MB RAM and some of it shared with the graphics card.

komodosp wrote: »

But the HDD is rumbling away like something from the '90s, and programs take an age to start. The page file usage (again according to Task Manager) is about 500-600MB, though the only other "extra" process (in the System Tray) is AVG, which isn't currently running a scan or update.

This is just not enough memory, simple as that. That's why the "HDD is rumbling away like something from the '90s", pretty much everything is happening in the virtual memory (which is dead slow). A regular XP installation, untweaked, is using about 150 MB RAM, AVG will use most likely 50 MB or more, that means your system memory is pretty much gone already when the system is started.

Option 1: Tweak the hell out of it, do away with AVG and hope for the best.

Option 2: Download Buy more RAM.

Capt'n Midnight

use cpuz to ID what exact ram you are using

throw in another 512 if you can

I suspect that it could be pricy buying it new considering the age, you are probably looking at second hand RAM

Torqay

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

use cpuz to ID what exact ram you are using

throw in another 512 if you can

I suspect that it could be pricy buying it new considering the age, you are probably looking at second hand RAM

Not really, SWAG tells me DDR 3200... 512 MB cost 21 yoys here (incl. VAT & delivery).

But make sure which memory is supported by the mainbord before you buy. SIW will tell you which type of memory is installed.

Capt'n Midnight

Torqay wrote: »

Not really,...
DDR 3200... 512 MB cost 21 yoys

For memory that can only be used in much newer machines you can get 4GB for €26
So better than I thought , but still relatively pricey

komodosp

Torqay wrote: »

This is just not enough memory, simple as that. That's why the "HDD is rumbling away like something from the '90s", pretty much everything is happening in the virtual memory (which is dead slow). A regular XP installation, untweaked, is using about 150 MB RAM, AVG will use most likely 50 MB or more, that means your system memory is pretty much gone already when the system is started.

Option 1: Tweak the hell out of it, do away with AVG and hope for the best.

Option 2: Download Buy more RAM.

Really? According to the MS website, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865, 64MB minimum, 128MB recommended

johndoe99

those specs on the microsoft website are the bare minimum for running just Windows, that does not include any software that you have installed on your PC since you bought it.

If your press Ctrl+Alt+Del, and choose the Processes tab, you will see what also running and what the memory usage for each is

5uspect

Windows XP ideally needs at least 512MB to run anyway smoothly with one or two light apps. Modern web browsers are far from light and gobble up a lot or memory. 1GB would probably be ideal.

Capt'n Midnight

komodosp wrote: »

Really? According to the MS website, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865, 64MB minimum, 128MB recommended

Minimum spec for windows 95 was 4MB ram on a 386 DX

the DX was mainly because of a heat dependent multiply bug in the 386SX

and 4 MB was a complete lie as it needed 4MB + 8MB swap file just to load the desktop, so in reality it needed 12MB of RAM to avoid disk trashing, and that's before you used any apps.



Tip if you use XP and you have 768MB or more AND you aren't using the swap file much then turn it off, XP likes to aggressively swap stuff out of RAM so runs a good bit faster when you have enough RAM that it doesn't need to do that anymore. Vista/7 don't swap stuff out until they have to

Torqay

komodosp wrote: »

Really? According to the MS website, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865, 64MB minimum, 128MB recommended

Really? Microsoft apparently don't know shlt about their own stuff... 64 MB? I say it works grand on 20 MB RAM with a Pentium Overdrive processor.

excaliburhc

256 will run it , just not run it great ,few machines here have 256 - grand for 1 or 2 tasks ,anymore and she slows to a crawl.

op i would check task manager for a process called svchost.exe .

check cpu usage against it. known xp problem especially if there is no printer installed or connected to the machine or if a user printed a document to the xps file printer instead of to an actual printer.

regurlay find that usage hits 80 / 90 % once it does system crawls due to lack of resources.

Capt'n Midnight

Torqay wrote: »

Really? Microsoft apparently don't know shlt about their own stuff... 64 MB? I say it works grand on 20 MB RAM with a Pentium Overdrive processor.

running XP with 4 processes http://www.jeffwu.net/?p=56

yoyo

5uspect wrote: »

Windows XP ideally needs at least 512MB to run anyway smoothly with one or two light apps. Modern web browsers are far from light and gobble up a lot or memory. 1GB would probably be ideal.

Agreed completely. With browsers, plugins and co becoming more and more resource heavy half a gig of RAM will crawl along these days, let alone 256mb. I'd nearly say 2gig would be needed for a "optomal" expierience with XP if running multiple programs.

Nick

Torqay

1 GB is pretty much the sweet spot for XP.

You can still get some use out of it with 256 MB RAM though it requires some serious tweaking, ~75 MB RAM usage is possible without crippling the functionality. But you still don't want to install any modern antivirus software, you'd have to rely entirely on virtualization (Sandboxie, DeepFreeze, etc.) for protection.

But then, 512 MB RAM is still reasonably cheap and a viable investment.

Capt'n Midnight

Torqay wrote: »

1 GB is pretty much the sweet spot for XP.

You can still get some use out of it with 256 MB RAM though it requires some serious tweaking, ~75 MB RAM usage is possible without crippling the functionality.

no serious tweaking
just turn off the swap file so it can't swap anything out of memory

Echoes675

yoyo wrote: »

Agreed completely. With browsers, plugins and co becoming more and more resource heavy half a gig of RAM will crawl along these days, let alone 256mb. I'd nearly say 2gig would be needed for a "optomal" expierience with XP if running multiple programs.

Nick

2Gb Ram definitely! I had a pc with 256Mb Ram when XP first came out....it didn't last long, got it upgraded to 1Gb pretty swift then up to 2gb before getting a new machine altogether.

It's like working in the stone age here. The machine I'm stuck with at work is a Pentium 4 2.9Ghz CPU, 1.25Gb RAM and 40gb IDE HDD. So damn slow!! It desperately needs an upgrade to at least 2Gb RAM. I regularly see Chrome using nearly a gig of Ram (It's currently sucking 830Mb)

On the other hand it makes my home computer feel like a flying machine when I'm at home (Core i7 1.6Ghz 8Gb RAM and 500Gb SATA II HDD)

Torqay

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

no serious tweaking
just turn off the swap file so it can't swap anything out of memory

You do this with only 256 MB RAM and the system will crash in no time.

Torqay

eoin_mcg wrote: »

a Pentium 4 2.9Ghz CPU, 1.25Gb RAM and 40gb IDE HDD. So damn slow!

I doub't a 2 GB upgrade will help matters much. The HDD is most like of the 5400 rpm variant, swapping on such drive can suck the lifeblood out of computing

The memory type is probably another bottle neck, DDR PC-3200? And the processor is quite limited too, how many process, threads and handles?

Capt'n Midnight

Torqay wrote: »

You do this with only 256 MB RAM and the system will crash in no time.

well, yeah :rolleyes:

768MB is the point where you start to consider it , with 2GB it would be a no brainer unless you were inflicting some huge files upon yourself