Performance

Stabshauptmann

Ive for 1.3G processor, 512mb ram and 10gb free space on my hd yet Im running sooooooo very very slow.

At the moment Ive windows media player and IE open and CPU usage is 100%. (Using windows XP professional)

Ive deleted loads of stuff and have 10 gigs free.
Ive done tones of virus an spyware scans and found nothing.
I used msconfig to stop all but the essential processes at start up.

But things still crawl along at a snails pace and if I open another app or 2 wmp will start skipping. All too regularly windows crashes.

Any advice?

All I can think of at this point is format and start from scratch again.

Raam

which processes are running at 100%?
or which ones have the highest usage

egan007

Do you by any chance have norton installed?

Gurgle

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

All I can think of at this point is format and start from scratch again.

Might be the best option.

You're specs are probably a bit low for XP-Pro, try turning off all the stupid animations & stuff - you'd be surprised how much better it runs.

XP is a bucket of piss anyway, if you're re-formatting use Win 2K Pro.

egan007

Gurgle wrote:

Might be the best option.

You're specs are probably a bit low for XP-Pro, try turning off all the stupid animations & stuff - you'd be surprised how much better it runs.

XP is a bucket of piss anyway, if you're re-formatting use Win 2K Pro.

I have xp running on a p3 600mhz with 256 ram
This is not a problem!

Canis Lupus

Depends when yur last install of XP was. I usually do a reinstall once a year. It's good to start from scratch and after my yearly spring clean a month or so back my computer is speeding along again. If it's been a while since your last reinstall and you have places to store all the stuff you don't want to lose during the reinstall then go for it.

edit:

gurgle wrote:

Xp is a bucket of piss

I'd disagree. Having used Win98se and win2k for gaming for a long time and then getting WinXP Pro I'd have to say that in terms of stability and system integrity its: WinXP then Win2K then 98. Couldn't be happier with my pc since I made the change.

Stabshauptmann

King Raam wrote:

which processes are running at 100%?
or which ones have the highest usage

System and system idle.

XP suits my needs better regarding editing software and networking then windows 2k.

No I dont have norton, I use sophos. On that note though I suspect Realplayer to be a problem

After the format I think ill switch to linux.

gobby

I used to occasionally get a problem where my cpu usage would be 100% with nothing intensive running. Turned out to be explorer so I'd shut explorer down using task manager and then restart it (again using task manager). This used to fix the problem.

I did a reinstall recently enough for an unrelated problem and it hasn't happened since.

jessy

Gurgle wrote:

You're specs are probably a bit low for XP-Pro

No there Not.


"System Idle" you said is running most of the time, That's Normal, usually it runs 99% of the Time. is Free Processer time not an actual process.

What AV/Firewall/Adware/Spyware are you running?

SP1/SP2 installed ??

how long has it been like this?

Is Windows managing your pageFile size or did You set a Limit?

Stabshauptmann

Running zonealarm (free version) and sophos (paid and updated daily)

SP1

Not sure its been like this, maybe since easter.

Windows is managing my page file

zAbbo

Gurgle wrote:

Might be the best option.

You're specs are probably a bit low for XP-Pro, try turning off all the stupid animations & stuff - you'd be surprised how much better it runs.

XP is a bucket of piss anyway, if you're re-formatting use Win 2K Pro.

Retards like you shouldn't be allowed to post on the internet, seriously, formatting is always the last choice.

Use regedit to remove unwanted services, read the million other threads about spyware/virus on this forum.

jessy

bazH wrote:

Retards like you shouldn't be allowed to post on the internet, seriously, formatting is always the last choice.

Use regedit to remove unwanted services, read the million other threads about spyware/virus on this forum.

a bit harsh mate he's only giving an opinion + the original poster said he ran AV and spyware Already so it might not be that.

astrofool

well, if someone wants a multimedia OS, it has to be winxp, if someone wants a server OS, then win2k3 server, or linux.

Anyone still installing win2k on a machine that can take XP is an idiot.

Static

astrofool wrote:

Anyone still installing win2k on a machine that can take XP is an idiot.

Sorry, are you speaking from someone who has paid for a licence for each MS OS they've upgraded to? Someone who's paid for and owns a valid Win2k licence doesn't have to listen to a troll like yourself barking at them to hand over more cash for the next upgrade.

jessy

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Running zonealarm (free version) and sophos (paid and updated daily)

SP1

Not sure its been like this, maybe since easter.

Windows is managing my page file

what Spyware are you using, i would recomend installing MS anti Spyware its not to bad at all and its got real time protection which is nice.

can you take a print screen Of your Task manager showing all Processes and post it up here?


On a side note whats with all the name calling on this thread??

unkel

You using a tv card by any chance?

Stabshauptmann

Using spybot search and destroy

Not using a video card

CPU usage just there was 7% I move the mouse and internet explorer jumps to 69%

I open paint shop pro to do he screenshot and the computer freezes for a min or two and cpu jumps to 100%

Stabshauptmann

What should I be looking for in my registry?
Ive everything up to date and it hasnt found any errors, spyware or viruses.
Ive removed all unessential processes from startup using msconfig.

rsynnott

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

Not using a video card

Yes you are.

It's quite sad to see that people reinstall their operating system every year, and CONSIDER THIS NORMAL.

Stabshauptmann

sorry, typo, was 00:40 afterall

No using a tv card

gobby

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

sorry, typo, was 00:40 afterall

No using a tv card

This really is sounding more and more like that little problem I was having a while ago. Next time your cpu is up at 100% use the task manager to shut down explorer. If that doesnt work then try shutting down various processes starting with ones that you have started (ie. the ones that have been started by administrator)

When the cpu is running at 100% you should be able to use the task manager to see what process is causing this. I'll bet that its explorer! Whatever it is try sutting it down and then manually restarting it.

Gurgle

astrofool wrote:

Anyone still installing win2k on a machine that can take XP is an idiot.

lol
Your nickname suits your opinion very nicely.

The only improvements in XP over 2K are:
- colour scheme
- multi-login
- it restarts explorer by itself when it crashes (with 2K, it takes all of 8 seconds to do this yourself)
Name another, go on.

For all that, I use XP. The multi-login feature means that when my 2yo son wants to use the computer, I switch into his desktop and he has no rights to change settings.

stevenmu

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

On that note though I suspect Realplayer to be a problem.

Get rid of that for starters, there's a link in the free software sticky for 'real alternative' that's much better.

You could also try downloading HijackThis, run it and post the log file up here, there's a few processes in your screen shot I'd be suspicious of. Acrord32.exe should be Adobes acrobat reader but you don't seem to have any PDF files open

Gurgle

@OP
There's a battery icon in your system tray - it is a laptop, isn't it ?

Check your system isn't in a 'low power' mode.
These stupid things often underclock your processor to save energy.

Canis Lupus

rsynnott wrote:

It's quite sad to see that people reinstall their operating system every year, and CONSIDER THIS NORMAL.

Why? To me it's just giving my system a nice spring clean, everything back to the way it should be after a year of tinkering and tampering. It's the same as taking my car in for a service every once in a while.

I don't think there is anything "sad" about it and given a reinstall only takes an hour or so if you know what your doing I don't see why it shouldn't be a valid option to solve a problem especially considering you can devote WAY more time arsing about trying to find out whats causing the problem in the first place.

Diarmuid

Canis Lupus wrote:

Why? To me it's just giving my system a nice spring clean, everything back to the way it should be after a year of tinkering and tampering. It's the same as taking my car in for a service every once in a while.

I don't think there is anything "sad" about it and given a reinstall only takes an hour or so if you know what your doing I don't see why it shouldn't be a valid option to solve a problem especially considering you can devote WAY more time arsing about trying to find out whats causing the problem in the first place.

I wouldnt call it "sad" but I would say it's a pity that it's necessary. I have resisted on XP myself. To say you will have it up and running in 1 hour is misleading. Yes the os will be installed, but getting my computer back to the state that I want it in (apps installed, settings up and running) would take days...

Canis Lupus

Diarmuid wrote:

I wouldnt call it "sad" but I would say it's a pity that it's necessary. I have resisted on XP myself. To say you will have it up and running in 1 hour is misleading. Yes the os will be installed, but getting my computer back to the state that I want it in (apps installed, settings up and running) would take days...

Again that depends on the user, all apps etc I use I store on a secondary drive so it takes only a short while to reinstall the lot of them and I have my system back to normal in around 1 to 2 hours (never timed myself).

unkel

@OP - it looks like Sophos was very active (probably doing a full system scan) while you took the screenshot of the taskmanager. Reboot and disable Sophos and use the system for an hour or so. If you don't get the slowing down issue, you know who was the culprit

If it is Sophos, can you schedule it to only update itself / do a full scan when you're not at your PC, like in the middle of the night?

Stabshauptmann

yes its a laptop but its not an energy conservation problem because it used to run fine and ive compared my performance against a similar user with identical laptop.
that laptop also has sophos, configured the same way as me but causes hin no problems.

i did get rid of real player but i think its still knocking around in the back

adobe was running prior to the screenshot, funny the way it didnt shut down

i really think its real player or some malware trying to do stuff cos when i boot with a network cable plugged in loading takes a good while longer. nobody else has this problem when they connect their laptops

btw some software wont run with win2k, adobe premiere pro 1.5 for example so thats another reason to upgrade

Stabshauptmann

is boards really really fast today btw?
im on someone elses laptop (same network) and things are sooo sooo fast by comparison

Ciaran500

Gurgle wrote:

The only improvements in XP over 2K are:
- colour scheme
- multi-login
- it restarts explorer by itself when it crashes (with 2K, it takes all of 8 seconds to do this yourself)
Name another, go on.

For all that, I use XP. The multi-login feature means that when my 2yo son wants to use the computer, I switch into his desktop and he has no rights to change settings.

So, what are the advantages of Win2K.

padraigf

He isn't saying that it's better, just that theres not much point upgrading if youre happy on 2000.

The advantage of 2000 imo is that it can run more comfortably on lower specced machines. I have a P2 266mhz with 64megs of RAM running win2k as a bittorrent box. Runs grand, even with the memory hungry nature of bittorrent. Sitting idle with 28 megs of ram free out of 64 is something that xp couldnt do.

stevenmu

Kaptain Redeye wrote:

i did get rid of real player but i think its still knocking around in the back

i really think its real player or some malware trying to do stuff cos when i boot with a network cable plugged in loading takes a good while longer. nobody else has this problem when they connect their laptops

Try running HijackThis, it'll give you a much more definitive list of what's loading on startup than msconfig will. You should then be able to find the real player process and disable it.

Khannie

astrofool wrote:

Anyone still installing win2k on a machine that can take XP is an idiot.

I run 2k on a machine that's well capable of XP. The reason? I'm not willing to hand over cash for a new OS with no obvious reason to do so.

You say you'd be an "idiot" to run 2K over XP. Tell me why. Honestly? All that I can see is that XP boots slightly faster and has lovely features that I'll never use.

The 2K and XP kernels are both built off the original NT4 kernel, so they're stable as hell.

BazH: I'm pretty sure that's the 2nd time you've called someone a retard. I'm going to verify that now. If it is, you can consider yourself banned.

Edit: I'm right. You're banned.

TacT

could always try a bit of www.tweakxp.com too, what's with all the flaming?

Nukem

You have a virus of sorts. Its running somewhere. Came across this before,It runs the System idle too high and the CPU at 100%

Try AVG - the systamec website for a scan- Adware SE- a great program called Xoftspy(trial only as far as i know - may be free now)

If not download another uninstaller program from download.com and check what programs are installed that windows cant see. There is always a few,it may be one of them

Nukem

newbie2

Does having loads of stuff on your quick launch bar slow your pc down ??? (I think i heard this somewhere !)

Kali

newbie2 wrote:

Does having loads of stuff on your quick launch bar slow your pc down ??? (I think i heard this somewhere !)

Absolutely not... quick launch bar is just a collection of shortcuts in a handy location.

newbie2

thanks for clearing that up for me:)

Do you have system restore on ? Sometimes viruses and stuff can hide in there and when you think you've deleted it they re appear through system restore!!

stevenmu

newbie2 wrote:

Does having loads of stuff on your quick launch bar slow your pc down ??? (I think i heard this somewhere !)

Are you confusing the quick launch bar with the office toolbar ? The office toolbar can have memory leak issues which will take up more and more system resources until it gets to the point where you can't even open a single program without getting insufficient memory errors or similar. It's very rare for it to get that bad, but since I've come across it I've often suspected the toolbar of slowing systems down in general.

halkar

Best thing you can do is to reinstall windows. You have 50 processes running probably half of them are junk and not needed. At most I have around 30 running, right now 3 IE open and task manager and my processes coint is 23.
Some of those might be viruses or worms, if you want to tweak around get procexp from Sysinternals web site which will give you where the running processes located. There are some worms that will not let you install adaware, virus software etc and if you can not run procexp then you have been infected with one of the nasty ones that will take some work to get rid off.

Check those processe:
regsrvc.exe --> Can be alarming
sweepsrv.exe --> this is taken up 25MB, sounds alarming
rundll32.exe running under Administrator--> check this one, can be worm

You can also do some cleaning up in the registry by getting rid of stuff un der 'Run' of Windows. Also get HijackThis which has good tools to show what is going on with your machine.

Save yourself hassle and time and reinstall the windows

Stabshauptmann

System formatted.

Some very good advice given about viruses and the like which Ill keep in mind this time round. Thanks for taking the time and effort to help * gives positive karma to everyone*

Stabshauptmann

Performance still ****.

sweepsrv.exe is the culprit. This process is part of my anti virus software (sophos). What should I do?

stevenmu

You could always try AVG, the personal edition is free and works very well. I think there's a few other free ones in the free software sticky

edit: I'm guessing that sweepsrv is part of the real-time scanning which checks every file as it's accessed, you can probably tone downthe checks it's carrying out, such as disabling heuristic scanning and just using definitions. I think heuristic scanning is generally considered a waste of time.

TacT

real time scanning kills your system performance because every time a file is opening it's getting scanned, turn it off and keep it updated and scan manually, unless of course you like opening any old file in which case it could be dangerous

Stabshauptmann

i dont ****ing believe this, there are real player processes running. Howis that possible!? Ive formatted my computer!!!

I cant even get taskmanager to open, the computer is completely freezing up.

stevenmu

Download AVG, Adaware, SpyBot Search and Destroy, TDS-3 and HijackThis.
Install all of them and get the latest updates. Reboot into safe mode and get each one to do a full system scan. Run HijackThis last, it may still show you a real process being started, remove it from the list and reboot.

stevenmu

Actually a quicker and easier thing to try is to stop the process (or boot into safe mode if you can't get the taskmanager up), search all your drives for realsched.exe and delete it.

Stabshauptmann

have everything bar avg, will get that now

stevenmu

make sure that if you're keeping spohos you uninstall avg again when you're done with it (and don't enable it's realtime scanning), if you have the two of them running together they'll trip over each other. Disable Sophos' realtime scanning too while you're running the others, it'll just slow them down.