Restoring performance?

[Guest Goomba]

It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service Pack 3)

has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet (100MBPS

connection). I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error checking, and the

machine is malware & virus-free. I even uninstalled a half-dozen never used

programs. My C drive shows 28.5 GB used, 42.1 GB free space. Is there a

simple way, which requires no knowledge of the Registry, to restore

performance?

[Guest GrtArtiste]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

On Jun 28, 8:48 pm, Goomba <Goo...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service Pack 3)

> has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet (100MBPS

> connection).  I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error checking, and the

> machine is malware & virus-free.  I even uninstalled a half-dozen never used

> programs.  My C drive shows 28.5 GB used, 42.1 GB free space.  Is there a

> simple way, which requires no knowledge of the Registry, to restore

> performance?  

 

You don't say how much memory you have. If it is less than 2GB that

may be a concern. You could also run msconfig and check what is being

loaded at startup. There is probably a few items there that don't

absolutely need to be running all the time. If you find something you

can't identify, Google it and you'll find out. If you've never done

any registry checking, I can say confidently that using CCleaner has

caused me no harm yet, but YMMV. Read the instructions and backup your

registry before making any changes.

[Guest JS]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

#1: A process that's loading down your CPU:

It could be a sub-process or application that's running in the background

and taking all the CPU resources, which could be the cause of your PC

running slow.

To find and display what could be the problem try Process Explorer:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

 

Note: Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:

In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and

'Show Lower Pane' options.

Then expand the process named 'Explorer' (click on the + sign)

In the column on the left named 'CPU', look for any high CPU usage.

Next click on the CPU column to sort the processes by %CPU usage

(Highest to Lowest).

Move the mouse cursor over any process, you should see a popup with some

detailed info.

Then mouse over the process that's using most or all the CPU %.

Then click on that process to highlight it,

Now that it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:

'Search Online'

This should display what out there on the web about that process.

You can also double click on any process to open up a more detailed

'Properties' window.

Note: some entries like Explorer, System/Services, and

Svchost entries may need to be expanded to show the detail (sub processes),

in this case click on the + located to the left of the entry.

 

An alternate method using Process Explorer is to double click

on the Graph just below the Menu bar.

This will open the 'System Information' window, which has a larger display

of all three graphs.

Move your mouse over any spike in the CPU Usage graph to see what

process/application or service was the cause of the spike.

 

#2: Stuff that loads during boot or logon and then is always running in the

background:

If you want to list and explore what may be the cause then:

Try Autoruns from the MS Windows SysInternals site:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx

 

AutoRuns will show/list all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot

(Boot Execute tab),

when you logon (Logon tab) and other programs that load

(grouped by labeled tabs) for easy viewing.

It also provides the ability to selectively allows you to stop any program

(use with care) that you don't want to load.

You can undo any changes you have made.

Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you may need to

highlight the item (right click) and use the 'Search Online' option to get

the details, especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

 

#3: Viruses

Viruses and malware can also cause your PC to slowdown or malfunction.

Malke has an excellent set of instructions on what to do:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

 

#4: To much crap on the hard drive:

Take a look at CCleaner as a tool to remove Internet history info, cookies,

temp files, auto complete and other junk.

In the 'Windows' tab listing check the item types you want deleted.

Note: Do not use the registry cleaning option!!!

Also available is customization, see Options/Custom to add any

other/additional folders you want files deleted from.

http://www.ccleaner.com/

 

#5: Defragment your hard drive. Which you have done!

 

JS

http://www.pagestart.com

 

"Goomba" <Goomba@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:C230DB57-7D85-4C7C-8832-13398C7E2669@microsoft.com...

> It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service Pack

> 3)

> has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet (100MBPS

> connection). I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error checking, and

> the

> machine is malware & virus-free. I even uninstalled a half-dozen never

> used

> programs. My C drive shows 28.5 GB used, 42.1 GB free space. Is there a

> simple way, which requires no knowledge of the Registry, to restore

> performance?

[Guest Bill in Co.]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

GrtArtiste wrote:

> On Jun 28, 8:48 pm, Goomba <Goo...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>> It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service Pack

>> 3)

>> has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet (100MBPS

>> connection). I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error checking, and

>> the

>> machine is malware & virus-free. I even uninstalled a half-dozen never

>> used

>> programs. My C drive shows 28.5 GB used, 42.1 GB free space. Is there a

>> simple way, which requires no knowledge of the Registry, to restore

>> performance?

>

> You don't say how much memory you have. If it is less than 2GB that

> may be a concern.

 

For Windows XP??? I don't think so!

(Make that less than 512 MB, and you might be correct, however).

> You could also run msconfig and check what is being

> loaded at startup. There is probably a few items there that don't

> absolutely need to be running all the time. If you find something you

> can't identify, Google it and you'll find out. If you've never done

> any registry checking, I can say confidently that using CCleaner has

> caused me no harm yet, but YMMV. Read the instructions and backup your

> registry before making any changes.

[Guest Daave]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

"Goomba" <Goomba@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:C230DB57-7D85-4C7C-8832-13398C7E2669@microsoft.com...

> It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service

> Pack 3)

> has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet (100MBPS

> connection).

 

Did you notice the sluggishness before or after you installed Service

Pack 3?

> I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error checking, and the

> machine is malware & virus-free.

 

What anti-malware and antivirus software do you run?

[Guest Gerry]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

As others have picked up you do not say how much RAM memory is

installed. The minimum for a Dell Inspiron 6000 Laptop is 256 mb and the

maximum is 2 gb. You can check what is installed by right clicking on My

Computer and selecting Properties.The information is on the General tab.

Adding RAM is not too expensive.

 

If you have insufficient RAM this leads to the system becoming more

reliant on using the pagefile. Using the pagefile is slower than using

RAM which could be why you are seeing slower performance. The solution

is either to reduce the demand for memory or to increase the RAM memory

available. However, there are other reason why system prformance can

slow. You need to determine the extent to which your system is reliant

on the pagefile.

 

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the Performance

Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the Limit and the Peak?

 

You should be able to gather more information from Task Manager. With

the Processes tab open select View, Select, Columns and check the boxes

before Peak Memory Usage and Virtual Memory size. What are the figures

for the 6 processes using the largest amounts?

 

Do you leave the computer on 24/7?

 

 

--

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Gerry

~~~~

FCA

Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Goomba wrote:

> It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service

> Pack 3) has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet

> (100MBPS connection). I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error

> checking, and the machine is malware & virus-free. I even

> uninstalled a half-dozen never used programs. My C drive shows 28.5

> GB used, 42.1 GB free space. Is there a simple way, which requires

> no knowledge of the Registry, to restore performance?

[Guest GrtArtiste]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

On Jun 28, 11:01 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

wrote:

> GrtArtiste wrote:

>

> > You don't say how much memory you have. If it is less than 2GB that

> > may be a concern.

>

> For Windows XP???    I don't think so!

> (Make that less than 512 MB, and you might be correct, however).

 

Just because the unit typically comes with 512MB doesn't mean that is

enough, especially when the OP does not state what apps he/she is

running. I admit to preaching the gospel that more memory is usually

better than less, and with mem prices being what they are currently

there are few reasons not to add some...especially if you have the

minimum and are complaining about performance.

 

GrtArtiste

[Guest Kevin]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

What Anti Virus program are you running? These things are notorious system

resource hogs.

When I'm not on the internet or just checking the sites I'm sure are safe

(Banking, Financial etc...) I turn the damn thing off.

I use AVG free anti virus which, until it's last incarnation (ver 8) was

very light on system resorces.

 

-Kevin

[Guest wayne]

RE: Restoring performance?

 

How many processes are you running? Also I will use spybot and adaware for

maintence also. Both free and both good. Make a donation if you can, freeware

or not it is appreciated

 

"Goomba" wrote:

> It's a couple of years old, and my Dell Inspiron 6000 (with Service Pack 3)

> has become sluggish opening files and accessing the Internet (100MBPS

> connection). I frequently run Disk Cleanup, Defrag, error checking, and the

> machine is malware & virus-free. I even uninstalled a half-dozen never used

> programs. My C drive shows 28.5 GB used, 42.1 GB free space. Is there a

> simple way, which requires no knowledge of the Registry, to restore

> performance?

[Guest John John (MVP)]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

GrtArtiste wrote:

> On Jun 28, 11:01 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

> wrote:

>

>>GrtArtiste wrote:

>

>

>>>You don't say how much memory you have. If it is less than 2GB that

>>>may be a concern.

>>

>

>>For Windows XP??? I don't think so!

>>(Make that less than 512 MB, and you might be correct, however).

>

>

> Just because the unit typically comes with 512MB doesn't mean that is

> enough, especially when the OP does not state what apps he/she is

> running. I admit to preaching the gospel that more memory is usually

> better than less, and with mem prices being what they are currently

> there are few reasons not to add some...especially if you have the

> minimum and are complaining about performance.

 

The point is that although more RAM *may* help without knowing what is

being run on the computer no one can say for sure if it will and a broad

statement that less than 2GB of RAM may be a concern is one that is made

without any justification. Few users need that much RAM to run XP

properly and in fact for many users 512MB of RAM is often or usually

sufficient for what they do with their computers. Without proper

information we don't know if more RAM is needed and adding more RAM may

just be a waste of money, the additional RAM may go unused. More often

than not the reason why computers slow down over time is simply because

there are way too many processes running in the background for nothing

and adding more RAM is not really the proper fix for that.

 

John

[Guest Gerry]

Re: Restoring performance?

 

John

 

I agree with all you say and have a couple of points of my own to add to

what you have said.

 

Not all computers have the capability of taking 2 gb of RAM. The Dell

mentioned in this thread has a minimum of 256 mb and a maximum of 2 gb

( 2 x 1gb modules). Therefore if the existing RAM installed is 256 mb to

512 mb (plus possibly 1 gb if 2 modules) to go to 2 gb is not adding

RAM; it is replacing RAM with a consequential higher cost.

 

Adding RAM without regard as to what other performance bottlenecks exist

is pointless. Situations arise where you can add RAM but it will make no

difference to performance because the limiting factor is the CPU

processor. This may not apply here because the computer was designed to

take up to 2 gb of RAM.

 

Sensible choice and use of programmes can provide real performance

improvements with no monetary outlay.

 

--

Regards.

 

Gerry

~~~~

FCA

Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

John John (MVP) wrote:

> GrtArtiste wrote:

>

>> On Jun 28, 11:01 pm, "Bill in Co." <not_really_h...@earthlink.net>

>> wrote:

>>

>>> GrtArtiste wrote:

>>

>>

>>>> You don't say how much memory you have. If it is less than 2GB that

>>>> may be a concern.

>>>

>>

>>> For Windows XP??? I don't think so!

>>> (Make that less than 512 MB, and you might be correct, however).

>>

>>

>> Just because the unit typically comes with 512MB doesn't mean that is

>> enough, especially when the OP does not state what apps he/she is

>> running. I admit to preaching the gospel that more memory is usually

>> better than less, and with mem prices being what they are currently

>> there are few reasons not to add some...especially if you have the

>> minimum and are complaining about performance.

>

> The point is that although more RAM *may* help without knowing what is

> being run on the computer no one can say for sure if it will and a

> broad statement that less than 2GB of RAM may be a concern is one

> that is made without any justification. Few users need that much RAM

> to run XP properly and in fact for many users 512MB of RAM is often

> or usually sufficient for what they do with their computers. Without

> proper information we don't know if more RAM is needed and adding

> more RAM may just be a waste of money, the additional RAM may go

> unused. More often than not the reason why computers slow down over

> time is simply because there are way too many processes running in

> the background for nothing and adding more RAM is not really the

> proper fix for that.

> John