Growing slowness, can't find solution

[Guest Daniel Kaplan]

Hi,

 

Have a Win2000 machine, not much ram, 8Gbs of free HD space left.

 

The computer's slowness has been growing and growing. I run on a regular

basis:

 

* NAV full scan (once a week)

* Defrag (once a week)

 

* and lately Ad-Aware and Spybot.

 

It's gotten so bad that I went an ddeleted all offline content (the user of

that machine was playing an AOL game alot).

 

So today I noticed that the Recyle Bin icon showed full, but there were no

items, and saying "Empty Recycle Bin" did nothing.

 

So I went and changed the Virtual Memory size to the bare minimum, rebooted,

was then able to "Empty Recycle Bin" and the icon showed ok.

 

Reset the VM size to the Windows recommended of 384mb (seems kinda low), and

restarted.

 

Did it work? Eh....not sure.

 

I would appreciate any real ideas or links that could help.

 

Thanks.

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Daniel Kaplan" <NoSPam@NoSpam.com> wrote in message

news:1218294516.216699@nntp.acecape.com...

> Hi,

>

> Have a Win2000 machine, not much ram, 8Gbs of free HD space left.

>

> The computer's slowness has been growing and growing. I run on a regular

> basis:

>

> * NAV full scan (once a week)

> * Defrag (once a week)

>

> * and lately Ad-Aware and Spybot.

>

> It's gotten so bad that I went an ddeleted all offline content (the user

> of that machine was playing an AOL game alot).

>

> So today I noticed that the Recyle Bin icon showed full, but there were no

> items, and saying "Empty Recycle Bin" did nothing.

>

> So I went and changed the Virtual Memory size to the bare minimum,

> rebooted, was then able to "Empty Recycle Bin" and the icon showed ok.

>

> Reset the VM size to the Windows recommended of 384mb (seems kinda low),

> and restarted.

>

> Did it work? Eh....not sure.

>

> I would appreciate any real ideas or links that could help.

>

> Thanks.

 

I would download msconfig.exe (http://www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm)

and examine the tasks under the Startup tab. Untick those you don't

recognise but leave the virus scanner intact. Have another look after

the first reboot to see if any have re-enabled themselves. Spyware

has a habit of doing this.

[Guest Daniel Kaplan]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

news:eJ5kVcj%23IHA.3344@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> I would download msconfig.exe (http://www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm)

> and examine the tasks under the Startup tab. Untick those you don't

> recognise but leave the virus scanner intact. Have another look after

> the first reboot to see if any have re-enabled themselves. Spyware

> has a habit of doing this.

 

I should have mentioned have done that, seen a few things. But looking

online was impossible to determine what was and wasn't kosher.

[Guest Dave Patrick]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

Naming the executables here may help.

 

 

--

 

Regards,

 

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

"Daniel Kaplan" wrote:

> I should have mentioned have done that, seen a few things. But looking

> online was impossible to determine what was and wasn't kosher.

>

>

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Daniel Kaplan" <NoSPam@NoSpam.com> wrote in message

news:1218298296.246446@nntp.acecape.com...

>

> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

> news:eJ5kVcj%23IHA.3344@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>

>> I would download msconfig.exe (http://www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm)

>> and examine the tasks under the Startup tab. Untick those you don't

>> recognise but leave the virus scanner intact. Have another look after

>> the first reboot to see if any have re-enabled themselves. Spyware

>> has a habit of doing this.

>

> I should have mentioned have done that, seen a few things. But looking

> online was impossible to determine what was and wasn't kosher.

 

As I said, untick everything you don't recognise. As long as you

leave your virus scanner stuff ticked, you won't damage your

installation. You could even untick the virus scanner stuff, provided

that you first disconnect your PC from the Internet.

[Guest Stubby]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

news:%23jseCFl%23IHA.2060@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>

> "Daniel Kaplan" <NoSPam@NoSpam.com> wrote in message

> news:1218298296.246446@nntp.acecape.com...

> >

> > "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

> > news:eJ5kVcj%23IHA.3344@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> >

> >> I would download msconfig.exe

(http://www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm)

> >> and examine the tasks under the Startup tab. Untick those you don't

> >> recognise but leave the virus scanner intact. Have another look after

> >> the first reboot to see if any have re-enabled themselves. Spyware

> >> has a habit of doing this.

> >

> > I should have mentioned have done that, seen a few things. But looking

> > online was impossible to determine what was and wasn't kosher.

>

> As I said, untick everything you don't recognise. As long as you

> leave your virus scanner stuff ticked, you won't damage your

> installation. You could even untick the virus scanner stuff, provided

> that you first disconnect your PC from the Internet.

>

Performance problems are hard to locate. It could be a persistent disk

error, say in the directory structure. Look for a log file that keeps

growing. Or maybe some device is constantly producing interrupts.

[Guest Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Stubby" <William.Plummer*NO*SPAM*@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message

news:LpKdnZQ8Uc0BdgDVnZ2dnUVZ_ojinZ2d@comcast.com...

>

> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

> news:%23jseCFl%23IHA.2060@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>

>> "Daniel Kaplan" <NoSPam@NoSpam.com> wrote in message

>> news:1218298296.246446@nntp.acecape.com...

>> >

>> > "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

>> > news:eJ5kVcj%23IHA.3344@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>> >

>> >> I would download msconfig.exe

> (http://www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm)

>> >> and examine the tasks under the Startup tab. Untick those you don't

>> >> recognise but leave the virus scanner intact. Have another look after

>> >> the first reboot to see if any have re-enabled themselves. Spyware

>> >> has a habit of doing this.

>> >

>> > I should have mentioned have done that, seen a few things. But looking

>> > online was impossible to determine what was and wasn't kosher.

>>

>> As I said, untick everything you don't recognise. As long as you

>> leave your virus scanner stuff ticked, you won't damage your

>> installation. You could even untick the virus scanner stuff, provided

>> that you first disconnect your PC from the Internet.

>>

> Performance problems are hard to locate. It could be a persistent disk

> error, say in the directory structure. Look for a log file that keeps

> growing. Or maybe some device is constantly producing interrupts.

>

 

Good point. If it's a persisten disk error then it would be highly

visible in the Event Recorder.

[Guest Daniel Kaplan]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

news:O6S6rVl%23IHA.4816@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> Good point. If it's a persisten disk error then it would be highly

> visible in the Event Recorder.

I think I know where that is.,..but in case one cares to list it here quick

ly ;-) ..........

[Guest Dave Patrick]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

Start|Run|eventvwr.msc

 

 

--

 

Regards,

 

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft MVP [Windows]

http://www.microsoft.com/protect

 

"Daniel Kaplan" wrote:

> I think I know where that is.,..but in case one cares to list it here

> quick ly ;-) ..........

>

[Guest Daniel Kaplan]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Stubby" <William.Plummer*NO*SPAM*@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message

news:LpKdnZQ8Uc0BdgDVnZ2dnUVZ_ojinZ2d@comcast.com...

> Performance problems are hard to locate. It could be a persistent disk

> error, say in the directory structure. Look for a log file that keeps

> growing. Or maybe some device is constantly producing interrupts.

>

 

Nothing in the Event Log. No hardware errors it seems.

[Guest Stubby]

Re: Growing slowness, can't find solution

 

 

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

news:O6S6rVl%23IHA.4816@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>

> "Stubby" <William.Plummer*NO*SPAM*@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message

> news:LpKdnZQ8Uc0BdgDVnZ2dnUVZ_ojinZ2d@comcast.com...

> >

> > "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

> > news:%23jseCFl%23IHA.2060@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> >>

> >> "Daniel Kaplan" <NoSPam@NoSpam.com> wrote in message

> >> news:1218298296.246446@nntp.acecape.com...

> >> >

> >> > "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com.oz> wrote in message

> >> > news:eJ5kVcj%23IHA.3344@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> >> >

> >> >> I would download msconfig.exe

> > (http://www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm)

> >> >> and examine the tasks under the Startup tab. Untick those you don't

> >> >> recognise but leave the virus scanner intact. Have another look

after

> >> >> the first reboot to see if any have re-enabled themselves. Spyware

> >> >> has a habit of doing this.

> >> >

> >> > I should have mentioned have done that, seen a few things. But

looking

> >> > online was impossible to determine what was and wasn't kosher.

> >>

> >> As I said, untick everything you don't recognise. As long as you

> >> leave your virus scanner stuff ticked, you won't damage your

> >> installation. You could even untick the virus scanner stuff, provided

> >> that you first disconnect your PC from the Internet.

> >>

> > Performance problems are hard to locate. It could be a persistent disk

> > error, say in the directory structure. Look for a log file that keeps

> > growing. Or maybe some device is constantly producing interrupts.

> >

>

> Good point. If it's a persisten disk error then it would be highly

> visible in the Event Recorder.

>

Not so. We had one that kept writing error lines in <system>\logs

(sorry, I don't have the exact directory name at hand. I'm still with

Win2K. GT uses Vista.). In fact, looking up the log file location

involved searching the directory structure, triggering another error!

Recurive errors. I finally figured out what was going on and advanced to

the "How do I get CHKDSK /R to run" sequence.