Guest alxrays Posted August 31, 2008 Posted August 31, 2008 -- Hello, I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) My programs take too long to open. I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with TEMP files. I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is 110GB 54GB free. Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My Firewall is only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be causing the delays. Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time to buy a NEW Computer? -- thank you thank you
Guest Bruce Hagen Posted August 31, 2008 Posted August 31, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open "alxrays" <microsoft@help.com> wrote in message news:2AA6C6AE-7D58-4614-BF68-B2DEF390B3A7@microsoft.com... > > -- Hello, > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) > My programs take too long to open. > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with TEMP > files. > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is 110GB > 54GB free. > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My Firewall > is > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be > causing > the delays. > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time to > buy a NEW Computer? > -- > thank you You may want to add some RAM. I had 2 X 256 MB in bank one of two. Moved them to bank two and put in two 1GB cards in bank one. Total of 2.5GB. Total cost was less than $50.00. What a difference. EDGE Tech Corporation: http://www.edgetechcorp.com/ Phone ordering & support available to make sure you get the correct cards. (I am not soliciting for this company, I just happened to use them). -- Bruce Hagen MS-MVP Outlook Express Imperial Beach, CA
Guest Peter Foldes Posted August 31, 2008 Posted August 31, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open Pretty much the same advice as Bruce posted for you -- Peter Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged. "alxrays" <microsoft@help.com> wrote in message news:2AA6C6AE-7D58-4614-BF68-B2DEF390B3A7@microsoft.com... > > -- Hello, > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) > My programs take too long to open. > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with TEMP files. > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is 110GB > 54GB free. > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My Firewall is > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be causing > the delays. > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time to > buy a NEW Computer? > -- > thank you > > thank you
Guest Daave Posted August 31, 2008 Posted August 31, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open "alxrays" <microsoft@help.com> wrote in message news:2AA6C6AE-7D58-4614-BF68-B2DEF390B3A7@microsoft.com... > > -- Hello, > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) > My programs take too long to open. > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with > TEMP files. > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is > 110GB > 54GB free. > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My > Firewall is > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be > causing > the delays. > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time > to > buy a NEW Computer? Here are some common causes (other than malware) for PC slowness: 1. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the background -- with or without your knowledge. Use these sites to determine what these programs are and to learn how to configure them not to always run at startup: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm Sometimes it is recommended to use msconfig to configure the programs to not run at startup. A better, more thorough program is Autoruns: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx 2. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile. A quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit, and Peak. The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM. Otherwise, you may want to explore this further by running Page File Monitor for Windows XP: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm 3. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode didn't change from DMA to PIO: http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/ and http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/
Guest Bill Sharpe Posted August 31, 2008 Posted August 31, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open alxrays wrote: > -- Hello, > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) > My programs take too long to open. > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with TEMP files. > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is 110GB > 54GB free. > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My Firewall is > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be causing > the delays. > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time to > buy a NEW Computer? "Too long" is a subjective term. However, if YOU think it's too long, take the advice about adding memory. Bill
Guest ShadowTek Posted August 31, 2008 Posted August 31, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open Bill Sharpe <wfsnopam@adelphia.net> wrote in news:#u2n9f6CJHA.2476 @TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl: > "Too long" is a subjective term. However, if YOU think it's too long, > take the advice about adding memory. I had a computer with 512Mbs of RAM and XP Home, and everything ran just as fast as my better PCs with XP. I only noticed any slowdown if a had a lot of hungry applications open at once. 512Mbs is just fine for light work on XP.
Guest Paul Posted September 1, 2008 Posted September 1, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open alxrays wrote: > -- Hello, > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) > My programs take too long to open. > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with TEMP files. > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is 110GB > 54GB free. > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My Firewall is > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be causing > the delays. > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time to > buy a NEW Computer? How about running some benchmarks ? 1) SuperPI. http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/super_pi_mod-1.5.zip Unzip and run super_pi_mod.exe . Click Calculate. Select "1M" from the menu. Run the calculation. The program will compute the math constant PI to 1 million digits. I have a P4 running at 3.08GHz and it takes 49.25 seconds to complete the benchmark. Is your result relatively close to that ? This is a basic test of processor speed, and doesn't use a lot of RAM (uses about 10MB or so while the benchmark runs). 2) HDTach or HDTune. http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public/index.php?request=HdTach http://www.hdtune.com/hdtune_255.exe (the free version) Both programs can do a read benchmark, of hard drive speed. The normal result should be about 60MB/aec data transfer rate at the beginning of the disk, and about 40MB/sec or so near the end of the disk. The programs sample data from the disk, at spots across the disk surface. And a curve should be the result. If the result is a straight line, and a lot lower than the above figures (for a 7200RPM drive), then something could be misconfigured. For example, PIO transfer mode, which uses the CPU for each byte transferred, gives about 4MB/sec transfer rate. That will significantly increase the load time for programs. HDTune also has an information tab, which will tell you something about the current mode of the disk (DMA or PIO). In the right hand corner of the Info window, is "Supported" and "Active" modes for the drive. 3) In Task Manager, you can examine the Commit Charge, and see how much of your Physical Memory is in use. For example, my Physical total is 2GB, and my Commit Charge total is about 1GB. So my memory is currently half used (a few programs parked in the background). Finding information on RDRAM isn't always that easy, and knowing the motherboard make and model or the computer make and model, may make it easier to track down some of the issues with that stuff. I seem to remember one chipset had a limit as to the total number of memory chips per channel, making it harder to get full stated capacity on memory. It is one of the few memory technologies, that really needs the heat spreader they rivet to it. Paul
Guest alxrays Posted September 8, 2008 Posted September 8, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open Thank You Daave, I tried the Bleeping Computer site for Start-up Programs and unchecked many unnecessary ones.The computer is running alot better. -- thank you "Daave" wrote: > "alxrays" <microsoft@help.com> wrote in message > news:2AA6C6AE-7D58-4614-BF68-B2DEF390B3A7@microsoft.com... > > > > -- Hello, > > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor > > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) > > My programs take too long to open. > > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with > > TEMP files. > > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is > > 110GB > > 54GB free. > > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My > > Firewall is > > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may be > > causing > > the delays. > > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it time > > to > > buy a NEW Computer? > > > Here are some common causes (other than malware) for PC slowness: > > > 1. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the > background -- with or without your knowledge. > > Use these sites to determine what these programs are and to learn how to > configure them not to always run at startup: > > http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS > http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ > http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm > > Sometimes it is recommended to use msconfig to configure the programs to > not run at startup. A better, more thorough program is Autoruns: > > http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx > > 2. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the pagefile. A > quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager > (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three values > under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit, > and Peak. > > The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at that > very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory you > used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of > Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM. > Otherwise, you may want to explore this further by running Page File > Monitor for Windows XP: > > http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm > > 3. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode > didn't change from DMA to PIO: > > http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/ > > and > > http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/ > > >
Guest Daave Posted September 8, 2008 Posted September 8, 2008 Re: Programs take TOO long to open Glad to have helped. Thanks for the update. "alxrays" <microsoft@help.com> wrote in message news:1096CFC6-DE77-41D7-B414-18A9652508D1@microsoft.com... > Thank You Daave, > I tried the Bleeping Computer site for Start-up Programs and unchecked > many > unnecessary ones.The computer is running alot better. > -- > thank you > > > "Daave" wrote: > >> "alxrays" <microsoft@help.com> wrote in message >> news:2AA6C6AE-7D58-4614-BF68-B2DEF390B3A7@microsoft.com... >> > >> > -- Hello, >> > I am running Windows XP Home Edition SP2 Pentium 4 Processor >> > 2.53GHz 512MB Memory PC 1066 RDRAM (2x256 modules) >> > My programs take too long to open. >> > I've deleted Temporary internet files,history & Cookies along with >> > TEMP files. >> > I've done a defrag and deleted many files on my hard drive which is >> > 110GB >> > 54GB free. >> > Cleared Recent file folder and ran Ad a Ware, Spybot and AVG. My >> > Firewall is >> > only Zone Alarm, I turned off Windows Firewall thinking the 2 may >> > be >> > causing >> > the delays. >> > Any suggestions? I already re-formatted my entire computer. Is it >> > time >> > to >> > buy a NEW Computer? >> >> >> Here are some common causes (other than malware) for PC slowness: >> >> >> 1. Too many of *certain types* of programs always running in the >> background -- with or without your knowledge. >> >> Use these sites to determine what these programs are and to learn how >> to >> configure them not to always run at startup: >> >> http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#THE_PROGRAMS >> http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ >> http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm >> >> Sometimes it is recommended to use msconfig to configure the programs >> to >> not run at startup. A better, more thorough program is Autoruns: >> >> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx >> >> 2. Not enough RAM, which causes the PC to overly rely on the >> pagefile. A >> quick way to determine if this is happening is to open Task Manager >> (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and click the Performance tab. Then note the three >> values >> under Commit Charge (K): in the lower left-hand corner: Total, Limit, >> and Peak. >> >> The Total figure represents the amount of memory you are using at >> that >> very moment. The Peak figure represents the highest amount of memory >> you >> used since last bootup. If both these figures are below the value of >> Physical Memory (K) Total, then you probably have plenty of RAM. >> Otherwise, you may want to explore this further by running Page File >> Monitor for Windows XP: >> >> http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_pagefilemon.htm >> >> 3. You might also want to check that your hard drive's access mode >> didn't change from DMA to PIO: >> >> http://www.technize.com/2007/08/02/is-your-hard-disk-cddvd-drives-too-slow-while-copying/ >> >> and >> >> http://users.bigpond.net.au/ninjaduck/itserviceduck/udma_fix/ >> >> >>
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