Programs take TOO long to open

[Guest alxrays]

-- 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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/

>>

>>

>>