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#1
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XP running *really* slow
Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open
the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
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#3
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XP running *really* slow
Hi
Please try the following link: http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm -- Will Denny MVP - Windows Shell/User Please reply to the News Groups "Christoph" wrote in message ... Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
#4
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XP running *really* slow
You can try running Performance Monitor to see what's happening more
clearly. Progressive degredation like you've described could be many things, if I had to guess I'd probably say memory leak. But to be sure, add some counters in Performance monitor (Start Run perfmon) Ok, I added the counters. What am I looking for? What's a good value for these counters and what's a bad value? thnx, Christoph |
#5
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XP running *really* slow
you haven't mentioned your system's specs.
Use these tools:-Disk Cleanup/Disk Defragmenter see:- 'How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utility in Windows XP' http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;310560 http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm regards, ssg MS-MVP pronetworks.org Christoph wrote: Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
#6
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XP running *really* slow
Hi Christoph,
In XP, the default counters in SYSTEM monitor (perfmon ~ sorry for the name confusion) should tell you quite a bit about what's going on, and are set up to be very intuitive. They've set up the 3 common areas for you to review: Memory, PhysicalDisk, and Processor. Basically, if the graph shows high, that object is working hard. If something is working too hard, it could be a bottle neck. If any one of these is particularly high, you can add more counters under that performance object to explore what the problem actually might be. Rather than re-create the wheel, I'm going to refer you to the helpfiles included in the MMC as they're actually quite thorough for more information on using System Monitor. However, if you want to solve your problem, some other folks have responded and made some great suggestions on generally cleaning up and tuning your system. I suspect that by following the steps they've recommended you'll manage to get your system working smoothly again. You may not know exactly what or why, but good system maintenance is important anyway and if it works that's good enough, yes? HTH, =d= -- Dana Brash MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA "Christoph" wrote in message ... You can try running Performance Monitor to see what's happening more clearly. Progressive degredation like you've described could be many things, if I had to guess I'd probably say memory leak. But to be sure, add some counters in Performance monitor (Start Run perfmon) Ok, I added the counters. What am I looking for? What's a good value for these counters and what's a bad value? thnx, Christoph |
#7
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XP running *really* slow
What is your RAM? To run properly, you'll need a minimum of 256megs, 512megs
is recommended. "Christoph" wrote: You can try running Performance Monitor to see what's happening more clearly. Progressive degredation like you've described could be many things, if I had to guess I'd probably say memory leak. But to be sure, add some counters in Performance monitor (Start Run perfmon) Ok, I added the counters. What am I looking for? What's a good value for these counters and what's a bad value? thnx, Christoph |
#8
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XP running *really* slow
"Christoph" wrote in message ... Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph You have not said what your computer is nor what changes or updates you have installed. There are many things that could cause a progressive slow down there are others that cause a sudden loss of performance. For example if your machine is a particular notebook computer and you have just installed Windows SP2 there is a known problem and a couple of workarounds that will restore performance are available. Have a look at My Computer, Properties,General to see if the CPU speed reported is the same as what it "says on the tin". Richard. |
#9
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XP running *really* slow
Ahem, XP doesn't run slow. It runs as fast as the cpu and memory will allow.
The cpu doesn't run slow. It runs as fast as it can when work is available to do. The Cpu is going to wait until there is something to do. It can't do anything until that something to do is in memory. If the cpu has more to do that it can process it will run at 100%. and time will be added to the processes. If the memory is not enough to hold all the processes that need to run, the cpu will need to page data and code, to and from the disk. The paging uses cpu, memory, and causes waits on the disk. If the memory (and cpu) are near or less than what is needed to hold the working set of what is running you will get a page / swap thrashing condition. The more this occurs the more reads and writes the disk does so the wait time is added to the process run time. When these limits constrict the acual OS elements and or drive set, the OS is the process waiting, and thus all processes are waiting. Because you ran the clean up and checks, and you say the mouse and programs loads slow the computer down then it is most likely because your cpu is not fast enough for the work to be done. Memory - you need 256 MB min, because the memory working set of XP is over 128 MB. 512 MB would be better because it would give extra file cache. The more the devices need to work the more the cpu could be used to transfer data to and from memory. If the disk is not bus mastered than all data is moved by the cpu. If the video card is not ... If the video card and driver is old, mouse interaction can be affected and use more cpu. If you are using fat32 some cpu overhead is used to transverse through directoies (over and over again.) If your disk drive is less than 20 GB or an older 20 GB, it is running at 1/9th the speed of today's common ATA100 drives. There may indeed be a problem with a program leaking memory which would make all of the above increase over time. But my guess is that your computer will not get any faster than it is for the first few minutes after boot up. SJ "Christoph" wrote in message ... Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
#10
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XP running *really* slow
Because you ran the clean up and checks, and you say the mouse and
programs loads slow the computer down then it is most likely because your cpu is not fast enough for the work to be done. Memory - you need 256 MB min, because the memory working set of XP is over 128 MB. 512 MB would be better because it would give extra file cache. Well, my CPU is running at 2.17Ghz and I've got 512mb of RAM. If the disk is not bus mastered than all data is moved by the cpu. I'm not sure what this means. If you are using fat32 some cpu overhead is used to transverse through directoies (over and over again.) I am using NTFS If your disk drive is less than 20 GB or an older 20 GB, it is running at 1/9th the speed of today's common ATA100 drives. I believe my drive controllers are ATAultra133 thnx, Christoph |
#11
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XP running *really* slow
Well, now that I know I'm in a different ballpark.
You have a failling disk or your motherboard has got problems. If you have one of those cpu with bad firmware or one that slows down when running on battery power it would have different symptoms. So it is not the CPU, not the memory. It is not a bad driver. It is not the OS. I is not the programs or they would be crashing or showing up in task man as busy and growing. It could be a bad cable on the disk, or a bad IDE controller but not likely. It could too many shared IRQ's. It could be a hot device like a USB port shared with a main device but not likely. What's left, a board bug or a failing disk. Have you installed the newset board drivers and bios from the MFG? Try a differnt disk with a new cable. If that is the same it is the MOBO, if it runs like the wind, it is the disk. SJ "Christoph" wrote in message ... Because you ran the clean up and checks, and you say the mouse and programs loads slow the computer down then it is most likely because your cpu is not fast enough for the work to be done. Memory - you need 256 MB min, because the memory working set of XP is over 128 MB. 512 MB would be better because it would give extra file cache. Well, my CPU is running at 2.17Ghz and I've got 512mb of RAM. If the disk is not bus mastered than all data is moved by the cpu. I'm not sure what this means. If you are using fat32 some cpu overhead is used to transverse through directoies (over and over again.) I am using NTFS If your disk drive is less than 20 GB or an older 20 GB, it is running at 1/9th the speed of today's common ATA100 drives. I believe my drive controllers are ATAultra133 thnx, Christoph |
#12
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XP running *really* slow
i had same problem whid slow computer and i tryed everything but the best
fore me whas a friend took hees computer to me and i tankt that i wontde to save then we took awaw everything and instal windows from the begining and it workd but after a while it become slow again i think fore me frends loded home htings to my computer that i diddent know how to use or why so atleest it get to much and its no use to try to fix it so now i have bought a nother one and htis is nowboddy tuch only lisend to music and messenger and informations you need to know on internet "S.Sengupta" wrote: you haven't mentioned your system's specs. Use these tools:-Disk Cleanup/Disk Defragmenter see:- 'How to troubleshoot by using the System Configuration utility in Windows XP' http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;310560 http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm regards, ssg MS-MVP pronetworks.org Christoph wrote: Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
#13
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You should check the Performance Manager for problems of your PC. The reason
that your PC is slow that the files are fragmented, HD is full of junk, or many programs that aren't used frequently. You should run Disk Defragmentor to defrag files so that it can improve speed on programs or the system itself. When you open Disk Defrag, you should click Analyze before you can defrag your system, if it is full, then click Defrag and it'll take minutes depending on the fragmented files on your hard drive. After it's finish, speed can increase up to 50% or more. The other reason is that Windows is slow is that your hard drive is messy, you should run Disk Cleanup to delete any unnecessary files on the hard drive. You'll choose stuff to clear files in your PC so that it can reduce problems and improve HD space, performance, and stability. If you have many unused programs on your computer, you can go to Start and click on Set Program Access and Defaults and check programs that are rarely used. If you have many unused programs, you can uninstall it and it can improve stability and hard drive space. The other reason is that the registry is full of entries that is from programs that are uninstalled. Changing the Registry is hard and needs computer experience. There are third-party system maintaince software to clean the hard drive and fix errors on your system. Does your computer have XP or is upgraded to XP? "Christoph" wrote: Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
#14
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'Slow Computer'
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm regards, ssg MS-MVP Axel wrote: You should check the Performance Manager for problems of your PC. The reason that your PC is slow that the files are fragmented, HD is full of junk, or many programs that aren't used frequently. You should run Disk Defragmentor to defrag files so that it can improve speed on programs or the system itself. When you open Disk Defrag, you should click Analyze before you can defrag your system, if it is full, then click Defrag and it'll take minutes depending on the fragmented files on your hard drive. After it's finish, speed can increase up to 50% or more. The other reason is that Windows is slow is that your hard drive is messy, you should run Disk Cleanup to delete any unnecessary files on the hard drive. You'll choose stuff to clear files in your PC so that it can reduce problems and improve HD space, performance, and stability. If you have many unused programs on your computer, you can go to Start and click on Set Program Access and Defaults and check programs that are rarely used. If you have many unused programs, you can uninstall it and it can improve stability and hard drive space. The other reason is that the registry is full of entries that is from programs that are uninstalled. Changing the Registry is hard and needs computer experience. There are third-party system maintaince software to clean the hard drive and fix errors on your system. Does your computer have XP or is upgraded to XP? "Christoph" wrote: Lately, my XP has been running *really* slow. When I open the task manager, it's showing the CPU usage as a very low percentage. However, when I try to open applications, switch windows, move the mouse, etc, it takes a very long time to do anything. And the longer it's been since I've rebooted, the slower my XP gets. I've run Ad-aware, Spybot, anti-virus, etc - basically the whole gauntlet in trying to determine exactly what is causing the slow down. None of the aforementioned apps found any problems aside from a few cookies. While I understand that you guys cannot diagnose my problem with the little bit of information I've provided above, I am hoping that you guys can tell me where to look to try to find out what is causing everything to run very slowly even though my CPU usage is very low. thnx, Christoph |
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