XP is getting to excruciatingly slow !!

Penang wrote:

Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Know your system well, and what should be running and what you have
disabled?

While I follow all the advice given above, Autoruns is what I use to
disable what didn't get the word it wasn't suppose to load.

You'll also find a lot of programs that can't be found - you find
them or delete the entry. Some files (Dll's) can be seen loading
several time, only need one.

It's a great program, you just have to remember to check it first if a
program, service or device doesn't work.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

--

Find Waldo
http://tinyurl.com/yj8ds74

Penang wrote:

Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Know your system well, and what should be running and what you have
disabled?

While I follow all the advice given above, Autoruns is what I use to
disable what didn't get the word it wasn't suppose to load.

You'll also find a lot of programs that can't be found - you find
them or delete the entry. Some files (Dll's) can be seen loading
several time, only need one.

It's a great program, you just have to remember to check it first if a
program, service or device doesn't work.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

--

Find Waldo
http://tinyurl.com/yj8ds74

Penang wrote in news:67aab408-0982-4c05-93ce-
:

Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

I once had that problem. It turned out that my OS was looking for an
orphaned network drive that once existed, but no longer did. I used
regscanner:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/regscanner.html

to find all instances in the registry of that particular network drive,
and deleted them. All was fine.

Penang wrote in news:67aab408-0982-4c05-93ce-
:

Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

I once had that problem. It turned out that my OS was looking for an
orphaned network drive that once existed, but no longer did. I used
regscanner:

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/regscanner.html

to find all instances in the registry of that particular network drive,
and deleted them. All was fine.

Penang wrote:
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Defragmenting the hard drive, even a heavily fragmented one, will not
improve efficiency. The NTFS system's "directory" and file layout is similar
to a relational database in that access time is virtually the same
irrespective of the data's location or fragmentation.

Likewise, registry "cleaning" or "compaction" has no detectable effect on
efficiency. The registry is not searched sequentially so its size is
irrelevant to proper or efficient operation of the computer.

Try "Hibernation" instead of "Shut down" to mitigate the slow start-up
symptom.

Penang wrote:
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Defragmenting the hard drive, even a heavily fragmented one, will not
improve efficiency. The NTFS system's "directory" and file layout is similar
to a relational database in that access time is virtually the same
irrespective of the data's location or fragmentation.

Likewise, registry "cleaning" or "compaction" has no detectable effect on
efficiency. The registry is not searched sequentially so its size is
irrelevant to proper or efficient operation of the computer.

Try "Hibernation" instead of "Shut down" to mitigate the slow start-up
symptom.

HeyBub wrote:
Penang wrote:
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Defragmenting the hard drive, even a heavily fragmented one, will not
improve efficiency.

It makes XP boot faster.

The NTFS system's "directory" and file layout is similar
to a relational database in that access time is virtually the same
irrespective of the data's location or fragmentation.

Likewise, registry "cleaning" or "compaction" has no detectable effect on
efficiency. The registry is not searched sequentially so its size is
irrelevant to proper or efficient operation of the computer.

Try "Hibernation" instead of "Shut down" to mitigate the slow start-up
symptom.

Walk around instead of a fix. Boring. To the OP, reinstall Windows,
Windows rot has set in big time.

M

HeyBub wrote:
Penang wrote:
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Defragmenting the hard drive, even a heavily fragmented one, will not
improve efficiency.

It makes XP boot faster.

The NTFS system's "directory" and file layout is similar
to a relational database in that access time is virtually the same
irrespective of the data's location or fragmentation.

Likewise, registry "cleaning" or "compaction" has no detectable effect on
efficiency. The registry is not searched sequentially so its size is
irrelevant to proper or efficient operation of the computer.

Try "Hibernation" instead of "Shut down" to mitigate the slow start-up
symptom.

Walk around instead of a fix. Boring. To the OP, reinstall Windows,
Windows rot has set in big time.

M

Per :
There are dozens of utilities that do this. Mine is called
Terabyte and cost about 20 bucks...

You can do this for free. Lots of them actually.

Ya, just by copying them where you want them, I have nothing in My
Documents, Pictures, Music and so on, I save everything mostly to my
F:\ Drive

Poor arrangement of words by Yours Truly.

The utilities I was trying to refer to are those that create disc
images.
--
PeteCresswell

Per :
There are dozens of utilities that do this. Mine is called
Terabyte and cost about 20 bucks...

You can do this for free. Lots of them actually.

Ya, just by copying them where you want them, I have nothing in My
Documents, Pictures, Music and so on, I save everything mostly to my
F:\ Drive

Poor arrangement of words by Yours Truly.

The utilities I was trying to refer to are those that create disc
images.
--
PeteCresswell

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per :
There are dozens of utilities that do this. Mine is called
Terabyte and cost about 20 bucks...
You can do this for free. Lots of them actually.
Ya, just by copying them where you want them, I have nothing in My
Documents, Pictures, Music and so on, I save everything mostly to my
F:\ Drive

Poor arrangement of words by Yours Truly.

The utilities I was trying to refer to are those that create disc
images.

Norton Ghost not good enough fer yas? We used that all teh tiem at
school to reimage teh computer labs.

^_^

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per :
There are dozens of utilities that do this. Mine is called
Terabyte and cost about 20 bucks...
You can do this for free. Lots of them actually.
Ya, just by copying them where you want them, I have nothing in My
Documents, Pictures, Music and so on, I save everything mostly to my
F:\ Drive

Poor arrangement of words by Yours Truly.

The utilities I was trying to refer to are those that create disc
images.

Norton Ghost not good enough fer yas? We used that all teh tiem at
school to reimage teh computer labs.

^_^

there are many reasons why a computer
can become slow.

one way to double check performance is
to boot into the safe modes.

if the system is zippy quick in the safe
modes,

then you have eliminated 50 percent of
the possible problems that are causing
poor system performance.

--
db·´¯`·...¸)))º
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

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



"Penang" wrote in message
...
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

there are many reasons why a computer
can become slow.

one way to double check performance is
to boot into the safe modes.

if the system is zippy quick in the safe
modes,

then you have eliminated 50 percent of
the possible problems that are causing
poor system performance.

--
db·´¯`·...¸)))º
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- @Hotmail.com
- nntp Postologist
~ "share the nirvana" - dbZen

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



"Penang" wrote in message
...
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

"Penang" wrote in message
...
Even on cold boot it takes more than 5 minutes for XP to get
everything back in shape, ready to be used.

I have tried everything, from defragmenting the HD to "cleaning" the
registry to even defragmenting the registry, and it's STILL so slow.

Software wise, I don't use too many. Just the typical office thingy,
that's all.

What else should I do to speed up my XP machine --- a 4-core CPU with
4GB of RAM ?

Have you Automatic Updates configured?
or Winders defender, both these can decide to do a machine wide scan at
boot with disastrous effects on boot time.

--

Geoff
ExploitEd
--

Wisdom and experience come with age, they say, but I wish I could
remember the darn question