[Reddoug]

Hi All

Have a problem with Xp being very slow to boot up. Takes along time for Icons to appear after desktop starts. (What seems like 5 minutes.) When trying to run disk clean up, that take along time to work after telling to remove items slected and defrag is very slow. I try to keep hard drive cleaned up and defragged. Computer is a 2.4mhz with 512 mb of ram. Running AVG 8.0
Spybot and Zone Alarm. Have run AVG and spybot and no problems are found. When looking at processes running, only shows system idle using anything.

Thanks Doug

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Click Start > run. Type msconfig. Check Selective Mode and click the "startup" tab. Uncheck everything which is not essential. Leave only AVG and ZoneAlarm (if you change your mind latter you can reactivate those programs). Confirm and reboot. Upon rebooting a message will show up. Please check it and continue. For laptop users: do not uncheck items that clearly relate to the operation of the computer.

[The Skeptic]

Click Start > run. Type msconfig. Check Selective Mode and click the "startup" tab. Uncheck everything which is not essential. Leave only AVG and ZoneAlarm (if you change your mind latter you can reactivate those programs). Confirm and reboot. Upon rebooting a message will show up. Please check it and continue. For laptop users: do not uncheck items that clearly relate to the operation of the computer.

[Reddoug]

Thanks for the reply. I should have stated that I had disable several things in msconfig and it did not seem to make a difference. If I delete to much and cause a problem, will I be able to go back in starting in safe mode and restore what I dissable?

Thanks Doug

[The Skeptic]

Yes, you can enable everything back by rechecking it. Please run msconfig. If after following the instructions in my previous post the computer is still slow, please disconnect your computer by switching off your modem/router, reopen msconfig and disable everything, inclusing AVG and ZoneAlarm. Reboot and report.

Edit: Is the computer running well after it loads everything or is it constantly slow.

Edited by The Skeptic, 25 July 2008 - 02:47 AM.

[Reddoug]

I tried dissabling a few items at a time untill I had dissabled everything. I take 3 minutes from when XP logo appears untill all icons are on desktop and hour glass is gone. Takes about 15-20 seconds longer with all enabled. Computer runs ok after it boots except when I preform disk clean up and defrag. 120 Gb HD with 14 Gb used. Takes around an hour to run defrag and like 10-15 minutes to run disk clean up. Have not installed SP 3 yet.

Thanks, Doug

PS, What do people think of Avast compared to AVG? Have heard a few things about Kaspersky, do they have a free version? Is it better than AVG?

[The Skeptic]

I don't think that there is much that you can do. It may be that the computer run through memory scans by your anti-malware programs at the first moments of startup. It also looks, probably, for updates of all sorts. there are few things for your consideration:

1: ZoneAlarm slows your computer. It's a good firewall but I find that Microsoft's firewall serves my purposes very well. Other people think differently.

2: You can cancel Windows Updates and download new updates manually once every month or so.

3: In my opinion AVAST is the best free antivirus. We had several discussions about the subject in the past but no one convinced me otherwise. I use it as my standard AV to clean infected computers. And it's free.

Your computer is basically a medium performance machine. I'll add few processes below that I use as standard procedures for speeding up computers. I write only those that are relevant to your case.

o speed-up your computer please do the following: (For most downloads use links from the list below).

1: In Add/Remove programs, in Control Panel, uninstall all unnecessary toolbars such as Yahoo, google and others. Latter on you can download them again.

2: If you have Internet Explorer 7 installed as a windows update, uninstall it in add/remove programs in control panel. This will roll you back to internet explorer 6. Latter on you can download it again as a Windows Update.

3: Download and install CCleaner. Do not install the Yahoo toolbar that comes packed with the program. In addition to items checked by default please check "Old Prefetch Data". Run the "cleaner" and "registry" options a number of times until nothing is left to be cleaned. Use the backup option (in "registry") when prompted to do so.

4: Run a thorough scan with updated antimalware programs. Use the link in my list to the malware forum and follow all the preliminary steps. Run full system scans (all files), preferably in safe mode. Run the programs one at a time,

5: Run disk defragmantation. For this operation I use and recommend Auslogic Disk Defrag. Alternatively you can run Microsoft's defragmenter.

6: Download and run PageDefrag. This program defrags registry and page files which are not defragmented by other means. Set it to work upon next boot and reboot.

7: Press ctr+alt+del to enter task manager. Under Performance tab look for "physical memory". Please report Total and Available.

8: Enter "My Computer", right-click drive C: and then Properties. Please report Capacity and Free Space of your hard disk (each partition, if you have more then one).

9: Download HD Tune and under Benchmarking run a complete performance test. Please report Average data transfer for the entire test.and click Advanced Settings

[Reddoug]

Ran Ccleaner. Below isd what showed up from registry part. Ran PageDefrag. Preformace; physical mem 50608 total, 191516 available, sys cache 116128. HD total 111 gb, free 97.4 gb, used 14.3gb. HD tune average 40.7 mb/sec.

P4 2.8 GHz 512MB Ram (had it wrong earlier) (this is my mothers comp).

Here is what showed up from reg scan in ccleaner. I see alot of missing shared .dll files.

I have not been this deep into a comp repair. Usaually just wipe and relaod O.S. Having fun learning.

Attached is what I got after running ccleaner registry part.

Thanks, Doug

Attached Files

•  CCleaner_reg.txt   284.8KB   751 downloads

[The Skeptic]

What you see and remove with CCleaner is normal.

I don't see anything abnormal. Data transfer speed under HD Tune is normal. Normal usage of RAM. Plenty disk space.

Have you performed the other steps that I suggested?

[Reddoug]

I did not roll back IE7 and did not see what link you were talking about in malware. I did run Avast in safe mode with a through scan. It did not find anything. Took over 3 hours.
What differences are in Ccleaner and Cleanup 4.0? Looks to me like they would both do the same thing. I did like the defrag program. Work quickly.
I know of a guy that could probably fix the 10 minutes, but he wants to charge and goes so fast I can not learn anything.

Thanks again, Doug

[The Skeptic]

There is no question that a technician who has the computer on his table has a great advantage over us in the forum. That's always a faster option if the technician is good and the money to pay him is not an issue.

I am not familiar with Cleanup 4.0. I use CCleaner extensively and exclusively because it never failed me.

If you wish me to keep looking at this post please perform everything that I suggested before, including removal if IE 7.0 and toolbars, removal of ZoneAlarm etc.

[Reddoug]

I will roll back IE7 and remove Zone Alarm. Just nervous about rolling back IE7. I have never done that and do not know what will happen. I am not questioning your knowledge, but why would that make a difference. It has been on the computer since it came out and this problem is only a couple of months old. What I like about Zone Alarm is that it prompt you if something is trying to access the net. Never had Windows firewall do that. Wish there was a computer club in my area to learn more. Easier to talk and have someone show me what is going on. Only club in my area is a Linux club. I have backed up the important files. Can you create a link for the malware cleaner you metioned in earlier post or was Avast enough?

Thanks again, Doug

[The Skeptic]

I don't see any problem with your computer but you are the user and I am sure you know better, being near the machine.

I asked you to remove toolbars, IE 7.0 and ZoneAlarm because all are known to create computer speed problems. They are easy to remove and reinstall if there are no visible benefits.

You don't have to worry about removing IE.7, I have done that many times and never failed.

I apologize for my previous post. Reading it back I think it conveyed impatience, which I never meant to. Sorry.

[Reddoug]

Hi

Zone Alarm was the problem. Computer will now boot up in 30 to 45 seconds. I have it on 3 othwer computers and do not have this kind of problem.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Doug

[The Skeptic]

Thanks for letting us know.