Re: computer oddity

Bill Wright wrote:
"Steve Terry" <gFOURwwk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:gfl5u6$1rp$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Bill Wright" <insertmybusinessname@xxxxxxx> wrote in message If you don't have enough Ram your HD would be doing a lot of unnecessary work
I can mess around with large graphics without any delays.

Your Virus checker probably checks at least start up and memory?
No idea what it does.

Tell us more about your PC, CPU / speed / amount of memory / Hard Drive,
how much space left on it, etc, etc

Well the spec sounds ok...

Firstly, don't be fooled by windows looking like it is ready to let you do something - it is just a bit of a cruel joke. It quite common for most XP systems to be non responsive for at least a min or two after booting and logging in.

You did not mention what virus scanner you are running, but it is common for many of those to immediately download updates and then set about patching their applications and updating their database files. This can take some time. Your machine ought to be able to do this without grinding to a complete halt, but older ones with less ram and slower processors can end up being comatose for extended periods these days just doing these updates. You may also have you anti virus program set to do a daily scan - hence it very well might be reading everything on the C: drive just for the hell of it! Checking its settings may help you specify less frequent scanning, and also schedule downloads at a time where the machine is likely to be on and running. That way it won't end up playing catchup next time you turn it on because it has missed a scheduled download or scan.

Next its worth looking at what windows is loading at startup. Its quite common to acquire a list of non essential programs that want to get their oar in every time you turn it on. This not only takes time, but also uses free memory and potentially lowers the performance of applications you are using. A glance at the system area (i.e. where the clock usually resides) of the task bar is often informative - a large collection of small icons sat there is a good indication you are loading lots of stuff you may not need or use. Things like real player, MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, MSN Messenger, quicktime etc will often load a little app at startup. Sometimes just going to their preferences/options dialogs and de-selecting the "load xyz at startup" is enough to make them go away. You may also have daft little programs that are just there to remind you to register something. Getting shot of the unwanted ones will help.

You can run a little program called MSCONFIG (its part of windows - click start and select the "Run..." option and type msconfig and click OK). Have a look at the things listed on the startup tab. You may spot things there that you did not know you were loading and have no need for. Getting shot of some of these may need a bit of registry tweaking, but report back and we can give some guidance of what you can lose and how.

Msconfig will also show "services" (background processes that windows starts to do various jobs). Many of these are started automatically, and again you may not need them all. (you can use msconfig to actually make changes - but it is not necessarily the best way - especially for services). See this article for an intro to turning off services you may not need:

http://www.optimizingpc.com/optimize/windowsservices.html

Ones people often knock off include:

* Alerter
* Clipbook
* Computer Browser
* Distributed Link Tracking Client
* Fast User Switching
* Help and Support - (If you use Windows Help and Support leave this enabled)
* Indexing Service
* IPSEC Services
* Messenger
* Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing (disabled for extra security)
* Portable Media Serial Number
* Remote Desktop Help Session Manager (disabled for extra security)
* Remote Procedure Call Locator
* Remote Registry (disabled for extra security)
* Remote Registry Service
* Secondary Logon
* Routing & Remote Access Server (disabled for extra security)
* SSDP Discovery Service - (Unplug & Pray will disable this)
* Telnet
* TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
* Upload Manager
* Universal Plug and Play Device Host
* Windows Time
* Wireless Zero Configuration (Do not disable if you use a wireless network)




--
Cheers,

John.

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| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
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