 Slow Computer?, Use this troubleshooting checklist |
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 Sep 28 2007, 03:57 PM
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#46
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New Member  Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: 28-September 07 From: India Member No.: 159,692  |
i really do not have an idea about the maximum amount i can specify in the virtual memory column. i have a very old PC configuration . running P3 733 mhz, 512mb SD ram (PC133 mhz) along with 40 GB hard disk (around 22 GB free). i have partitioned the disk into four drives where the drive c is the boot drive and D:, E:, F: follows. The maximum available space is in D: and E: drives (around 8 G.B. free each). currently i have configured the D: drive and E: drive with 1 GB of page file each totals to 2 GB of virtual RAM. Is it O.K. to have such a large amount as virtual RAM or should i reduce it. what is your suggestion to make my PC work faster. please help me with your valuable suggestions. |
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Dec 21 2007, 08:25 PM
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#47
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 21-December 07 Member No.: 178,094 |
QUOTE(ramkituty @ Sep 28 2007, 02:57 PM)  what is your suggestion to make my PC work faster. please help me with your valuable suggestions. How about trying the Linux OS, I recommend Ubuntu. Having an old PC has limited function and I would say not to put hardware upgrades since old components mainly the memory chip cost more than the new ones. If you use this computer mainly for internet, it would suffice. This post has been edited by Kixx025: Dec 21 2007, 08:25 PM |
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Dec 21 2007, 08:42 PM
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#48
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 8 Joined: 21-December 07 Member No.: 178,094 |
I can also advise not to use multiple antivirus SW running at the same time. Same is true for antispyware programs. Pick a good and reliable antivirus and firewall SW. I think that would be enough but also from time to time use other antivirus software if you suspect that your system is getting sluggish than normal. I use the online scanner since one antivirus SW somehow doesn't detect all viruses.
Also, I use this lightweight utility called autoruns. I hate programs that remain in the memory (TSR) even you don't need it. An example is a word processing utility to check for online updates, kill the process. A note though that you must be aware of the programs you disable. |
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 Dec 27 2007, 07:30 PM
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#49
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 391 Joined: 23-December 07 From: Wanganui, Aotearoa NZ Member No.: 178,459 |
Hi,
1. Defrag your hard drive. Use the built in XP defragmenter (dfrg.msc). It's the only one that properly optimizes your system's prefetching to speed up boot time. 2. Go to Microsoft's website and download BootVis.exe. It will optimize your prefetching even further than the built in defragmenter. Use both to get the best results: dfrg.msc first, then BootVis.exe->Tools menu->Optimize. Also, you can use it to benchmark your boot time before and after system tweaks and software installations. 3. Go to Start->Run... and type or paste "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks". This will start a built in optimization routine that runs in the System Idle Process and shows up as "rundll32.exe" in task manager. It normally runs automatically every 3 days. It will run for 15 mins to half an hour, so don't try to do anything too intensive while its running. If you get sick of it running, you should probably log off or restart to be safe, rather than killing the process. 4. Delete anything that you don't need in the Start->Programs->Startup folder, and in the Registry under HKLM->Software->Microsoft->Windows->Run and HKCU->Software->Microsoft->Windows->Run. 5. Go to Start->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services or go to Start->Run... and type "services.msc" to display services running on your machine. About 1/3 should be automatic, 1/3 should be manual, and 1/3 should be disabled, IMHO. If you don't know which to change, search google for "XP services" and read one of the many webpages that describe each service. 6. Use a partition manager to create a separate partition for your swap-file. Set its size to about 2.5 times the amount of physical RAM you have. You can do this by right-clicking my computer and selecting Properties->Advanced tab->Performance section->Settings button->Advanced tab again->Virtual Memory section->Change button. Whew! They don't make that one easy to get to. Just don't completely remove your swap file, cause your system might not boot after that, unless you have a lot of physical RAM.  7. Repeat steps 1-3. Ideally, XP on a clean install should boot in about 12 seconds from the time that you see the XP logo to useable (can open a program). With all my device drivers and third-party utilities, the best I can acheive so far is 18 seconds on my Dell. Don't use Norton SpeedDisk!--It may slow your XP system boot time by about 6 seconds.   You can also try enabling verbose logon messages which will show you each file being loaded. If there is one particular file or a string of them taking a long time to load, then google them to see if they are viruses.  Another thing... Have you ever cleared things like your user cache etc.? If not then you need to get CCleaner Here This post has been edited by Tomo2: Dec 27 2007, 07:34 PM -------------------- L&P, World Famous in New Zealand since ages ago!  Avast! Antivirus : Spybot S&D : Trend Micro Housecall : Hosts file : HiJack This Don't be too open minded - your brains will fall out |
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Dec 28 2007, 10:46 AM
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#50
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 Forum Addict Group: Global Moderator Posts: 19,724 Joined: 11-April 04 From: Chicago, Il. Member No.: 113 |
WARNING!
Members should be aware that every caution should be taken when using CCleaner or any kind of powerful cleaning application. The deletion of recommended files should be carefully reviewed, since the action could make certain applications either not function or not function properly. Absolutely avoid any registry changes, and always be sure that any action you may take is reversible. Regards, John -------------------- Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one should be silent.
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Dec 28 2007, 04:25 PM
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#51
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 Bleepin' Cynic Group: BC Advisor Posts: 4,158 Joined: 11-November 06 Member No.: 94,959 |
QUOTE(Tomo2 @ Dec 28 2007, 01:30 AM) 6. Use a partition manager to create a separate partition for your swap-file. Set its size to about 2.5 times the amount of physical RAM you have. You can do this by right-clicking my computer and selecting Properties->Advanced tab->Performance section->Settings button->Advanced tab again->Virtual Memory section->Change button. Whew! They don't make that one easy to get to. Just don't completely remove your swap file, cause your system might not boot after that, unless you have a lot of physical RAM. Putting your swap-file on a separate partition on the same hard drive as your operating system will make no difference. However, putting the swap-file on a separate physical drive to the operating system will make a difference. -------------------- Stupidity has a knack of getting its way.
—Albert Camus |
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Jan 19 2008, 10:24 AM
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#52
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 19-January 08 Member No.: 184,563 |
I have found out, once you have a fair amount of software installed, and quite a lot of trialed and uninstalled programs, only a complete Windows reinstall will help the speed back up, no little tools and other 'tips' will do.
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Feb 13 2008, 12:19 PM
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#53
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 Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 211 Joined: 11-June 07 From: Cymru/Wales Member No.: 136,036 |
QUOTE(Tomo2 @ Dec 28 2007, 12:30 AM) [snip] 2. Go to Microsoft's website and download BootVis.exe. It will optimize your prefetching even further than the built in defragmenter. Use both to get the best results: dfrg.msc first, then BootVis.exe->Tools menu->Optimize. Also, you can use it to benchmark your boot time before and after system tweaks and software installations. [snip] Please note that BootVis is no longer available from Microsoft, and, while I have never experienced any problems, it does show a variety of wrror messages on SP2 -------------------- Tom
Tswsl1989 Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together |
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Feb 17 2008, 09:38 PM
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#54
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 6 Joined: 17-February 08 From: USA Member No.: 190,843 |
I'll take this chance to ask a question about that firewall.
When i install that firewall,does it become the default firewall for my computer,or is there something that i have to do to get it to become the default firewall? Thanks. |
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Feb 29 2008, 04:50 AM
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#55
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: 29-February 08 Member No.: 193,270 |
QUOTE(tswsl1989 @ Feb 13 2008, 12:19 PM) QUOTE(Tomo2 @ Dec 28 2007, 12:30 AM) [snip] 2. Go to Microsoft's website and download BootVis.exe. It will optimize your prefetching even further than the built in defragmenter. Use both to get the best results: dfrg.msc first, then BootVis.exe->Tools menu->Optimize. Also, you can use it to benchmark your boot time before and after system tweaks and software installations. [snip] Please note that BootVis is no longer available from Microsoft, and, while I have never experienced any problems, it does show a variety of wrror messages on SP2 You can still download it from other places just type in Bootvis in google |
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Feb 29 2008, 04:51 AM
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#56
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: 29-February 08 Member No.: 193,270 |
Some of the good programs are:
AVG Ad-aware Spy Cleaner Spybot Search & destroy Also try out Sandboxie Our Internet Explorer, We can't get onto MSN, Hotmail ECT So we got Firefox so i say get firefox cause they dont get problems like internet explorer |
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Mar 5 2008, 08:40 AM
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#57
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 Forum Regular Group: Members Posts: 236 Joined: 9-May 07 From: Santiago, Chile Member No.: 129,800 |
This is a wonderful and most complete picture of this so common disaster that has appeared since a relatively short time. I have done every step mentioned and have a real torture when trying to perform tasks so simple as to write in the processor while outlook 2003 is opened. Well, every time a new message arrives, writing get hanged. I did not have this apparent RAM memory trouble before some virus or some cleaning system took away some file. As a matter of fact, Tune 2007 is, really very effective, but..., deleted me at least three applications, one of them my free AVG, but one of them was absolutely impossible to recover and had to buy it again.
A "new" mysterious problem that could help is that I have gotten the progressive filling of my C partitioned hard disk. I have unable to fix this and this C part has become impossible to defragment by any device or application. Re starting is, sometimes, mandatory for continuing using some application. Then, at least in my case this issue plays an important responsabilty for the extremely slow function of absolutely everything. If someone could tell me how to get this part of my hard disk recovered, would be very nice. Many thanks to this article author and to everybody reading this cooment. Sorry for the size. Sachs This post has been edited by KoanYorel: Mar 5 2008, 08:58 AM
Reason for edit: to remove duplicate post and unneeded quote of original post
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Mar 7 2008, 11:59 AM
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#58
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 7-March 08 Member No.: 194,834 |
i keep gettin a pop up every couple seconds that says.. ArcCon.ac unable to locate component this application failed to start because magcore.dll was not found reinstallation may fix problem... dont know what to do to stop this.. i have windows xp |
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Mar 7 2008, 03:04 PM
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#59
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Member Group: Members Posts: 19 Joined: 7-March 08 Member No.: 194,899 |
Thank you iqweed for providing forum members such a valuable information.
Actually my Os is Xp and I was also having slow computer few days also. I was not able to rectify what's the problem is? Later one of my friend when checked my computer properly found that I was using older version of antivirus program of Mcafee. Then I purchased the the latest version and now my computer is comparatively much faster. |
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Mar 30 2008, 01:55 PM
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#60
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New Member Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 30-March 08 Member No.: 199,825 |
ccleaner helped me take stuff off my computer and help it run faster
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| Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 29th August 2008 - 12:47 AM |
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