Battling unacceptable file-opening latency 1

[SantaMufasa]

I am running XP Professional V.2002 SP2 on a 1.6 GHz IBM T41 Notebook.

A few weeks ago, my machine started exhibiting terrible latency when accessing files from either Windows Explorer or from Shortcuts: clicking on a 1K text file (opening in Notepad) or a 2K Word document (opening in Word) takes +/- 1 minute.

If, however, I go to a command prompt and issue the command

C:> notepad <filename>

...the file opens instantly. Same occurs for Word documents.

To eliminate possible latency causers, I have

1) unmapped all remote drives
2) defragmented my local drives (3 times).
3) run Norton Antivirus
4) run Spybot Search and Destroy
5) TrendMicro's Housecall malware remover (6 times)
6) Confirmed that my CPU consumption is running +/- 3-5%
7) Confirmed that no other disk access/contention is occurring

These are all of the "tricks" that my internal IT guys can come up with, and my file-access latency is still as terrible as ever.

Again, the puzzling part is that command-prompt invocation of file-access applications is absolutely instantaneous, while my accesses from Windows Explorer or from desktop shortcuts is +/- 1 minute.

What other hints/tricks/magic can you suggest to either troubleshoot/diagnose/isolate or resolve this issue?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[warnerpc]

Looking for some more information here, but open up task manager goto processes and click on cpu. You should see programs that currently using cpu. Then open a file and see what the usuage is both cpu and memory. Then try command line. The other thing is how many processes do you have running in the background. I saw you have norton anti-virus it maybe trying to scan the document that is opening up. What verison of nortons are you using?

 

[WyldeCarde]

When you click on a file in explorer, or on a shortcut, Windows establishes a list of every action the operating system can take with the file in question. The same list you see when you right-click.

When you run that command from the commandline, you bypass all that, telling the system what action to take with what object/file.

In short, something on your context (right-click) menu is malfunctioning. If it happens with lots of file types, it is likely to be something like your virus scanner, or Zip software.

If you see soemthing obvious on your context menu and know how to fix it, go for it. If you are not sure of either which program is causing the issue or how to go about fixing it feel free to reply and I'l run you through it

 

[SantaMufasa]

Thanks, Warnerpc and UKEWildCard, for your responses. (I'm sorry for the delay in replying.) Here are my findings in response to your questions:

Warnerpc: "open up task manager goto processes and click on cpu. You should see programs that currently using cpu. Then open a file and see what the usuage is both cpu and memory."

>>> CPU usage prior to Windows Explorer (WE) open: 0-2 %
Memory usage prior to WE: 834MB
CPU usage during WE access of .txt file, open w/Notepad:
1/2-sec spike to 19%, then
dropped back to 0-2% consumption during file open.
Elapsed time from invocation to open: 74 seconds. (Yikes!!!)

WarnerPC: "Then try command line."

>>> Same pre-/post- consumption factors as above
Elapsed time from invocation to open: instantaneous.

WarnerPC: ...how many processes do you have running in the background.

>>> 77

WarnerPC: What verison of Norton (AV) are you using?

>>> 10.1.5.5000

UKEWildCard: If you are not sure of either which program is causing the issue or how to go about fixing it feel free to reply and I'l run you through it.

>>> Yes, Please !

Thanks,


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[SantaMufasa]

Thread bump to top in case Warnerpc, UKEWildCard, and Anyone Else wishing to help me diagnose and resolve this annoying problem, did not see my posting of the answers to Warnerpc's and UKEWildCard's troubleshooting inquiries.

(I was hoping for a resolution prior to the weekend since this weekend will be heavy with accesses that fit the "annoying" category.)

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[SantaMufasa]

Here is a second bump to top for Monday morning, hoping that Warnerpc and UKEWildCard can take another look at this in my behalf.

Thanks,

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[WyldeCarde]

Sorry about the delay, I dont look at the site over the weekend. Right, you may have a website or network path in your context menu which is causing the issue.

To stop windows from trying to look the up change the following registry key from 0 to 1

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]

"NoNetCrawling"=dword:00000001

If that doesnt work, put it back. I can't remember the fix for if it's an invalid program in your context menu causing it, but I'm looking through my old calls etc as I know I've fixed this before.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Thanks, UKE, for your response.

I have made the change you recommended, rebooted the machine, and still have the same latency.

Thanks for looking through your old calls to find the next thing for me to try.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[WyldeCarde]

Hmm the call I was thinking of had to do with Acrobat Writer hanging the machine, if you do have it installed, uninstall it, delete "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 11\XLSStart\PDFMaker.xla" and then re-install.

If that's not it I really not sure I'm afraid. I'll keep looking around but I'm a bit stumped.

 

[WyldeCarde]

Woops another thought.

In explorer got to Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types

Go to the .XLS extension click Advanced select the bold action -> Edit and in the box under "Application used..." go to the end and add the "%1" at the end, after the /e if it's not already there.

If that does help, you should uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox in the same dialog box, to prevent daft errors when closing excel.

The same fix can be applied for Word

 

[SantaMufasa]

Thanks, UKE, for that next suggestion for me to try.

I made the "%1" change to the .xls file type "Application used..." specification. Unfortunately, when I tried opening an .xls file, it still demonstrated the same latency.

Since the same problem exists, should I go back and remove the "%1", or can I leave it there? I did not uncheck the "Use DDE" checkbox.

...And if you have any additional thoughts/suggestions, you know I'm much obliged for your sharing them.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[WyldeCarde]

Id remove it if it didnt help, it basically stops the wizards from trying to help you with... whatever they try and help you with when you atart the app.

Sorry I've not been able to help, hopefully someone else will have some ideas

 

[Rick998]

As a test, can you try the following:

1) Open a folder
2) Select 'Folder Options...' from the 'Tools' menu.
3) Select the 'View' tab.
4) Remove the tick from the "Automaticaly search for network folders and printers" checkbox.
6) Click 'Apply' and 'OK'.
7) Re-boot and try opening a TXT or DOC file.

If this doesn't make any difference then try the following disabling any network connections then try opening a TXT or DOC file locally.

Do either make a difference?

 

[SantaMufasa]

Rick, et. al.,

This is so bizarre...I would have thought surely your suggestion would have had the ameliorating effect for which we were hoping, yet the latency still exists.

try...disabling any network connections then try opening a TXT or DOC file locally.

As I mentioned earlier, if I open an approriate application (e.g. Notepad, Word, et cetera) prior to accessing a subject file, then use the File -> Open command to access the file, then the file opens instantaneously. It causes Windows Explorer and desktop icons to become virtually useless for opening files.


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Rick998]

OK, if neither of those had any effect then my thoughts are that your problem has to be due to one of the following:-

1) Network
2) Profile
3) Antivirus
4) Explorer
5) Hard disk

If you still have the problem after dis-connecting from the network and opening a local file from a shortcut or Explorer window then I guess that absolves #1.

If you logon to Windows XP itself using a different account and you still have the same problem then this would discount the possibility of a corrupt profile, i.e. #2.

You mentioned that you had run Norton AntiVirus. What happens if you temporarily exclude .TXT and .DOC files from on access scanning or - better still - temporarily disable Norton from starting automatically? Any change in latency? If not then that absolves Norton, i.e. #3.

If you STILL experience the problem then it's back to looking at #4 - Explorer, e.g. damaged context-menu entries, corrupt icon cache, etc. or even #5 - cross-linked files, corrupt FAT or MFP (are you using NTFS? Is the Indexing service running?), bad sector(s), etc.

Let us know how you get on with checking #2 and #3 above...

BTW... 77 processes is a lot! (I only have 34 and I think that's way too many!)

PS - You haven't mentioned it but I guess you've considered using System Restore to before the problem started?

Hope this helps...

 

[pansophic]

I would check for plug-ins that are installed for Windows Explorer. These are applications that change the right-click menu and/or add functions to the File or File/My Computer menus.

One of my printers added this functionality with its driver (unbeknownst to me) and it slowed my response times like the problems that you are running into whenever the printer wasn't attached. Apparently it was querying the printer every time that I right-clicked, double-clicked or pressed enter. It was very annoying, but easy enough to fix by uninstalling the driver.


pansophic

 

[SantaMufasa]

Pansophic,

Does uninstalling the printer, by definition, uninstall the driver?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[pansophic]

That particular printer had an uninstaller included, so I used that application. It wasn't until later, when the Explorer performance improved, that I noticed that the Explorer plug-in had been removed as well.

The printer was a portable (HP I think, but could have been Canon) and I just didn't need it any more. I used it for one job where I was working from my hotel and then tried to debug the problem when I got back home.


pansophic

 

[SantaMufasa]

Status updates to excellent troubleshooting suggestions from previous replies:

(Pansophic): I uninstalled all printers to ensure that none of their installations fell into the "disruptive" category. (Latency encountered.)

(Rick998):
1) Confirmed disconnection from the network and opening a local file from a shortcut/Explorer window. (Latency encountered.)
2) Logged-on to Windows XP itself using a different account. (Latency encountered.)
3) Have not yet temporarily excluded .TXT and .DOC files from NAV scan.
4) I am currently examining possible damage to context-menu entries or other corruptions.

I am looking to reduce my 77 background processes.
I am considering a file-backup and XP re-image if none of the above produce successful results.

Thanks to all for your taking the time to suggest remedies to my problem. I'll post eventual resolution(s).

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Rick998]

If you are looking at context-menu items then Nir Sofir's freeware 'Shell Extensions Manager' will help you enormously.

See

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

for more info/download. The nice thing about his utilities is that they all run standalone, i.e. don't need to be installed. (I carry loads of them around on a USB stick.)

After downloading, just run the program then click on the 'Type' column header so all the context menu items are grouped together. Select them all then click on the red button to dsable them. I can't begin to tell you how much time this utility alone has saved me.

Hope this helps...