Slow XP pro

[farmboy100]

Hi. I recently installed a copy of windows XP pro but it seems to be running very slowly. The computer previously was fine when it was running windows 98. I formatted the hard drive before the installation. Can anyone tell me how to solve the problem?
Thankyou

 

[creechurch]

If you have been doing a lot of installing on to that computer there are to 2 folders that are like temp folders.

In the WINDOWS folder there is TEMP and PREFETCH try emptying both of those and that should speed up things...

Also you might want to make sure that your PC specs can handle the OS and also to remember as a rule of thumb, that the bigger the partition of drive you install windows on the slower it will run (eg: a 40GB HDD with no partitions will respond slower than a 40GB drive partitioned in to 2 or 3 drives).

 

[bcastner]

First, defrag your hard disk drive. Start, run, defrag

Second, download from Microsoft the freeware program Bootvis.exe. You want to run this twice: the first time to do a Trace, next boot; and the second time select the Trace, Optomize feature.

Third, make sure you have 512 mb. of RAM.

 

[linney]

Type MSCONFIG in the Run Box to see what is loading at start up.

Try disabling any unrequired services that are running in background. Have a look at the Indexing Service in particular.

http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Computer Speed and Performance May Decrease (Q310419)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q310/4/19.asp

HOW TO: Set Performance Options (Q308417)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/17.asp

Why it takes years to display right-click drop down menu?
thread779-277803



Spybot

http://security.kolla.de/

Ad-aware

http://www.lavasoft.nu

The last two will check your computer for spyware and adware.

Check this article to see possible problems when changing from 98 to XP. Read about Bios updates and Windows updates.

HOW TO: Prepare to Upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition to Windows XP(Q316639)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q316/6/39.asp

 

[farmboy100]

Thanx guys you've been a great help but I haven't managed to solve it yet I will keep trying!

 

[paparazi]

Farmboy100
XP uses far more resources than 98 and although Microsoft state a pretty LOW recommended spec to run XP (500 CPU with 128mb ram) this in my opinion is just a marketing ploy to sell more copies.
To run well you need a CPU higher than 1gig on a modern chipset motherboard, with at least 256mb of ram.
OK! there are going to be those of you who have managed to get XP running on a P200 with 64mb ram and thats great but as XP uses around 120mb to run things are going to be running pretty slow using virtual memory.
So for those users with high specs and plenty of ram XP is proven to be a faster OS but for entry level machines with low levels of ram XP will feel slower.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[ken07734]

Xp by default has a lot of services running and is designed to be a network os. there is a lot of overhead when on a network and XP tries to be as compatable as possible, this of course slows it down. I have my XP pro running faster than my old 98 and NT and 2k. You really have to use all the tweaks out there and disable all the services you do not absolutely need. and also, You really have to watch those damn spywares!, I run my spyware finder every day and find over 50 new tracking cookies and all kinds of crap that holds up my system. These things WILL slow it down because it's sending data about you to those f'ing companies that want to telemarket you.
There should be a law against it!

 

[farmboy100]

Would the cheapest way to speed up be to but more RAM? Or invest in one of those tweak programs?

 

[Thyezer]

You definitely could get more RAM.... I am running 768 Mb RAM and if I don't monitor the background process...my computer will slooow

http://www way

down. Instead of MSCONFIG (Bandaid) try this site out and d/l Mike Lin's Startup Moniter....Really easy to use and it alerts you anytime software decides to attach itself to your startup procedures . Partition your drive, reduce the amount of active Apps., and remember that Anti-virus and Firewalls will slow your system down as they monitor ALL data coming and going.

<$100.00 for enough RAM and some freeware + common-sense and you should be ok!

Good luck!

 

[Thyezer]

Ooops!!!! Here is the Link!!!!

http://www.mlin.net

 

[Ferrit]

Totally agree with the advice here. You can never have too much RAM! I recently switched from 98 to XP Pro and it was really struggling. That was with a 533MHz procesor and 128MB RAM.
Microsoft claims that the minimum supported RAM requirement is 64MB, but in reality, this would be almost unusable!! I basically filled up my RAM slots to the max to 640MB and now it is running sweetly. RAM is way more important than outright processor speed, so that's what to upgrade first.

Also, if you do have switch to lots of RAM, check the memory usage under normal use. If it's nowhere near using it all, consider reducing the pagefile size under:

Start>Control Panel>System>Advanced

This will use the memory rather then virtual memory and will speed things up.

Good luck!

Chris

Bigamy is having one wife too many.
Marraige is the same.
-Oscar Wilde

 

[Dollar]

Hi

I think possibly everyone may have gone in the wrong direction with this one. Good tips, but doesn't sound like your problem, in fact sounds like the problem I once had where nothing seemed to fix it. As it turns out, it was a windows update...so when last have you run your windows update.

This particular one was a recommended update, but sounded much like a &quot;you have to install this to be safe&quot; kind of thing. I formatted, re-formatted and each time went back to WU and would you believe it...happened again.

The following article was posted (which I found with the help of someone at work)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819634

I hope this resolves your issue.

Good luck
Dollar

(PS Let everyone know if it does - sure enough solved mine)

 

[farmboy100]

Thanx, but I can't seem to install the service packs as windows update beleives that the product key that I used to install windows is invalid. I can however install all of the other updates which seems strange to me. My copy of XP Pro could be described as slightly &quot;dodgy&quot; I suppose but it wouldn't have let me install it if it had been the wrong code!?? Please help if you know any trick to install the service packs with this problem.

 

[TheZeDD]

Hey farmguy, [no pun intended =]

What is the speed of your CPU and amount of memory installed?

Right click My Computer on your desktop OR..
Hit the windows key on your keyboard and the Pause key [WinLogoKey + Pause key].

On the window that popsup, selecting the General Tab and at the bottom it tells you.

I have installed XP Pro on a laptop with a cpu of 233mhz [Intel] with 48mb's of memory and got it down to a full boot time [up and running] of about 100 seconds or 'so' and once loaded really wasnt that slow and very stable [fact I never saw a lock or blue screen]! Especially with all the above considered!

I once had a temp desktop unit with a AMD 300mhz and only 192mb of mem and was able to even game with only an old Creative TNT2 32mb [not the m64 =p model] with only doing some basics tweaking as listed below and shutting off the excess gaming graphics =/ But it worked well.

I have several clients [many actually] that are running cpu/mem setups under the 500mhz/256mb and they are quite satisfied if any for the fact they dont see the BSOD 3 times a day or more =)

Few tweaks I would definitely recommend:

Shut of indexing!!!

Shut off backup on drives other then the boot drive where your OS is installed!

Shut off ALLLLL the eye candy! If wearing lipstick is to your liking then ya better beef up your box =) LoL... j/k

Try to cut down any excess junk from loading at startup or in your systray other then what you need!

Under your drive controllers [ide atapi controller interface] in your Device Manager, shut off any controller that is not being used if XP has not already! ie: Device zero; Device One; under EiDE/atapi primary/secondary.

Keep up on basic sys maintenance the rigt way:

http://forums.techguy.org/t146102/s.html

While at that forum, sign up and post a hijack request for help in the security forum! Lots of good people here to help on this. Be patient for a day or two after posting and see what users post for recommendations. Tony Klein, Rolling Rog and Metallica are highly noted users on this subject.

DONT fix ANYTHING until they say so!

I think that about covers it for the basics and then some without over doing it.

Your tasks will yield some nice results!

K.U.P.

-Z