tools for diagnosing XP

[vbportal]

At the moment I'm just a user with basic knowledge of XP.
Could someone indicate whether there are tools or specific
knowledge one can master to be able to in-depth diagnose
problems/faults etc. ? (at the moment I know of the event
logs but can't get very far with them either )

Some examples of issues to diagnose:
- identifying source of hard disk activity (not initiated by any applications one is using)
- network card trying to get ip address when it has a fixed ip address
- system hangs for some seconds / can't do anything
- long delay before a program starts when initiated from start menue
- slow reaction of certain program

 

[2ffat]

Look at Microsoft's SysInternals. They have several free programs that will help. Process Monitor sounds like it will do most of what you want but there are other options, too.



James P. Cottingham
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[vbportal]

OK thanks ! Just curious - you mentioned "free programs" - are
there better tools which need to be purchased ? (just so that I
know which tools are being used - will try to learn as much and
get the most out of SysInternals before purchasing anything)

 

[2ffat]

are there better tools which need to be purchased?

"Which need to be purchased?" No.
"Which can be purchased?" I personally haven't found any.

SysInternals has an interesting story. Originally developed by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell the programs were so well written that Microsoft hired them both and bought out their company. (That's the short story anyway.) The above web site has more info if you are interested.



James P. Cottingham
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Sysinternals is all you will need!

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[BadBigBen]

and 2ffat, for your info and others, Mark used to be a member here on TT...

"Which can be purchased?" I personally haven't found any.

I have, and I agree with HSM, you wont need any others and they don't do more, so basically a waste of money...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[goombawaho]

- system hangs for some seconds / can't do anything
- long delay before a program starts when initiated from start menu
- slow reaction of certain program

These three items can be analyzed using Process Explorer and seeing how much RAM is being used AND what is tying up the processor in terms of percentage.

Process Explorer will show you on a moment by moment basis, which program is using the processor and what percent of the processor's time is spent on it.

More likely it's lack of memory that is causing your PC to go out to lunch when you launch a program. Check the memory utilization in P.E. and if it's using nearly as much as the PHYSICAL amount of RAM in the system, it will be running like mud.