XP Laptops Running Slow 2

[pharback]

I have been confronted with 2 laptop in the past 2 months that's running Win XP Pro. I do not know the reaon for these laptops to run slow. The 1st one I sent in to get fixed, and they told me that the hard drive failed with bad sectors. I am affraid that my second one in doing the same thing. How could I check my hard drive to see if it has bad sectors, or are there any software that anybody may know of that can help me.

Thanks
Pharback

 

[georgewel]

+GO to manufacturer of hard drive and he will provide a hard disk drive testing softwatre, some have on-line testing software such as Seagate

 

[jimp56]

you can also use chkdsk. right click the hard drive in explorer (my computer) - select properties- go to the tools tab, then click "check for errors" button, then also check both checkboxes, and click ok. you will get a message about exclusive disk access, just ignore it and reboot. the disk check will run during boot-up.

afterwards, go to programs-administrative tools, event viewer - expand the application section, and look for a "winlogon" entry - it will show you the summary of what it did during the check, and if there are any bad sectors.

 

[pharback]

I Completed the systems chk and could not find the "winlogo" entry in the event viewer. Is that a good sign or do I need to worry. The system still a slow.

 

[RMGBELGIUM]

Machines that run slow most of the time are running to many (unnecessary) services, or have a user profile that has grown to large.
A good start is to disable any services you don't need, as well as active desktop.Check the size of the user profile, and see if it isn't several Mb's large.If that doesn't help , start indeed looking at device drivers that are outdated, faulty hardware, ...

greetz,

R.

 

[pharback]

I found that 1 user has 1.38 GB, and another has 65.2 MB. Am I going to have to have them go through their files and clean them out?

 

[pharback]

If I was to stop some sservices, How do I know which is safe to turn off?

 

[jimp56]

how much free space is available on the drive? if its over 3gb, i wouldnt worry too much about it. if its less than 2gb, definitely free up more space. you can also run a disk defragment, and definitely run scans for adware/spyware. there is an FAQ on this procedure on this site.

ive found in most cases slow systems are due to adware or misbehaving software (corrupted antivirus, firewall software, etc). you may browse the system and application event viewers and see if there are any services that cant start, etc. also.

 

[LloydSev]

I found that 1 user has 1.38 GB, and another has 65.2 MB. Am I going to have to have them go through their files and clean them out?

Is it the user you are using right then that has over 1.38GB in their profile??

That is absolutely humungous beyond belief for 1 profile.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
I don't know about that..On my XP Pro ( Dell Precison 350, 75G drive) my profile has over 900 MB ( over half of that is in My Documents )..

System runs fine..

 

[LloydSev]

I didn't say it would make the system run slow.. just saying that is absolutely humungous.. haha.. wow.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[pharback]

I have 19.9 GB of free space on the hard drive. I have also ran Ad-ware SE Personal removal, Norton Antivirus search. Most of the files are in the user documents. He is running ACT database rather than Outlook.

Would it be a good Idea to have my company purchase a verity of Adware removal, and spyware removal software. that way I could clean the hard drive from all attacks?

 

[pharback]

When I ran the software for viruses and adware. I did not find virus's, and I deleted the adware that was found.

 

[jimp56]

drive space is fine. since you found adware I would dig deeper using more tools (spybot and microsoft antispyware) -- as a doublecheck also run "hijack this!" and an online virus scanner

http://www.tek-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=5240

and its not a bad idea to run the disk cleanup utility and then defragment the hard drive (some may disagree on performance gains with this but i trust it)

you should then see the system run much better overall.

lastly, make sure any special drivers, such as chipset drivers are installed (you can see if any are needed on the manufacturers support website) to make sure performance is optimal.

 

[linney]

I Completed the systems chk and could not find the "winlogo" entry in the event viewer."

Try these, see if they help.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/chkdsk.mspx

Use the view / filter option and search for Winlogon in the Event Viewer (Application Folder).

http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/58895.html

If you suspect Hard Drive problems then the manufacturer's own diagnostic (free) software is the way to go.


My own profile size is 1.84GB of which My Documents is 1.80GB. I don't find it a problem.

FAQ779-4784 may help.

windows XP running very slow
thread779-796508

 

[pharback]

Thanks all your help guys. I will go through all suggestion and FAQ's. I will give you all the resolts when everything is said and done.

Thanks agian,
Pharback