Unexplained Slowdowns.... Please Help

[RaptorPilot319]

I have two computers, a Dell Latitude C610 (1.0GHz, 20GB, 640MB RAM) and a Dell Dimension 4400 (2.2GHz, 180GB, 640MB RAM). I have WinXP SP1 on both.

I recently formatted the Dimension (which always ran slower in the past), and re-installed the basics: OS, MS Office, WMP10, Trillian.... that's about it. Now for some reason, even though it's specs entirely blow away the Latitude, it runs slower. The RAM is the same and I have devoted over 5GBs to the PageFile in an attempt to remedy it.

My laptop, however, with it's 20GB drive 3/4 of the way full, and MANY more programs manages to boot in 1/4 the time, and run perfectly forever.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?! Everytime I open a program, whatever music I'm listening to starts to skip and distort, and I don't understand what could be causing this.

Any help much appreciated.

[pip22]

I have always found systems with a relatively small capacity hard disk (ie 20GB) will load and run faster than one with a very high capacity disk, assuming they both use the same operating system. My son has a Pentium 2.8Ghz/512MB RAM/160Gig disk. My laptop is only a Pentium 1.7Ghz/256MB RAM/20Gig disk. Both run Windows XP, but my laptop starts faster and runs much quicker than his PC even though he defrags his disk frequently.

[yoni5002]

Is there anything I can do to fix this?! Everytime I open a program, whatever music I'm listening to starts to skip and distort, and I don't understand what could be causing this.

Any help much appreciated.[/quote]

I would reccomend you to run a scandisk to make sure yourHDD is in good standars... then you probably wanna check if the HDD is configurated to run at its full capacity (DMA-UltraDMA, etc)
Also you have to make sure you are not infected with viruses and spywares... If everything is ok after that I will give you some tips to make your system blaze...I will post them right here

I have 2 computers. the simple one is a Compaq Presario 2.8Ghz, 512MB RAM, Winxp SP2 with a lot of programs installed on it... Norton Antivirus is one of them... that computer restarts in 11 sec and boot up in 21 sec (including Internet Connection at the Start up and Norton of course). Right after listening the welcome sound(this happens after everything is loaded)you are able to click on any program and run it... TO make it simple:
AFTER 28 Sec of booting up you can access anything in that system. I could give you a hand with no problems at all

yoni5002
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[snooker]

Hi Yoni5002, I'm curious in how you could make mine computer boot up quicker , If you can , Thanks ... I have Abit IC7max3 board , 1gb ram , ati 9800 pro ( 128) graphic card , cable connection ( high speed ) 2 seagate HDD ( 200gb master , 120gb slate ) If you need to know more , let me know ...

[tosh_mine]

I would also like to know bout it.

[yoni5002]

Hi Snooker, hi everybody... listen I'm at work right know so I will give you all information when I get home tonigh... By the way you can e-mail me at ralphy5002@comcast.net so I can send you all info and also probably chat... that would be great!!

I have already done this with one of the guys that visites this forum... His nickName is Mr Doc... you can ask him about the results he had with my help: HE IS RUNNING XP Pro SP2 with 128 RAM and he isshutting down in 17 Sec and booting up (everything) in 40 sec

also his system response is going crazy fast!!! including aplications and stuff!!! thats all info I got from him after tweaking the PC YONI's way!!

so I can help you too guys (FREE OF CHARGES)

yoni5002
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[MrDoc]

buddies, i m here just to tell u my experience. If u check my postings here, i have been here for a day or 2 only, and that was i was having a problem with my pc. i posted my query and when i logged back in to check the response, there was no reply there. i was just going thru some therads that sounded intresting to me and in one of them i get Yoni's email address. i wrote an email to him and surprisingly he replied me, i didnt expect that at all. He gave me the solution of my problem and it worked. Thats how i got introduced to him.

I am using 900MHz intel celeron, 128 MB RAM, 80GB HDD and OS i use is win xp sp2. Other system i have is 2.8GHz intel orginal, 512 MB RAM, with 40Gb HDD. I was feeling that once few months pass after using a copy of windows, it slows down gradually. I mentioned this to Yoni and he came up with some tricks. My current windows had already slowed down considerably and i had all my programs and documents backed up on my other system, so i decided to trust him. Had anything gone wrong, i would have lost nothing as I was already planned to format and install a new copy of windows. he gave me few programs and a few registry tricks and i was just suprised to see the response. it was just amazing. My 2.8 GB system shuts down in 11-12 seconds fully, I use my 900 MHz system more frequently, it shuts down in about 2o sec. i can hear the windows start up music in 25 sec and reach desktop in 30 sec. i can use my system in less than a minute. I have mcafee isntalled on this system. I never need to wait for anythign after any mouse clicks. I m just loving my ride these days, all thanks to yoni. My 2.8 GB pc works much faster with startup and shut down times much lesser than this one.

i m here just to describe what my expereince is. if anyones want any furthur information, u can email me directly at imurdoc@gmail.com

[TerryFox]

Hi... Correct me if I am wrong but, Isn't this a forum site where we as members share our knowledge with others to help people out ? And if so ? Please explain this amazing information in this thread here so we all can share this knowledge , Please don't tell me that the only way to learn this information is through emails ... YONI please tell us here

[yoni5002]

ok guys i'll try to do the all process here as organized as posible... Please Iam not responsable for any damage in your system. Use it at your own risk. There we go:
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1. Convert a volume to NTFS

To convert a volume to NTFS from the command prompt
Open the Command Prompt window.
In the command prompt window, type
convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs

For example, typing convert D: /fs:ntfs would format drive D: with the ntfs format.

Notes

To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
You can convert FAT or FAT32 volumes to NTFS with this command.

I also Recommend you to run your OS in a HDD or Partition NOT bigger than 15 GB. ( I'm not gonna discuss this or any other recommendations) Txs
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2.Disable the XP loading screen

To speed up your boot process slightly, disable the Windows XP loading screen. This can be accomplished easily by opening the MSCONFIG utility ('start\run and type msconfig'), selecting the 'boot.ini' tab and checking the /NOGUIBOOT option.

When you boot your system, you will see a black screen in between POST and the welcome screen from now on.

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3. Eliminate unwanted fonts to increase boot speed

The Windows XP control panel contains a 'fonts' directory which holds all the fonts currently installed on your system. These can come from Windows itself or from an application such as Word.

Windows checks and loads these fonts during the startup process, therefore having a large amount of font files can cause performance to drag during startup. The simple solution for this (if you do not expect to use the majority of these fonts constantly) is to move the unnecessary fonts to a new directory elsewhere on the hard disk, preserving them in case they are needed, but preventing them from loading upon startup.

To do this:

Create a new directory called 'font backup' or something similar on your c: drive.

Go to 'start\control panel\fonts' and select all fonts (for now, we will be more selective later). Drag and drop all the fonts into the backup folder you just created. Things will get garbled for a moment, never fear. Windows XP will automatically re-install the base fonts that it needs to display text into the fonts folder in a second or two.

Now you have the bare minimum of fonts installed. Go through the backup folder and cherry pick the fonts that you are sure to use (like Times New Roman or Arial).

If you removed a large volume of fonts, your system should now boot faster.
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4. Disable unneeded devices in device manager

A quick fix that can make XP boot faster is to disable any unused devices in the Windows XP device manager. For example if you have a integrated sound card or video card that you have upgraded, or if you do not use a floppy drive on your system, it pays to disable these devices in device manager.

The same goes for extra network cards. Of course, the standard rule of thumb applies here: If you do not know what it is, leave it alone.

To disable unneeded devices in device manager:

Right click on 'my computer' and select 'properties.' From the 'hardware' tab, select 'device manager.' Expand the various categories to locate unused devices. Right click the devices and select 'disable.'
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Increasing shutdown speed by reducing wait times part 1

Windows XP stores a couple of values in its registry which are responsible for determining how long to wait before shutting down (killing) open applications and services once the shutdown command has been given.

By editing these two settings and changing them to lower values, you can considerably decrease the amount of time that Windows XP needs to successfully shut itself down. The first part of this tweak deals with setting the amount of time Windows will take to kill open applications on shutdown.

Open REGEDIT and navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\'
Highlight the 'WaitToKillAppTimeout' value.
Set it to '1000' (the default should be 20000).
Now highlight the 'HungAppTimeout' value
Set it to '1000' also.
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Increasing shutdown speed by reducing wait times part 2

The second part of this tip changes the same settings, this time for all users on the system.

Open REGEDIT and navigate to 'HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop'
Highlight the 'WaitToKillAppTimeout' value.
Set it to '1000' (the default should be 20000).
Now highlight the 'HungAppTimeout' value.
Set it to '1000' also.
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Increasing shutdown speed by reducing wait times part 3

In the third part of this tip, we will alter a second registry setting to decrease the amount of time Windows XP will wait before shutting down active services after receiving a shut down command.

Open REGEDIT and navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contr ol\'

Highlight the value 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout'

Change this value to '1000.'

This should help to considerably speed up the time windows XP takes to shut itself down.

[yoni5002]

Auto kill tasks on shutdown


To allow Windows XP to close non-responsive applications automatically upon shutdown:

Open REGEDIT and navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop'

Highlight the value 'AutoEndTasks.'

Change the value to '1'

XP will now be able to close hung applications without user input during the shutdown process.
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1. run "regedit";
2. goto [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters\EnablePrefetcher];
3. Set the value to either 0-Disable, 1-App launch prefetch, 2-Boot Prefetch, 3-Both ("3" is recommended).
4. reboot.
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BROWSING SPEEDUP

Then run Regedit and go to:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace
In the left hand pane highlight these 2 subkeys:


{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} = Scheduled Tasks
{2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D} = Shared Printers

and delete them: right-click on each -> select Delete -> click OK.

RECOMMENDED: Export (BACKUP) this Registry key to a REG file FIRST, to be able to restore it (by running the REG file) if necessary. In Regedit: highlight the key name in the left hand pane -> click "Registry" from the menu -> select "Export Registry File..." -> type a file name in the "File name" field -> browse to the destination of your choice -> push the Save button.

This Registry change takes effect immediately.
Just start MS IE while connected to the network/internet to see the difference.

FYI: Upgrading to a future MS Internet Explorer release or reinstalling it may add these values to your Registry *again*, therefore you may need to delete them *again* after (re)installing MS IE.

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Windows NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 users ONLY:
"This Registry hack might fix your CPU Priority if you don't have a PnP BIOS.
increasing CPU priority by 50 to 100%.
Run Regedit and go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\PriorityControl

or create it if not present: right-click on an empty spot -> select New -> Key -> paste "PriorityControl" (no quotes) into the type-in box -> click OK to save.
Now highlight this key, and in the right hand pane create a new DWORD [REG_DWORD] Value called "Win32PrioritySeparation" (no quotes) -> double-click on it -> check the Decimal box -> type 1 -> click OK to save.
When this baby is set to 1, the foreground (active) application has more CPU power than the background (inactive) apps (if any), and if you set the value to 2, you get even more power to the foreground app:


0 = Foreground and background applications equally responsive.
1 = Foreground application more responsive than background.
2 = Best foreground application response time.
The maximum value allowed is 26 (Hex) or 38 (Decimal).
Play around with these values till you find your own "sweet spot".
BEWARE: Higher settings will drag down system resources considerably.
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Launch apps with desired priority setting

This tweak will launch most executables with the priority setting you want it to have.

Let's say you have a game installed called HIGH NEEDS and the executable is called HN.exe

Here's what to do:

-Create a new textfile in the game-app wathever-directory (let's say C:\HN), but instead of giving it the .txt extension you name it HN.bat
-Right-click this file and choose 'Edit', you'll see it'll open notepad. Put this line in:
cmd /c start /High HN.exe
-Save (make sure you save it as .bat, not as .txt) and close.

Now create a shortcut to this file and place it on your desktop. Every time you doubleclick this shortcut HIGH NEEDS will open with priority set to 'high'. (ofcourse you can also create a batchfile on your desktop, containing the full path of the app you want to start but the nice thing of creating a shortcut is you can give it an icon).

These are all the settings: Realtime, High, AboveNormal, Normal, BelowNormal, Low.
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Disable Balloon Tips in Windows XP.

Start the Registry Editor (go to Start, Run and type Regedt32). Find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Explorer\Advanced and add the DWORD value EnableBalloonTips. To turn of Balloon Tips the value should be set to 0.
To turn on Balloon Tips set the value to 1.
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Speeding Up the Display of Start Menu Items


An easy way to speed up the display of the Start Menu Items is to turn off the menu shadow.

Right click on an open area of the Desktop

Select Properties

Click on the Appearance tab

Click on the Effects button

Uncheck Show shadows under menus

[yoni5002]

Disable performance counters

Like Windows 2000, Windows XP has a performance monitor utility (found in administrative tools) which can track several areas of your PC's performance. Everything from CPU use to hard drive access can be tracked and graphed. The information for this utility comes from several performance counter services which run behind the scenes, gathering data for the monitor.

If you have no use for this information, it's a good idea to disable the counters, since they take up system resources. Unfortunately, this is rather hard to do without the use of additional software. Fortunately, Microsoft has made the necessary software freely available on their website.

The Extensible Performance Counter List utility can be used to permanently disable these performance counters.

First download and install the utility, then run the Exctrlst.exe utility, found in 'c:\program files\resource kit\'



Select each line in the 'Extensible performance counters' window and clear the 'performance counters enabled' button below. You must do this separately for each counter. When done, just exit the utility.

Now if you load the performance monitor, you will see that it has no information available to it.
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Microsoft claims Longhorn will be, er, faster

The only reason why its faster is they added a superfetch feature to the prefetcher. If you look at the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Session Manager\Memory Management\Prefetcher

you will notice in windows xp

EnablePrefetcher = 3 and you will notice in windows longhorn
EnableSuperfetch = 1

Well, guess what? You can put the EnableSuperfetch = 1 in windows xp and get the same speed.

Wow, Microsoft just added a feature that was already there in xp.
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Speed up the Start Menu

The default speed of the Start Menu is pretty slow, but you can fix that by editing a Registry Key. Fire up the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay

By default, the value is 400. Change this to a smaller value, such as 0, to speed it up. (The perfect value in my opinion is 150)

If this doesn't work for some reason, then you might try the following: Navigate to Display Properties then Appearance then Effects and turn off the option titled Show menu shadow. You will get much better overall performance
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This tweak removes the shortcut arrow

Open Regedit.exe and navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Shell Icons

Backup the key.
In the right-pane, create a new String value named "29"
Double-click 29 and set it's value as follows:
C:\Windows\System32\shell32.dll,50 (an empty icon)

Close Registry Editor.
To apply the changes instantly, follow this

Right-click Desktop, choose Properties
Click the Appearance Tab.
Click Advanced button
Choose Icon from the drop-down list
Set it's size to 31 and press OK, OK.
The changes will be applied now. Repeat the above steps and then set the Icon size back to 32 (defaults). The above steps are required to force Windows to redraw the icons. Even Tweak UI does this.

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Disable Disk Performance Counters
Press the Windows + R keys > type diskperf -n > reboot
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[yoni5002]

After tweaking the registry with all Information above now you wanna get "Perfect Disk" and Bootvis to get the maximun speed in the boot up!!!

So once you have Those 2 programs you need to Defrag your System with perfect Disk... after done with It you need to go to c:/Windows/ Prefetch... and erase everything in that Folder but do NOT erase the folder itself... Then Open BootVis and Click on Trace/ Next Boot+Delays... After rebooting the system IT will load automatically and you will click on TRACE/ Optimize System... IT will restars the computer and boots up to Optimize the system. Once you got this done... TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT YOUR WATCH AND RESTART THE COMPUTER!!!

there are many other tweaks I have applied to my computer but its kind of risky so I prefer just not to post them here this time...

Yoni 5002º
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[yoni5002]

Of course.... YOU NEED TO PREVENT ALL PROGRAMS FROM THE START UP BUT THE ANTIVIRUS AND THE INTERNET CONCTION. ALSO SET YOUR BIOS TO BOOT FROM HDD AS THE FIRST OPTION.
AND KILL ALL UNNECESARY APPAREANCE IN WINDOWS...

I have many other advises but Im tired today I will post some others later

yoni5002º
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[yoni5002]

I also recomend "FILE Protector" program to keep most of the virus away from your Computer. This program is used to SET many actions in Files and Folders Protection... So I realized that It could be good to Configure the Drive C: as "READ ONLY" so no changes can be Done. BE CAREFUL WHEN USING IT COS' YOU AINT GONNA BE ABLE TO INSTALL ANY ROGRAM AFTER SETTING THIS PROG.... I HAVE A PRTITION JUST FOR MY OS AND MY INFO IS SAVED IN A DIFERENT PARTITION AND HDDs...

I already tried this in some hackers web pages where viruses are all over the place in all links you click...

yoni5002º
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[snooker]

Hi Yoni ... Thanks for posting your tip on here , It did make my computer to shutdown quicker , Only thing though is with my ati video driver loading , this still takes a bit of time but , I have notice my computer to reload quicker , Thanks