Question

XP Pro - slows down after about 90 minutes

Asked by: Newby_takin_off

Athlon XP 1800 / 256MB RAM, GEForce 4 MX 440 (64MB) Graphics, Windows XP Pro - all latest patches.

Ever since I started using this machine, I find the performance really slugs after about 60-90 minutes use.  I previously thought it was just if I left the machine for about half an hour, and then returned, but it's all the time.  Blazingly fast (as it should be !) on power up, but like painting with glue after it's been operating 90 minutes or so.

It's actually sometimes better just to restart the machine to get decent performance.

It seems (but I'm not 100% certain) it's mainly the graphics that are really sluggish to refresh paint.  Even restoring a window to normal size from minimized grabs a huge amount of CPU.

Swap file size etc. seems OK, so I don't think it's an IO performance issue, but might be.  I will increase RAM to 512MB before too long, but even 256MB should be OK ?  I'm happy there are no rogue softwares or Trojan processes embedded.

Anyone seen this before, or have any suggestions what to do or check ?

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Asked On
2003-05-05 at 19:40:36ID20606632
Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
4
Points
65
Comments
13

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Answers

 

by: mthibaulPosted on 2003-05-05 at 20:41:33ID: 8467285

Check you're refresh rate in your display properties in ad vance settings in the monitor tab, if it will do 75hertz, set it to that but test it first. If you're using XP and the refresh rate is out of Sync, don't worry, it will automatically revert.

You're pagefile, is it set to 2x you're physical RAM? You have 256Mb so set you're minimum to 512 and set you're maximum to 512. But if you have another drive(D: or E:) or something like that, set it on that drive instead of the C: drive, BUT, you have to set the pagefile on C: to 2Mb minimum and 2Mb maximum for the system to boot up properly. I always set all my NTFS systems this way and have never had a problem.

Also, the worst thing for system performance is to have alot of programs in the systray, the icons at the bottom right of you're pc. If you have alot of programs running there they are eating alot of valuable RAM. I always keep mine to the bare minimum, e.g; clock, mcafee anit-virus, zonealarm, and task scheduler, and that's it.

If you have alot there, then I suggest going into those programs properties and disabling the systray option.

If you have alot of programs in the startup folder, get rid of them, and only launch them if you want to use them from the programs menu or desktop shorcuts.

These are just a few tips to get you going. Do a search on the internet for Optimizing %O/S% system performance and you should have alot to read  :o)

 

by: Newby_takin_offPosted on 2003-05-05 at 21:11:45ID: 8467450

Hi mthibaul,

Yeah, like you, I am very strict in Systray icons and Start Up folder, to minimise junk and maximise performance.

I'm set to 75Hz for Monitor refresh properties.
Although, interestingly, when I just went in to double-check the value, as I came back out again, I got a RUNDLL dialogue error box come up:

"An exception occurred while trying to run "shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL,"C:\WINDOWS\System32\desk.cpl",Display".

Maybe need to have a look at that in depth, in case it's related.

The thing is though, that the performance is superb on boot-up, and for the first hour or more.  It's just later on that it gets so sluggish ?

But, I'll have a further look about.  Thanks.

I'm just hoping that somebody will immediately recognise the symptoms, having had the same problem.

 

by: pr1923Posted on 2003-05-05 at 21:18:48ID: 8467492

I would check your video card drivers.  I had an abit Geforce 4 card that would work great when we tried it at the shop but as soon as the customer took it home and tried to use it they always complained that the machine got slow after a while.  downloaded new video drivers and solved the problem

 

by: mthibaulPosted on 2003-05-06 at 05:46:29ID: 8470597

Judging by the error you received when leaving you're display properties, I would go along with pr1923. Install new drivers for you're video card and see it that fixes it, as pr1923 seems to have had the same experience.

 

by: Newby_takin_offPosted on 2003-05-06 at 07:31:39ID: 8471681

I think you might be right.

I actually downloaded the driver a few weeks back (just because I wanted to bring all drivers etc. up-to-date), but haven't installed yet, coz the install instructions seemed wrong in the way they talked you through the process and the dialogue screens you'd get.

This is the first time I've had a dedicated Graphics card - is there anything particularly different about installing graphics drivers that I need to worry about ?

 

by: mthibaulPosted on 2003-05-06 at 09:48:12ID: 8473055

No, just follow the instructions. They are most likey right. You can install them and not worry about the other drivers, OR, if you want you can unistall the old drivers and reboot into default driver mode and install the new ones. Either way should be fine...

 

by: Newby_takin_offPosted on 2003-05-07 at 07:34:51ID: 8480188

I'm hoping that might have solved it - I'll play about with it over the next few days.

Gonna round up the points to 130, and ask them to split down the middle to both of you.

Thanks.

 

by: tedskyPosted on 2003-05-07 at 07:34:56ID: 8480189

Greetings!

If all else that others have suggested leave you still looking for a solution, you may as well check for spyware.

This very thorough article will help explain the 5 categories of spyware ...
http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/news/articles/spyware_categories.htm

Here are a few sources for an excellent spyware checker "SpyBot Search & Destroy" (SBSD ver 1.2) ...
http://security.omemo.be/spyware/spybot
http://www.lurkhere.com
http://shinobiresources.com/Downloads/spybot/spybotsd12.exe

Install, then follow prompts to get updates immediately.

Then ...
<Check for Problems> then (after several minutes) ...
<Fix Selected Problems>

Red-lettered items will be removed and backed up automatically (except for backweb lite).

Alternatively, you may also wish to try Ad-Aware 6.0 (build 162 or later) ...
http://www.lavasoft.de
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Unlike anti-virus programs, anti-spyware can co-exist on your system.  It can actually help to keep a couple of these handy on your system.
(Just heed the warning SpyBot gives about Ad-Aware searching its compressed files)

Hope all of this helps!
Ted, the Modem Mixer

 

by: Newby_takin_offPosted on 2003-05-07 at 07:46:23ID: 8480291

Thanks Ted,

Already happy on that side of things.  I'm a security dude, and hopefully (I say 'hopefully' - it never pays to be arrogant with so many hackers looking for a challenge !) up-to-date on all the spyware / Trojan side of life.  We have the technology onboard !

But I appreciate the suggestion.

 

by: moduloPosted on 2003-05-07 at 13:13:04ID: 8482666

Dear Newby_takin_off

I've refunded 65 points to enable you to accept the comment for one expert and to post a "Points for <expertname>" Q for the other expert in this topic area.

Please:
1) Post the link to the original Q in the "Points for <expertname>" and
2) Add in the original Q a comment with the link to the "Points for <expertname>", thus the email notif will warn the expert.

modulo

Community Support Moderator
Experts Exchange

 

by: Newby_takin_offPosted on 2003-05-07 at 18:11:02ID: 8484300

Thanks for your suggestion.

 

by: Newby_takin_offPosted on 2003-05-07 at 18:21:21ID: 8484322

mthibaul,

Have posted your points in the following question:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_20609274.html

 

by: mthibaulPosted on 2003-05-07 at 19:15:31ID: 8484574

Thanks Newbie...

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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