Speed up Slow XP?

Zascar

I bought a nice Dell 6 months ago, and although I'm very impressed that it it has lasted this long, it has now slowed up considerably, and I need to reinstall... It has slowed down for example, when opening Internet Explorer or Outlook Express, can sometimes take 30-90 seconds, i think to do with the dial up connection. Also lately it will not shut down, I ahev to cutr the power. I was just wondering if there is anythign I can do to 'clean up' xp and make it run faster... With Win98 you used to be able to use System File Checker etc and make the system run a bit better...

Does anyone know any tricks or utilitiest hat might be usefull?

Cheers

Eurorunner

`Defrag the disk.....start -> programs -> accessories -> system tools -> disk defragmenter.

Try that for starters. Cant beat a good old format c: & fresh install

Mac daddy

check your memory aswell see how much is left,do a defrag first after that is done go online see how lng it takes open up your taskmanager see what programs is using up your cpu close if not needed, i had the same problem it took around two minutes for outlook to open could not find why, opened task manager seen the prog wich i downloaded two days before this started it was using arond 99% of the cpu got rid of it problem solved.

zekiel

go to somewhere like downloads.com get yourself a registry cleaner + spyware cleaner.. If you havent got it, get system works 2003, its excellent fror finding faults with your windows os and sorting them out. After which check what is running in the task bar and make sure its not interfering with your browser..

Captain Trips

I second the comment above on System Works.

Get
1. System Works - includes AntiVirus and reg cleaners, Cleansweep, Speeddisk and a whole load of useful stuff (along with useless things like the desktop buttons stuff.
2. Ad-Aware - speaks for itself
3. Spybot Search & Destroy

If you run those regularly you'll keep XP nice and clean. 15 months now on Xp Pro for me, still running like new (but you've got to watch all the small **** you might install, like demos, etc., that all throw crap in the registry).

A reinstall of XP shouldn't be as necessary as it was in the days of the 9X/ME OSs, which would get irrevocably riddled with crap no matter how hard you tried.

There is also a tiny app from Microsoft called BootVis for XP that analyses the boot up and will optimise it - can lead to good boot speed ups, maybe 5-10 seconds.

Also, check your commit charge and RAM after booting. On a 512MB system you could expect around half of the physical mem used up, with half still available. Check to see if there is some weird app that is sucking away resources (and that doesn't mean WIn98 running in the background ).

Also, get all the service packs, etc., . SP1 would be a start but you'd be surprised at how proprietary stuff from different h/w manufaturers can clog things up.

Failing all of that and you want to reinstall anyway.....
Use the XP CD, and choose the [R] Repair option.

Ideally for that, slipstream SP1 into your XP on a new disc, and eithe repair or doa clean install with XP/SP1 which will iron out any Dell **** that is running, then go searching for your latest drivers, etc., .

Scruff

If your P4 is one of the new Hyperthreading ones and you installed SP1, that might be your proplem..


From
TheRegister

Microsoft warns Pentium 4, Windows XP can slow down your PC

They call it degradation, we call it humiliation


By INQUIRER staff: Tuesday 17 June 2003, 09:49

MICROSOFT HAS WARNED PEOPLE using its top of the range Eye Candy software Windows XP that if they're using a Pentium 4 processor and have installed Windows XP Service Pack 1 they might experience some, er, degradation of function.
Presumably this Newspeak phrase means a PC will slow right down.

A program, says Microsoft, that uses large mapped file views to share information between two processes "may experience a significant performance decrease".

The problem appears to be confined to hyperthreading Pentium 4s, not your common or garden variety.

It's the UnmapViewOfFile function that causes the problem.

If you've got the problem, Microsoft will give you the fix but if you haven't "significant performance degradation" the firm recommends that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack.

Microsoft might even waive the charges, so it must be serious stuff.

You can find the warning here. We'd suggest you try reverse the charges (call collect), although this may cause the performance of your phone call to be seriously degraded. µ

Cal

This is a known (not very well mind) problem on some PC's running XP after installing a recent MS Update.

Check (In control panel - add remove progs) to see if the Windows XP HotFix Q811493 is there. If you remove that HotFix then your system will improve.

It did not muck up all PC's but I've seen it slow some PC's to a crawl.

Let me know how you get on.

Cal

maxheadroom

just to point out that system file checker still exists in WinXP - open a command prompt and type "sfc /scannow"

hulhi

turn off system restore, specify fixed pagefile size, disable all unnecessary services,

andrew163

if you're gonna specify a fixed pagefile size, then MAKE SURE you run disk defragmentor first, otherwise it will probably make the system slower.