FP DOS ... Sluggish under XP 1

[CouponPages]

I can't put my finger on it, but there are times where the DOS version just drags on Windows XP.

I'm not talking about time to add, read, report or query records... just sluggish in general, even when typing.

At first I noticed when some older clients upgraded some of their systems to newer (faster) systems which happened to have XP. They would tell me they felt the system was slower than it was before they upgraded. I checked all the FAQs, and searched high and low and found a whole bunch of stuff related to mixed OS environments and started tinkering.

Then I got a new 1.8GHz laptop which came pre-loaded with XP for myself. This time, I'm not even on a network and I noticed the slower response from FP DOS (foxprox.exe, foxr.exe). SO... the network has nothing to do with this strange sluggish behavior.

One thing I did notice right away was that the typing speed dramatically improves when the program is run full screen, rather than in a window. Even with the program full-screen, it's still sluggish... sometimes, not always... on some computers.

I know from past experience, things like the "Idle Sensitivity" settings have influenced applications which were in the background, but I tried both extremes (high/low) and there seemed to be no improvement. What boggles my mind is that on some XP PCs it still runs like greased lighning, and I can't find one setting that is different, so I'm starting to wonder about things like anti-viruses and external programs which could be chewing up resources on some, but not others.

Anyone know of some potential causes for this problem?

 

[dbMark]

Windows 95, 98, 98se and Me are all fast with DOS windows because they really did run DOS there. Windows NT, 2000 and XP all emulate DOS in the "DOS window", at least to some extent. That may be part of your problem. And another reason why so many are (sadly) moving on the newer graphical programs.

 

[CouponPages]

I agree, the long term plan is to migrate to the Visual environments. I have VFP 8, and I have a good dos/windows hybrid of the code, but the big stumbling block for a lot of my clients has always been printing.

Printing with Dot-Matrix printers on 3 or 4 part forms has always been faster and more reliable using the DOS version.

I did see a helpful spooler in another topic which may be the best overall solution for printing and will speed the adoption of a Windows based version.

That said, the issue I'm having is that sometimes the system runs like greased lightning, even on XP. But on some other computers, with the identical hardware and O/S, it drags. There must be some applications or settings that cause the drag. When clients complained about speed issues with XP I focused on the network as the bottleneck, then after my non-networked XP laptop started slowing down, I took notice. Even typing is delayed... sometimes.

As I said earlier, the typing is slow. You can type an entire sentence, and the letters slowly show up on the screen. I did notice improvements when it was run full-screen instead of in a window, but it's still strange to me that some identical systems run it with no delay... and even seem faster than 9x machines.

 

[dbMark]

By the way, are you running antivirus software in the background? Could that be slowing you down? I remember reading somewhere in another thread that Norton AntiVirus 7.5 could cause those symptoms. If that is the case, then update the software or tell it not to check certain file types.

 

[CouponPages]

Good call. You may be right. I know for a fact that some of my clients have Norton SystemWorks factory installed on their computers.

I personally hate the very thought of running Anti-Virus programs on my systems. They eat up speed and 99.99999% of the time the person is not at risk.

In my 20+ years in the computer industry, I've never seen an anti-virus find anything on my own computers... ever. I never install or run them on any of my computers, but this new one came pre-installed and I didn't even realize it was there. I removed it a couple of weeks ago and there was an immediate increase in speed.

I'm going to check the A/V settings on all my client's computers from now on. In many cases, my client's don't even have Internet access and have zero risk of getting a virus, so I'll uninstall them and see what happens.

 

[FoxEgg]

FoxEgg (Programmer) Jul 2, 2003

Rick's Thread182-537721 is excellent.. check it out...

I have DOS app in XP and 2000... was slow now fast
My contribution is to sugggest tamedos.. (last line in Thread182-537721...) "It worked for me"

John