How can I fix the sluggish "WinXP Pro + Sp2 " system ? 2

[ylan]

I just changed the HD in my system and had been installing programs for the past week . During this time, things went o.K. . This morning, it took much longer (i.e. more than 10 seconds as compared to about less than a second before ) to open a .txt file, or to open a .zip file by right-click on a context menu etc... in my system ( Celeron 2400Mhz, Win XP Pro Sp2) . Other functions such as deleting files , cut , paste etc... also appeared sluggish . I had tried the following remedies but still could not fix the problem :

_ Use the method as suggested in

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;819101

(as first suggested by linney in thread779-868066 )

_ Clean up the register using : RegVac, Tweak-Now RegCleaner and jv16 PowerTools.

_ Repair <Windows XP Pro Sp1> + Sp2 Updater .


I would appreciate some explanation why this occured ? I am contemplating the final solution : format the new HD ( 160 Gigs, Western Digital) and start all over again. However, if the same thing happened again then what ? Please advise on this perplexing issue . Thanks

 

[linney]

Have a look in Task Manager and see what is using all the processor. Check out the Event Viewer for any errors.

Check your speed in Safe Mode.

Try some old fashioned detective work if things seem better in Safe Mode.

310353 - How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

316434 - HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

310560 - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310560&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

And don't forget the perpetual problem -

Removing adware & spyware
faq608-4650

 

[bcastner]

Several newsgroup posts have suggested the Celeron slowdonw is due to a processor level driver installed with Service Pack 2. Try:

- Right click on the My Computer Icon and Select properties,[alternatively double-click on System icon form the control panel folder (in classic mode.)]
- Select Hardware and click on Device Manager
- Open the processor section and double-click on the processor
- click on the driver tab
- click on "roll back driver" ... and finish the process.

What happened is that SP2 installed a new driver called intelppm.sys that seems to have a problem. This process restores a driver called processr.sys that was previously installed.

 

[ylan]

_In Safe Mode, the speed is normal

_Back in full mode, I kept "Task Manager" running on top while I right-click to unzip a .rar file , the CPU usage was 0% and it took at least 8 secs to activate the unzipping process !!

_I run Adware and Spy-wares scans using Ad-aware & SpySweeper. The system looked clean .


linney's tip was really intriguing . I followed the suggested procedure but the pop-up said there was no back-up to roll-back on ! I searched and found both drivers in C:\Windows\system32\drivers . How can I manually replace the new driver with the old one ? Please advise. Thanks

 

[bcastner]

http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=AsZ0d.18666$6q1.2076@newssvr27.news.prodigy.com

 

[ylan]

Thanks bcastner for the ref. In fact, when I looked at the driver's detail , my system still had the old driver on ( processr.sys) . I just replaced it with the new driver ( i.e. intelppm.sys) to see what happen . There was no change in speed at all. I guess the problem could be elsewhere, not the CPU driver though. Please advise.

 

[bcastner]

The traditional advice is here:

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

And the advice in this FAQ is excellent: faq779-4784

My own rough findings:

. A defragmentation of the hard drive(s) after the installation of SP2 is a really good idea;
. Because SP2 replaces so many files, I force a re-optomization of the startup cache and startup program disk optomization using this trick: faq779-4518
. Roxio/Symantec GoBack slows things down considerably
. As does newer versions of WebRoot Spysweeper
. Norton/Symantec CleanSweep is not advised at present
. If using DIVX codecs, see:

http://www.winxptutor.com/sp2/divxcrash.htm

 

[linney]

There are lots of useful ideas floating around in this thread.

Right Click on Folders Hangs Explorer
thread779-764870

 

[ylan]

Thanks linney and bcaster for excellent tips and refs. It'll take me a while to work out the problem but I am hopeful now with a clear direction. I will report findings. Again, thank you.

Best regards,

 

[shannanl]

ylan,

You say the speed is normal in safe mode so I would look in a couple of places. You said you run Adaware by Lavasoft. I work on computers after my mormal programming job hours and use Adaware. I would make sure it is updated, run it in normal mode and then run it in safe mode. You will probably be suprised but it will catch additional stuff in safe mode after a normal mode clean. Then I would run msconfig and look for stuff that is set to run at startup that does not need to be. I have used the SP-2 on AMD, P4, Celeron, etc. and have not noticed a problem with any of the processors.

Shannan

 

[ylan]

Thanks Shannan for the tip . I followed your tip to run Ad-aware in Safe mode . It did detect 2 spywares but failed to impact the issue at all. I observed that this problem may be not due to CPU grabbing processes because I kept WinXP "Task manager" on top and watched it while right-click to unzip a zipped file. The CPU usage % was very low during the whole process which lasted about 10 seconds . As you can imagine, it is so aggravating and annoying to wait 10 seconds for the simple act of open a .txt file or unzip a .rar or .zip file . Again, thank you.

Best regards,

 

[linney]

Have a look at your Hard Drive DMA settings.

Device settings are hard to find in Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310751&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

Have a look at some of these Diagnostic type programs.

Check out

http://www.pcpitstop.com

for some tests you can run on your PC.

Everest

http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en

AMIDiag® for Windows

http://www.ami.com/products/product.cfm?CatID=3&SubID=23&prodid=123

SiSoft Sandra

http://www.download.com/3000-2086-10018691.html

 

[ylan]

Thanks linney, bcastner and shannanl for all the tips and refs, especially those suggested by linny & bcastner . They are really good stuffs . After 3 more days tweaking around I gave up the fight . As the new HD was only more than a week old, I decided to reformat the disk and start from scratch again . It took about 3 hours to be at the same point as before but it was worth it : no more aggrevation and frustration !! So far so good . Let's hope the issue won't be back for another few months... maybe ?? Again. thanks...

Best regards,

 

[ylan]

The same problem occured again ! But this time, I found out exactly why ; It was due to the installation of a DVD viewer called "BlazeDVD Pro v3.5" . As I checked each time I installed a program, I caught this culprit right away. As soon as I unloaded this malware , everything was back to normal again ! I guess I should have created a restore point after installing a few programs so that a roll-back is possible if anything bad happened to the system. My take is that a malware may replace some system files or do something to your system and cause this "sluggish performance" in Windows Explorer .