Slow XP

[the_ragman]

have a pIV 2.4 ghz with 1 gb of 333mhz ddr ram.

i reinstalled win xp home on my new 200gb seagate hard disk. i installed all windows updates, including sp2. my problem is that ever since ive done that, my computer has become painstakingly slow at times. for example, starting media player has started taking a lot of time, as well as system mechanic. everytime i start them up, the 'busy' led lights up and stays on for the 10 seconds it takes to start the program. and it used to take a flash before i patched windows. i suspected that it was because something was running in the background, but nothing in the task manager is showing up as using an unusual amount of memory. sometimes, the busy light comes on, even though nothing is running.

just recently, i can't seem to be able to use media player at all. every time i start it up, it loads part of my libraby, and then hangs. and it refuses to shut down. anything else that i start up also freezes, and i have to restart windows.

i checked for viruses and spyware, but nothing was detected. what could the problem be?

 

[nithinks]

refer here .. *www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11358

 

[sridatta]

which antivirus do u use??

 

[anandk]

run all modules of 'tune-up utilities' or 'system mechanic' once.

else then check these :

MAKE WINXP STARTUP/SHUTDOWN FASTER !
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/show...tdown+fas ter

How to Squeeze out the maximum performance from your WinXP
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/show...tdown+fa ster

Disable uneccessary XP services ! gain resources !
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/show...tdown+fa ster

 

[s18000rpm]

Run the Defragmenter Program for the O.S. (C drive) drive.

maybe XP is re-arranging the fragmented files when system is idle. so the "busy" light is ON even when no process is running.

set the Virtual Memory to atleast 500MB. (both min. & max. value)

 

[DukeNukem]

I wonder how you fdisk your HDD ????

have a pIV 2.4 ghz with 1 gb of 333mhz ddr ram.

i sometimes, the busy light comes on, even though nothing is running.

Turn off Indexing if in case its turned on
see services.msc for further services to be turned off

just recently, i can't seem to be able to use media player at all. every time i start it up, it loads part of my libraby, and then hangs. and it refuses to shut down. anything else that i start up also freezes, and i have to restart windows.

If in case your file system is FAT32 turn it into NTFS.

convert c: /FS:NTFS

Use diskkeeper lite/professional to defrag your hdd

i checked for viruses and spyware, but nothing was detected. what could the problem be?

If in case you r usin norton get rid of it use avast professional


Use TUNE UP Kinda Utilities. Heal registry entries from time to time (defrag it too)

ELSE

IGNORE what i've said

 

[int86]

Gonna try this all on my pc too.

 

[the_ragman]

i use zonealarm security suite on my pc...

i have run all modules in sytem mechanic, which includes defragmenting, scanning for errors, et al...

it is an ntfs partition, duke...

 

[JGuru]

@the_ragman. Don't use ZA security suite. It's one big memory hogger!!
Use ZA firewall with Avast antivirus. Also disable file indexing & other unwanted
processes that are running. This should make your System faster.

 

[Vishal Gupta]

Did u check this thread:

MASTER TUTORIAL: Make Your Windows XP Super Fast !!!

May be u find it useful?

 

[sridatta]

hey.. my suspicion is right...

if u r using zone alarm ver 6.1.737.000 then first backroll to the older version.. this will surely solve the problem... bcoz not only me.. but my frenz who installed the above version ( i sent them all) has got the same problem...

i find 5.5 version as the stable one...

 

[the_ragman]

im using 6.5.737.000...

look, the problem is not with zone alarm, because as ive written in my first post, the problems just started recently...after i downloaded the most recent windows updates. everything was working dandy about 2 weeks ago...

 

[sridatta]

might be u r right.. but just try once.. bcoz it happened to me... not instantaneously.. but, after removal everything worked right..

 

[s18000rpm]

Did you use the third party Updaters (autoPatcher.,..) or the from Microsoft Website/auto-updater.

I think your ZA security suite could be the problem.

Try this==>> Disable ZA Suite in the Start-Up (msconfig) & then Restart & see if your PC works fine.

if your PC works fine, then you need a ZA Suite Re-Installation.


My cousin had similar Problem with his LapTop but when using Avast AV (free).

 

[the_ragman]

yeah, you guys were spot on...it was the za security suite. it probably downloaded an ambiguous update...

im now running avast with za firewall...is avast a better than decent scanner, or is its usp its extremely low memory consumption?

 

[sree_shan]

@the ragman
yaa ... zone alarm is slowing down the system .... (even i had also experienced this problem with zone alarm previously and now iam using avast )
avast is rocking man...
its the best i know...
u can even search in the forum 4 the best antivirus ... and the result u get is obviously avast...