dzero
August 31, 2010, 11:39pm
21
first, get ccleaner here and run it for both the “cleaner” and “registry” options (left column). This should fix some of the glitches you are having since they are probably due to broken registry entries. It will also clean up some of the junk on your hard drive.
next, defrag your hard drive. If you right click the drive in windows explorer (not internet explorer) and select properties, you will get a new window. Click on the “tools” tab and select defragmentation. Although, you should probably start with the first option - “error-checking” and then do the defrag.
Now that things are nice and tidy, see if there is any improvement. There should be some and it should be noticeable.
BTW, I would advice setting a restore point before doing anything just in case. Here are the instructions from Microsoft.
If you’re not comfortable adding more memory to the pc, then you can try adding flash memory either as a USB thumb drive or PCMCIA (PC Card 16) card. When you insert it, if it has fast enough write speeds, XP should let you use it for “ready boost”. This creates a storage area of up to 4gigabytes that is faster than disk access but slower than DRAM. XP will offload things to the ready boost memory instead of sending them to the hard drive (pagefile).
However you have to be sure that the PCMCIA card or flash drive will be fast enough for XP to use and I don’t recall what that needs to be. Hopefully someone here does or can look it up.
GHO57
August 31, 2010, 11:39pm
22
Sorry… 63 processes? I’m running 28.
I thought that was strange too.
astro
September 1, 2010, 3:38am
24
Bearflag70:
Sounds great! My question would be whether I can preserve Word, Excel, Outlook, Stamps.com , Quicken, and Timeslips in the process.
Unless you have the install programs, then no. The software I have is a disk image which, once applied, will return the M45 (I still need to check on compatibility) to a fresh Toshiba XP factory install which only includes the OS and some accessory programs. If you do not have the install disks (or downloads) for the programs you mentioned they will not be on the newly re-imaged drive. The re-imaging procedure blows everything off the drive before the disk image is applied.
Quartz
September 1, 2010, 8:26am
25
astro:
While XP can address a 4 gig space, in operational terms (based strictly on my observations in adding RAM) XP is not that great at making use of RAM past 1 gig or so. Getting past 1 gig of RAM in XP is not really going to add all that much additional horsepower to a 5 year old XP system for browsing or general office suite use. In fact it’s quite possible that a 5 year notebook can’t be upgraded past 1 gig. You will get some additional kick by going from 512 to 1 gig in XP, but you have rapidly diminishing returns beyond that. Past one gig it’s typically not going to be a huge performance increase in XP.
My experience differs. It depends upon the applications you use.
The OP should be able to replace the faulty CD drive quite cheaply.
One thing that could be happening here… it seems like every software manufacturer feels they have to include some unnecessary program that constantly runs in the background when you install their software. For example, Adobe insists that some little utility be running at all times for Acrobat Reader. So, it’s likely that every time you install some new piece of software, you’re adding another unneeded process that eats up your RAM.
I’m always vigilant about this kind of crap when I install software, and take steps to remove/disable these annoyances. You might want to look at the list of stuff running in the Task Manager, both under processes and services, and if you think an item might not be necessary, Google it to see what it is/if it’s needed/how it can be disabled.
ETA: This is a never-ending process. Most likely, upgrading a particular piece of software will reinstall or re-enable the unneeded component. This is certainly the case with Adobe Reader.
So get rid of it and install Foxit Reader . All of the PDF’s with none of the hassle.
I noticed AdAware has something running
Nice. Thank you.
To the OP: That’s one down. Unfortunately, Adobe is just one of many in the Unnecessary Programs department. NVIDIA is also famous for this, if you use their graphics cards. I no longer do, and this is one of the reasons.
I forgot to say in my earlier post: check msconfig often (by typing ‘msconfig’ in the run bar of your start menu). Click the Startup tab. Anything that isn’t necessary can be unchecked, but of course you’ll want to make sure something isn’t needed first. On my system I allow only two items: the OS and Microsoft Security Essentials. YMMV.
Uninstall Avast, install MSE this and install it yourself, it’s dead simple.HijackThis , create a log file, and post it.
For the CDR, this or this . The internal is also super easy to replace.
md2000
September 1, 2010, 8:41pm
32
Here’s another tip I just figured out. A lot of people have complained that their PC’s were getting really(!!) slow, especially for the first half hour or so in the morning. (Windows XP)
What I found, thanks to an online tip, was this: disable Windows updates, and just make a point of doing them manually every so often. After years of applying windows updates, you accumulate a huge list. It seems that every so often, but especially on boot, the Windows Update AutoUpdate Client(wuauclt.exe in task manager) checks all the updates on your PC and all the updates Microsoft lists to determine what’s outstanding. Just guessing, it rebuilds this list and chugs away for half an hour or more, and meanwhile your PC slows to a crawl if it has limited resources.
if you’re like me, you have a gig or more of update uninstall folders accumulated in the Windows directory, waiting for a day that may never come where you want to uninstall an XP service patch. The search algorithm must be particularly inefficient or the huge number of recent updates is taxing the program.
Go to Control Panel -Automatic Updates and disable them.
OK, I added 1G RAM. That seems to be helping a lot.
I still want to delete unwanted crap though.
BigT
September 3, 2010, 6:19am
34
^Then Hijack this is definitely your friend. the log file will tell you everything that automatically runs on your computer.
And don’t leave Automatic updates disabled–they are there for a reason. Just use CCleaner to remove clean out the uninstallers.
Done. Thanks.
Had to uninstall a Foxit toolbar afterward, but OK so far.
dzero:
(…)defrag your hard drive. If you right click the drive in windows explorer (not internet explorer) and select properties, you will get a new window. Click on the “tools” tab and select defragmentation. Although, you should probably start with the first option - “error-checking” and then do the defrag.(…)
Yes, defragging will probably help. I can’t believe it came up only once.
Done. No viruses detected. Outlook opens faster now that the Avast Outlook Plug-In is gone.
Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Running processes:
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.ask.com/?gcht=HC&o=101706&l=dis MSN Bing Bing MSN @xpsp3res.dll ,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exehttp://www.toshibadirect.com/dpdstart http://download.sopcast.com/download/SOPCORE.CAB http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/get/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
–
astro
September 4, 2010, 7:44pm
40
Made some comments below. As a general note, in looking at some of the installed programs at the very end of your list you appear to have a lot of programs installed that are set to search for updates while online. Enough of these searching and system response can slow to a crawl. It would be useful for you to go in and check that your installed programs are actually useful to you and needed. If not it would make sense to remove them.
Bearflag70:
Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Running processes:
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\AAWService.exe **(really don’t need ad aware up all the time, it chews memory and newer browsers have built in ad blocking) **
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\AOL\ACS\AOLacsd.exe (if you are not on AOL dialup or using AOL messaging this is a memory hog)
C:\Program Files\Seagate\SeagateManager\Sync\FreeAgentService.exe **(if you are not using this this applet to sync with a portable drive you might want to remove these services) **
C:\Program Files\LogMeIn\x86\RaMaint.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\LxrJD31s.exe
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.ask.com/?gcht=HC&o=101706&l=dis MSN Bing Bing MSN @xpsp3res.dll ,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exehttp://www.toshibadirect.com/dpdstart http://download.sopcast.com/download/SOPCORE.CAB http://fpdownload2.macromedia.com/get/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
–
