Avian Gamers Network

I am looking for some ideas on what I can do to improve my computer's performance as lately it has been booting up very slowly and taking a while to launch applications.

Its a P4 2.3Ghz with 2GB of RAM. My logitech keyboard notes that just opening to windows desktop uses about 45% of the RAM, and launching TF2 cranks that up to like 95%. This seems really off to me.

I have run virus scans and spyware scans but nothing major coming out of those.

Any ideas on what else could be sucking my computer speed dry?

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"I built me a bomb and dropped it on every MFer who got in my way!"

Please be sure to do a registry backup before taking any of the following steps - gotta be safe!

Check your system tray for 'legitimate' apps that are sucking down your resources. CCleanercan really help keep an XP system clean by checking the registry, startup apps and program conflicts, etc (it will also give you a chance to backup any changes it's about to make).

I understand you're running AV and malware protection, but I recommend you run through this set of directions at MajorGeeks.com. Be sure to do the Basic Maintenance (defragging is vital and as they'll tell you, the included MS tool for defragging is far from the best out there) listed at the top before doing the rest of the guide and then be sure to follow the steps for Protecting yourself from Malware (this is near the very bottom) once you've completed the steps.

Even though you may have protection running, there may be nasties embedded in some things you DL and install that, since you're *installing* something, slip past the malware protection.

I can truly feel your pain. Until about a month ago, I was running a P4 2.0 GHz with 1 MB RAM. If you take all these steps and anything else suggested by others in this thread, consider wiping the HD and starting over. Not fun to think of doing but it will make a difference as you'll clear out a bunch of things that you really aren't using yet are dragging your system a bit.

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Liro
"The english language is not a wedding gown, it doesn't get better the more lace you add. It is instead a thong. Less is more." From /.
I need to remind myself of this regularly.

Thanks Rocky. I am running that CCleaner tool right now. Very useful links you made. Should improve things drastically.

And stupid me, I only have 1GB of RAM which helps explain some of the slowness when it comes to TF2 loading. Dunno why I thought I had 2GB, maybe was pondering it but didn't want to pony up the cash 4 years ago when I got the computer.

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"I built me a bomb and dropped it on every MFer who got in my way!"

theres a little known application on every windows machine... i found out about this from a microsoft tech support guy years ago cause i was pissed off at some software that had no uninstall information, no physical folder on the computer that contained its program (ran through a series of DLLs) anyway... only way to get this bloody program out of the startup... this little wonderful tool..

msconfig

throw that in your run box, hit ok.. go to the startup tab.

all the shit in there loads when your windows starts. half of it is not needed, just taking up resources.

as you go through the list, if you're not sure about something... check the executable file names in google, just to make sure you're not disabling something important.... its less fun to fix than you'd think when you disable something that makes your computer not boot to a usable interface.

Stuff like winzip quick pick, adobe reader helper, uhh.. photoshop gamma corrector, is all stuff thats put in your startup when you install these programs.... that make the programs load a fraction of a second faster. suck it up and wait that extra second when loading the programs rather than take up valuable system resources every time your computer loads.

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~Ravage™
~I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
~The problem with facts, is that sometimes they don't support your opinion.

If all else fails the surest way to get the best performance possible is to wipe your system and reinstall Windows completely. Do not Leave the current copy in place and Reinstall over it, as this will not help you.

This will eliminate the bloat that happens to Window's over time. A friend of mine who used to be a VP at Microsoft said that this should really be done once per year.

Of course you will want to save unreplaceable files to an external source first. lol.

_________________
"Loose with Dignity"
Robert
Second President, Avian Gamers

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Rav, very good call - thanks for mentioning it! All those little pieces of ... garbage add up to real delays in the things you really want to do quickly.

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Liro
"The english language is not a wedding gown, it doesn't get better the more lace you add. It is instead a thong. Less is more." From /.
I need to remind myself of this regularly.

Might as well keep running this thread.

I have an old laptop (HP/Compaq NX 9010) that I brought used. Rather cheap I might add since there was no recovery discs.

Anyway now it has run for three years (atleast) with no reintall of windows xp and I wanna clean it up.

So I have looked up the drivers and found them all and everything is ready.

But the was something was nagging behind my neck.
Do I have it all?

Then I checked up the BIOS driver and ut needs a diskette (Yup the old 1.44") and has to be installed in dos. Now usually I don't care about this, but I was wondering if there is a BIOS update system through the internet in windows. I'm tired and would find it easier to ask you, than spend a couple of hours to check it up. Sorry 'bout that BTW.

At any rate this is what I have for now:

Audio drivers:
-Conexant Audio Driver
-Conexant CX20468-31 AC97 Audio Driver
-Conexant CX20468-31 AC97 Audio Driver EQ

BIOS:
-ROMPaq BIOS Update
-ROMPaq DOS Bootable Diskette
-WinFlash Utility

Firmware:
-DVDCDRW Drive (GCC-4243N) Firmware Update

Graphics:
-Intel 8285282855 GMGME Graphics Controller Driver
(Though I don't think this is nessesary since it run on a ATI Radeon RS200 Mobile more or less a Radeon 7500)

Help and Support Center:
-Help and Support Center

Keyboard, Mouse and Input Devices:
-Registry Update for Synaptics Touchpad
-Synaptics Touchpad Driver with Hardware Scroll

Modem:
-Conexant 56K ACLink Modem Driver

Network:
-ALi Fast Infrared Controller Driver
-National Semiconductor DP83815816 10100 MacPhyter NDIS 5.0 Miniport Driver

OS Enhancements:
-ATI U1RS200 AGP Bus Driver
-Notebook Utilities

Video:
-ATI RS200M Video Driver
-ATI Video Driver and Control Panel

And ofcourse I have a Win XP ready and I have taken backup of everything, but isn't there a program that finds the driver installed now and takes backup automatically.
Heard about it but haven't found anything.

Help much appreciated

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1st Feb 2008

you can't update the bios in windows.... windows uses the bios to know how to communicate with your hardware. you can't even delete some files in windows cause its using them... i'm sure everyones had that annoyance

_________________
~Ravage™
~I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
~The problem with facts, is that sometimes they don't support your opinion.

So you're saying I have to make a boot-floppy to give the BIOS what it needs.
Well. Might aswell make a boot-cd of that with everything in it. Now how to make it....

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1st Feb 2008

Well... found another page that got the same drivers plus instruction.

Got it HP's own site. (Doh! Why didn't I look there?)

Anyway the instructions says that I have to obtain a formatted diskette, power up computer.
When computer is on and I have logged in; insert diskette and execute the .exe file and follow instructions.
Restart computer and make sure it check the A-drive before harddrive the boot on the diskette.

Luckly my laptop is so old that it got a floppydrive. Now to find a floppy...

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1st Feb 2008

...... Convert to Linux! .............

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X2-PB

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