Slow Startup Help needed.

Hi, my parents have a 2yr old P4 Dell pc that has recently become very slow upon startup. I have run adaware etc & deleted anything that it has found.

I have also run msconfig & removed snything not needed on startup.

When the pc is turned on it goes through the windows screen & the desctop pic comes up but then it takes absolutely ages for the icons to appear.

Any Ideas anyone? :confused:

 

Are you running active desktop, that sometimes slows it down, run defrag, remove temp files, internet files. Get yourself a copy of spybot too and run that. Other things are check page file size allowance, err, Makesure in my computer file listings are set to detail only. I find that in thumbnail view it slows down the PC.

Probably doen all this, but these are my usual suspects.

Swear at it too that often speeds things up ! :D

 

not sure about the actve desktop but have done the rest.

 

You might need more RAM. Do you know what RAM it has now? Find a friendly neighbourhood computer medic and get him to check it and then fit a bigger memory card. Made a whole world of difference with my former pc.

Failing that, I'd hit it!

 

I cant remember what the ram is but there is loads spare, i know that much. It is a resonably high spec.

 

Have you got at least 10% free on the hard disk. Windows use free space as virtual memory (that's why you see the hard disk running when there seems no reason for it).

GNU/Linux sets up a "swap" partition which is only used for virtual memory, so you cannot overload your hard disk.

 

can't remember how much there is free exactly but its more like 70% free!
there's hardly anything on the pc.

 

A Couple of factors i see here, firstly i believe it may be hidden spyware problem that adaware has not detected......click on the spyware folder to start download from our website. spyware here.

once you install it make sure you update the software first before you run it.

failing that it is in need of a physical memory upgrade. i presume your computer has ddr pc 333mhz type ram.......click on Control + ALT and Delete key all at the same time. this will pop up a new window called Task Manager. Click on the perfomance TAB......

look at PF Usage....this is the physicall memory used on your computer by programs in startup etc.

Now look at physical Memory (K).......the Total is the amount uyou have on your computer in bytes.

Let me know what they both show.

 

Hi r2oo,
Using the PC in question log onto http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.asp and click on "Scan My System".

You will be under no obligation and the resulting information will tell you the amount and type of RAM you have installed, and also the maximum RAM your motherboard is able to take.

Regards
Keith

 

I had similar problems with my Acer T120, slo o o w startup. I tried all sorts of things and eventually decided to change to Ubuntu OS (GNU/Linux), the result was amazing, startup = 75 seconds. That includes logging in with name and password. I will not be going back to Windows.

[ 13. May 2007, 03:58 PM: Message edited by: Larkshall ]

 

to be honest im not impressed at 75 seconds, my pc an intel p4 3.4ghz 2 gig ram running 4x sata hdd's 6 noisless fans 650 watt psu 512mb ati 1300 pci express graphics card and a lot off startup programs and my pc takes 33 secs to boot right up and ready for me to work on.

 

forgot to mention, its running Windows XP Pro with sp 2 and all updates.

 

When I had Windows XP Home installed it took around 3 minutes to get up and running. The 75 seconds includes typing in my ID (enter) and 9 character (enter) password. It's less than half the time it took with XP without the ID & password. My CPU is an Athlon 2600 (1.9Ghz) & 750MB memory, so with your set up I would expect better figures.

 

Probably the way you had your setup, or the type of hardware/software it was running.

i'm sitting next to my childrens intel pentium 4 1.7 gighz pc with 512 mb sdram on windows xp home, just a basic computer with programs running in the back ground....i have just completed the time it took to boot up and it was 1 min 2 sec...... "on an emachine"

so i can only asume your pc was running poorly

 

I am thinking of getting a laptop to run Windows only hardware. Would this be a good choice for �£350

Processor - AMDÃ?® Turionââ??¢ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL56
Operating system - Genuine Windows Vistaââ??¢ Business ââ?¬â?? English
Memory - 2048MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x1024]
Monitor _ 15.4" Wide Screen XGA TFT Display: 1280x800
Optical Drive - Fixed Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Drive including software
Graphic Card - 256MB ATI Ã?® RadeonÃ?® Xpress 1150 HyperMemoryââ??¢