I have a question about Things 
that slow down system bootup:
. I have a Dell Inspiron 4000 with 256 megs of 
RAM, two 10 meg hard drives. PIII 850. The Windows XP is slow to start. But once 
loaded, it takes up to 7 minutes between opening program files and time they actually 
open. 

I have checked my Startup. Nothing in it. I have defragged the HD numerous times. 
I have used a registry clean up program to assure my registry is in good order. I 
am not sure about the procedure for removing fonts, nor am I sure that would have 
any bearing on the performance of my laptop.

Any ideas? 

Thank you.

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

..Dell Inspiron 4000 with 256 megs of RAM, two 10 meg hard drives. PIII 850. The 
Windows XP is slow to start. But once loaded, it takes up to 7 minutes between opening 
program files and time they actually open.

First off, I'm sure you don't have any 10 MB hard drives, and likely mean 
10 GB.

Anyway, you can't expect XP to run much better with those specs. You not only have 
a slower processor (which would be great for older OS's), but you also have only 
256 MB installed. 



Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File

Unfortunately, Bald Eagle is right on. I had a system with specs similar to yours, and it was slow. But. Not quite as you have described.

With your RAM limitations, it is very important that you allow Windows to manage the page file (Virtual Memory.) To do this, follow this path:

Control Panel>System>Advanced>PerformanceSettings>Advanced. At the bottom you will find a "Change" button. After you push that, in the next box click the "radio button" for " System Managed size," and then press "SET." After next boot the change will take effect.

Get free WinPatrol: http://www.winpatrol.com/

Use it to disable everthing that wants to autostart except firewall and Anti-virus/anti-spyware. If you are using Norton or McAfee, dump it. Takes too many resources for your machine. I suggest AVG free behind the Comodo free firewall.

Trim down your "Services" as much as possible. Use these 2 sites to compare and contrast. Set them to your own needs.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

When in doubt, use a "Manual" setting. Make changes to "Services" one at a time so it's easy to know "What broke it?"

Turn off Windows "Automatic Updates" and begin doing it manually. Just go to Windows Updates once a month, and dedicate some time to geeting the patches.

Turn off Hibernation.

Get in the habit of running one application at a time. Close it down before opening a new one. With your limitations, having several programs open may result in freezes.

Set the size of the Recycle bin and System Restore to as low as you can get away with. You need the space. I might even turn off System Restore, and just rely on ERUNT:

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

ERUNT tutorial (simple): http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt

Keep your junk files cleaned up. I like ATF Cleaner: http://www.atribune.org/content/view/19/2/

I suggest that you not clean prefetch. That speeds up opening applications.

Make a new shortcut and paste the following into the box of the New Shortcut Wizare that says "Type the location..."

%windir%\system32\Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

Name it Idle Tasks (or whatever you like) and run it every couple of days. Let it run with nothing else going on--at system idle. It will take about 15 min. I often do it when I'm preparing for bed. This will defrag and optimize the boot files. Even so, expect your system to take 4-5 mins at best to fully boot.

If you do not immediately go on-line after boot, you may wish to physically unplug your internet cable and disable your security programs from auto-start as well. Then when it's time to connect, start your security manually.

For much of what I have learned, see my Vox: http://doc1101.vox.com/

The "links" are not live. Copy and paste the URLs to your browser address bar to view the referenced web pages.

You are likely stuck with your processor. To find out how much RAM your board will support use the free tool here: http://www.crucial.com/

Get as much more as you can. It helps alot!

Neurons that fire together, wire together. (Posted with Opera)

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

Thank you DocCrain. I followed your advice and my system is running much quicker.

Jim

[Reply or follow-up to this message]

• Search this forum
• Start a new thread on a different subject

• Report abuse of the forum