My computer should be better than it is.

Willeth

Recently, booting has taken forever, loading programs takes full minutes (although if I load them a while after boot, this improves) and my PC is just... slower than it should be. I've scanned with AVG and Ad-Aware, and they both come up null after a reboot and a rescan.

PC spec:
Windows XP Professional SP3
GeForce 6600
Athlon XP "Barton" 3000+ 2GHz
512MB RAM
(anything I missed?)

HijackThis log (just in case):

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 14:37:49, on 18/10/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16735)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Service\AdskScSrv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Wireless Network Utility\WLService.exe
C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Wireless Network Utility\WLanCfgG.exe
C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
C:\Program Files\Alias\Maya 7.0 Personal Learning Edition\docs\wrapper.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Program Files\Alias\Maya 7.0 Personal Learning Edition\docs\jre\bin\java.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgrsx.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\hpcoretech\hpcmpmgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe
C:\WINDOWS\vsnpstd3.exe
F:\Program Files\Juice\Juice.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\atwtusb.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SOUNDMAN.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\Program Files\USB Disk Win98 Driver\Res.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe
F:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
F:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\wcescomm.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Will D Templeton\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqtra08.exe
F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\rapimgr.exe
C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe
C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqgalry.exe
F:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = file:///F:/My%20Documents/homepage/index.html
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Skype add-on (mastermind) - {22BF413B-C6D2-4d91-82A9-A0F997BA588C} - C:\PROGRA~1\Skype\Phone\IEPlugin\SKYPEI~1.DLL
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SiSUSBRG] C:\WINDOWS\SiSUSBrg.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] "C:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Component Manager] "C:\Program Files\HP\hpcoretech\hpcmpmgr.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [snpstd3] C:\WINDOWS\vsnpstd3.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Media Connect 2] "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Connect 2\WMCCFG.exe" /StartQuiet
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [atwtusb] atwtusb.exe beta
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Microsoft Setup Initialization] rundll32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMan] SOUNDMAN.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [USB Storage Toolbox] C:\Program Files\USB Disk Win98 Driver\Res.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG8_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "F:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [Microsoft Setup Initialization] rundll32.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [H/PC Connection Agent] "F:\Program Files\Microsoft ActiveSync\wcescomm.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Google Update] "C:\Documents and Settings\Will D Templeton\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Update\GoogleUpdate.exe" /c
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WMPNSCFG] C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'Default user')
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
O4 - Global Startup: HP Digital Imaging Monitor.lnk = C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqtra08.exe
O4 - Global Startup: HP Image Zone Fast Start.lnk = C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\hpqthb08.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Create Mobile Favorite - {2EAF5BB1-070F-11D3-9307-00C04FAE2D4F} - F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\INetRepl.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {2EAF5BB2-070F-11D3-9307-00C04FAE2D4F} - F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\INetRepl.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Create Mobile Favorite... - {2EAF5BB2-070F-11D3-9307-00C04FAE2D4F} - F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\INetRepl.dll
O9 - Extra button: Skype - {77BF5300-1474-4EC7-9980-D32B190E9B07} - C:\PROGRA~1\Skype\Phone\IEPlugin\SKYPEI~1.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {7584C670-2274-4EFB-B00B-D6AABA6D3850} (Microsoft RDP Client Control (redist)) - http://webdesktop.shu.ac.uk/tsweb/msrdp.cab
O16 - DPF: {BE833F39-1E0C-468C-BA70-25AAEE55775E} (System Requirements Lab) - http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/sysreqlab.cab
O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: avgrsstx.dll
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\bin\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: Autodesk Licensing Service - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Autodesk Shared\Service\AdskScSrv.exe
O23 - Service: AVG Free8 WatchDog (avg8wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Belkin Wireless USB Network Adapter (Belkin Wireless USB Network Adapter Service) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Wireless Network Utility\WLService.exe
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: FAH@C:+Documents and Settings+Will D Templeton+Desktop+browserdownload+FAH504-Console.exe - Unknown owner - C:\Documents and Settings\Will D Templeton\Desktop\browserdownload\FAH504-Console.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: FLEXnet Licensing Service - Macrovision Europe Ltd. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: Maya 7 PLE Documentation Server (mple7docserver) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alias\Maya 7.0 Personal Learning Edition\docs\wrapper.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: Pml Driver HPZ12 - HP - C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe

--
End of file - 9357 bytes

Task Manager Processes:

Do I have anything running here that I could get rid of and get my system back to normalcy again? I'll have to start using 3DS Max and Unreal Editor within the next few weeks and I don't want my computer to fall over.

Right now what jumps out at me are the multiple instances of svchost (although I've seen this on every Windows computer I've had), the Apple/iTunes stuff, which I have no need to have running, and the Google Update, which I imagine came packaged with Chrome. None of these things seem like they'd wreck performance like this.

Khavall

How long has it been since you reinstalled windows?


If you're using XP and it's been a while you probably are running into the classic XP problem of OS degradation.

Willeth

June 2007, I think. Right now I'm going through my Add/Remove Programs and just cleaning some shit out, just in case anything's loading at boot that's destroying my performance.

I don't really want to have to reformat or reinstall - there's a few programs on here that I don't have the CDs for any more, given that I've moved back to University. I don't even think my XP disc is here.

Technicality

does the hard drive light stay on when things are taking forever to load?

Willeth

I'll look for it next time. What would that indicate?

The weird thing is that once things are loaded, they seem to work fine. Firefox is as fast as it always is, it just takes a while to fire it up. Clicking Show Desktop, however, can take twenty seconds or so to come into effect.

I just tried playing the World of Goo demo and I could play quite smoothly until thirty seconds or so into the first level, whereupon my PC locked and I had to reboot. I got a display driver error, but I have the latest drivers.

Technicality

To me it would indicate a knackered hard disk, which seems to fit the symptoms.

It sounds like its struggling most when its reading files or freeing up memory by moving stuff from RAM to the swap file. This and random driver/windows/app failures are the sorts of things that I've seen happen when a drive is dying a slow death.

Inquisitor77

Delete any temporary files in your system. Remove any old programs. Run some anti-spyware stuff and clean out any junk it finds, too.

Then do a Scandisk->Defrag run overnight. If that doesn't help you out, I would seriously take it as a sign that your hard drive or your OS are about to die on you, and take appropriate countermeasures. Like tactical nukes.

Willeth

Well shit, I hadn't even considered defragging. I doubt it's been done in at least eight months. That'll run tonight.

Marty81

You have 56 processes running and you haven't defragged in months. That will grind pretty much any system to a halt. Take care of that before you worry whether your HD is dying or your windows install is corrupting.

To prevent processes from starting at bootup, do start>run>msconfig, head over to the startup tab, and uncheck everything you don't need to run on boot-up. For instance, qttask, ituneshelper, avgtray, ipodservice, etc. can probably all go. Google things if you don't know what they are. I have full virus protection + firewall + teatimer running at bootup on my system and I only boot with 24 processes, so you can definitely pare down your list.

edit:

Right now what jumps out at me are the multiple instances of svchost (although I've seen this on every Windows computer I've had)

Yes, that's normal. The number of them running goes up with the amount of services you are running. I usually have 5 or 6 instances of svchost running. You can tweak the services you have running in the services tab of msconfig - check "hide all microsoft services" and then uncheck the services in the list you don't need.

Inquisitor77

I second the cleaning out your startup. Look in your Startup folder and delete anything you don't actually use every time you start up your computer. Then delete anything that you do use but you don't care about having running in the background (in other words, if it's not your antivirus or firewall, wtf is it doing running in the background all the time?).

Then do the msconfig deal and clean out that stuff, too.

tardcore

I like to use CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) to get all those files I don't need off of my system. It works like a charm and it's typically 1 gb of worthless files I don't need gone.

DeShadowC

run msconfig and disable any startup items you don't NEED to start when the computer boots up as well.

Willeth

Right, disabled startup stuff. Secondary drive is defragging. I only have 7% of space left on my primary drive. I'm going to clean it out, but will I suffer any adverse if I defrag with less than the 15% free it recommends?

wunderbar

Willeth wrote: »

Right, disabled startup stuff. Secondary drive is defragging. I only have 7% of space left on my primary drive. I'm going to clean it out, but will I suffer any adverse if I defrag with less than the 15% free it recommends?

I'm not even sure if you can defragment if you have that little space left, as it doesn't leave a lot of room to move the files around as it needs to.

Zeon

Marty81 wrote: »

You have 56 processes running and you haven't defragged in months. That will grind pretty much any system to a halt. Take care of that before you worry whether your HD is dying or your windows install is corrupting.

Man, you were so close.

You have 56 processes running, using 585 megs of your 512 megs of ram. Youre running over into your swap file, and loading cached stuff to/from the hard drive is infinitely slower than loading it from ram.

As cliche as this is, you need more ram.

wunderbar

Zeon wrote: »

Marty81 wrote: »

You have 56 processes running and you haven't defragged in months. That will grind pretty much any system to a halt. Take care of that before you worry whether your HD is dying or your windows install is corrupting.

Man, you were so close.

You have 56 processes running, using 585 megs of your 512 megs of ram. Youre running over into your swap file, and loading cached stuff to/from the hard drive is infinitely slower than loading it from ram.

As cliche as this is, you need more ram.

I'm not sure if that's emphasized enough.

Herschel

Yea, 512MB of RAM doesn't really cut it anymore.

Willeth

Oh haha wow I didn't even notice how much I was using. Yeah, that'd do it.

Looks like I need to crack open my box and see what slots I have. Does RAM even need to be paired any more?

I suppose I should just go and grab a couple of gig sticks online now.

EDIT: According to Crucial's system scanner, my motherboard (Winfast K7S741MG) can take a maximum of 1024MB of RAM. I wasn't even aware that this kind of limit existed. Should I just buy another stick of 512 or is the scanner lying to me?

EDIT 2: Haha okay, so I open my computer to have a look at the motherboard and what slots I have available, and theres a whole 512MB stick of RAM that's completely unseated. It could have been like that for months. Reseated it, and so now I have double the amount of RAM that I was working with beforehand. Things seem a little quicker but it's still not ideal. My C drive defrag will run tonight.

garroad_ran

*facepalm*