Delays opening documents or files due to Brother Printer Status Monitor

On at least one of my systems the Brother printer status monitor when running as a background process delayed opening of eg Word documents by 5 seconds or more. With the Brother printer status monitor process terminated, access time returned to normal ie <1 second.

In my most recent test using MS-Word, before the application opened there was a 5 second delay, it took a further 3 seconds for the small document being opened to be displayed. (Word 2000 SR1 on an XP MCE dual processer system, the printer was a Brother HL-2150N). A similar delay was encountered when opening image files using Paint Shop Pro. Opening image files with eg MS Paint was near no delay whatsoever. With the Brother Status Monitor removed from memory the delays vanished.

The advice from Brother Support was 'if you don't like the long wait when opening files or documents (5 seconds on that person's system) don't use the Brother Printer Status Monitor. PS no-one else has complained about this'.

During my research into this issue I encountered a number of other people reporting the same issue but with no resolutions so I decided to experiment. After a long process including defragging, deleting temporary files, repairing MS Office, reinstalling my image editor, diabling addons, disabling Norton, regenerating Normal .dot, disk checking / repairing, installing all current Windows updates, scanning and cleaning the registry, and so on.

Finally, just to see what would happen I disabled DDE and retested with the Brother Status Monitor running. Incredibly the wait / delay was reduced to zero ie instant opening and my system's performance changed from that of a ZX81 on a bad day to what I have every right to expect from a dual processor system when opening a 1 page Word document ie near instant opening of files / documents.

Therefore if you have the Brother Printer Status Monitor installed my advice is that if you want your system to respond as it should without waits or delays when opening files or documents all you have to do is to disable DDE as follows:

Click on Start / Control Panel / Folder Options / File Types / Scroll down to .doc / Advanced / click on 'Open' / Edit / deselect DDE / (Ensure that there are quotes around %1 "%1" to prevent a different problem) / OK / Close - retest.

Under "Application used to perform action" you should have something like the following for .doc files:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\WINWORD.EXE" /n "%1 "

Do the same for any other file types affected.

This is a somewhat better solution than running your printer without 'out of paper' notifications because you've followed Brothers' advice and prevented the Brother Printer Status Monitor from running.

Has anyone else experienced similar effects with the Brother printer status monitor slowing or delaying opening of documents / files eg word files or image files? If so, how did you reolve the issue?

 

It is certainly true that the status monitor is not required to run at startup as a background process. I have an Epson printer status monitor that runs as a background process on the same system without ill effect ie it does not cause long delays when opening documents. If the Brother Status Monitor is running - whether the process is triggered at startup or run manually - there are substantial delays when opening / printing etc via a DDE command ie by double clicking or right clicking to open / print etc.

If the Brother status monitor is not running at all one has to be careful when printing and look out for a red light on the printer itself eg when the paper has run out or if there has been a paper jam. My personal preference is for status monitor software to let me know the current status rather than having to manually check the printer.

I am not aware of a generic printer status monitor but that would also seem to be a viable solution if one were available.

 

I tested this with both Brother and Epson status monitors by switch off both printers and quitting the Brother status monitor and terminating the Epson status monitor processes using task manager.

The Epson status monitor did indeed auto run and informed me that there was a problem. The Brother status monitor did not auto-run and the only indication of a problem was the standard Windows systems tray icon.

If anyone else out there is experiencing similar issues with the Brother printer status monitor then please do let me know.

If this is a fundamental programmatic problem with the Brother software then Brother need to made aware so they can take appropriate action ie a little redevelopment. If it's an isolated issue only with my system then fine - I will fix my system. Currently however I am minded to believe that the responsibility lies with Brother.

The following DDE opening commands should not result in a 5-8 second delay...

Application = "C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\psp.exe" /n /dde "%1 "
DDE Message = [open( "%1 ")]

... but they do, and only when the Brother printer status monitor is running.

 

Work Around: By installing the Brother HL-2150N as a Ethernet resource rather than as a USB resource the problem went away ie access speeds to files when accessing via DEE returned back to normal. (Previous attempts at uninstalling / reinstalling the USB drivers did not result in any change). This is a work around because the issue remains for USB installations.

NB Once installed into one Ethernet socket keep it in that socket. I didn't and had to uninstall / reinstall. (I moved the plug from a socket on my Router to a spare PCI Ethernet socket on the back of my system, moving between sockets on your Router may have no ill effect).

It is probable that the issue being reported by this thread is also Brother printer status monitor related:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/other-software/32967-paint-shop-pro-very-slow-start.html

 

A test on an different less powerful machine running XP-Pro resulted in the same delayed opening of files result. Norton was not installed on this second test machine. The baseline opening time from click to the display of an image using Paint Shop pro with open via DDE enabled was 2 seconds. With the Brother Printer Status Monitor installed and running in the system tray, connected to a Brother HL-2150N printer via a USB cable the file opening time increased to 4+ seconds.

As an aside the Brother Printer Status Monitor is present in the HiJackThis reports on about 1,000 pages mostly reporting undiagnosed slowing of systems and other performance issues.

On the original test system (now working fine but only because installed via Ethernet) FileMon.exe (a process monitor) reporting a vast amount of activity on the part of C:\Program Files\Brownie\BrstsWnd.exe. In contrast the Epson Printer Status monitor was remarkably silent as a process - in fact I was unable to spot any activity from the Epson processes. To put this into perspective there was at least 100 x more activity from the Brother Printer Status Monitor than there was from ALL of Norton's processes combined and I think that most people are aware of the negative effect that Norton can have on performance with some systems.

If your system is slow or there are delays opening files and you have the Brother Printer Status monitor installed why not try closing the Brother Printer Status monitor and see if there is a change. If there is a change then please do let me know and / or post your experience on this page.

 

Hi zanu,

This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team.

Can you please tell me what Norton product and version you are currently using. If you are using a pre-2009 version of a Norton product, and have a valid subscription, you are entitled to a free update to the 2009 version, which is very lean on system resource usage and contains many new and enhanced features to keep your computer protected against the latest threats. The 2009 version of all Norton products should not affect system performance when installed and configured correctly.

Please let me know the product and version you are using and I will then provide you with the steps needed to update to the latest version.

Thank you,
Mike

 

We're quite happy with Norton than you. Norton is not the issue here. This thread is about the Brother Printer Status Monitor on XP and the delays and 'slow to access' effect that it generates when opening files via DDE ie double clicking from Windows Explorer. This occurs whether Norton is present or not. Norton is categorically not the offender here - I use the 2008 version I think (V16.5) and these days I am very happy most of the time thanks. The offender is Brother and Brother is certainly heavy on resources - vastly more than Norton.

If your system is slow or there are delays opening files and you have the Brother Printer Status monitor installed why not try closing the Brother Printer Status monitor and see if there is a change. If there is a change then please do let me know and / or post your experience on this page. If you spot any other page on the net that documents this effect then please do let me know and / or post the link via this thread. I have seen other pages out there but can't find them again - the truth is out there (and here for that matter).

 

Hi zanu,

I had a somewhat similar situation a couple of years ago with Epson. I went into msconfig and unchecked Epson Status Monitor, Card Monitor, and Ink Monitor. It didn't have any ill effect on printing nor with the Status Monitor showing in the systray when I fired it up. Also, the Ink Monitor was there, too.

Have you tried unchecking Brother in msconfig?

 

Thankyou Broni. We did listen, do appreciate your input and did test this in the early stages.

The msconfig approach does work with the Epson status monitor but is ineffective with the Brother printer status monitor.

 

Hi zanu,

Just out of curiosity, is there a menu for Options, or Preferences? If there is, have you tried "tweaking" it?

Also, from what I've read about Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), it seems that Microsoft .NET framework handles COM applications across networks and may speed up opening your files.

(weasel clause) Then again, I may be wrong.

 

Broni

The delay in opening files remains whenever the Brother Printer Status Monitor is running regardless of how it is run (ie at start-up or manually). Once the status monitor is closed or the processes are terminated it is permanently closed and does not run on demand when a document is printed (this differs from the way in which the Epson Status monitor operates which does seem to get triggered if fully closed). Brother support confirmed that this is normal behaviour for their status monitor.

Clearly the delays in opening files do not occur when the Brother Status Monitor is closed but that means no 'out of paper' messages other than the standard Windows icon which is not good enough. The cost of not having status messages may not outweigh the benefit of opening files rapidly for some users, especially given that they will have paid good money to see those status messages.

The issue was worked-around in my case by installing the printer using the Ethernet connection rather than the USB connection which installs different drivers. It took me a lot of time and effort to find this work around and if I can save someone else the bother then that would be a good thing.

JP Chris

I think that we clicked on every option that could be selected and no matter what the settings were there was no change in terms of the delay in opening files. The .Net framework was installed on both of the systems that I tested and all of the files opened were on local drives.

Anyone

The purpose of this thread is primarily to alert other Brother users that are experiencing the same symptoms and ideally to quantify the number of users affected. I know of 3 systems certainly affected thus far - 2 of which are mine. If the cause can be determined then that would be an added bonus, noting however that the probable cause is in the programming in my humble opinion.

The symtom is that files are slow to open / there is a delay when opening files by double clicking in Windows Explorer when the Brother Printer Status Monitor is running. When the Brother Printer Status Monitor is closed the time to open files returns to normal. The problem only occurs when opening files with some programs eg MS Word or Excel or Paint Shop Pro. (Any program that has DDE enabled in Folder Options / File Types).