XP Running Very Slow in Normal Mode

I have XP Home SP2 installed on my little computer (400MHz PII w/128MB RAM). Yesterday when I logged on the thing was running extremely slow. It took over 5 minutes for it to boot to my login account. I had updates ready so I clicked to install them and then clicked on the start menu. The start menu came up and just hung there. I could do nothing, the system locked up. I had to do an "Oh S***" restart. Can't do much of anything in normal mode. Ran SpyBot S&D and while it was running the desktop locked up (even my clock stopped) Spybot finished ok, no problems. Tried to run AVG but it never loaded. Restarted because system locked up. Now running in Safe Mode and Running AVG. My most recent HJT Log is included.

The only things I did in the last day are:

1. Went to the AMI Bios web page to check for updated BIOS. It wanted to run a program to check my bios. I let it. Screen went black and never came back to normal.

2. Installed Word 2003.

3. Installed Real Player

4. Installed then uninstalled two different CD burning programs I downloaded from MajorGeeks.

That is all.

HIJACK LOG:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 4:17:33 PM, on 5/5/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16414)

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\spoolsv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgamsvr.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgupsvc.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgemc.exe
C:\Program Files\Comodo\Firewall\cmdagent.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe
C:\Program Files\Comodo\Firewall\CPF.exe
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\hjt\HijackThis.exe

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
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG7_CC] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe /STARTUP
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [COMODO Firewall Pro] "C:\Program Files\Comodo\Firewall\CPF.exe" /background
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSMSGS] "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
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
O11 - Options group: [INTERNATIONAL] International*
O16 - DPF: {0742B9EF-8C83-41CA-BFBA-830A59E23533} (Microsoft Data Collection Control) - https://support.microsoft.com/OAS/ActiveX/MSDcode.cab
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/V5Controls/en/x86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1177102472540
O16 - DPF: {6E32070A-766D-4EE6-879C-DC1FA91D2FC3} (MUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/V5Controls/en/x86/client/muweb_site.cab?1177164642694
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - https://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WgaLogon - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WgaLogon.dll
O21 - SSODL: WPDShServiceObj - {AAA288BA-9A4C-45B0-95D7-94D524869DB5} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\WPDShServiceObj.dll
O23 - Service: AVG7 Alert Manager Server (Avg7Alrt) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgamsvr.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Update Service (Avg7UpdSvc) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgupsvc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG E-mail Scanner (AVGEMS) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgemc.exe
O23 - Service: Comodo Application Agent (CmdAgent) - COMODO - C:\Program Files\Comodo\Firewall\cmdagent.exe

Anyone got any ideas before I attemp an XP Repair Install?

Thanks

Mitch

 

128 MB of Ram is not quite enough for XP with this amount I believe that you will run into problems sooner or later. XP really needs a minimum of 256MB Ram.
hawk22

 

Well then, I suppose I'll have to go get a stick of RAM. I have two sticks of 64 MB (PC100) with a third bank open. Will do some shopping online now. Thanks

 

thanks, will do. BTW, I figured out my slow down problem....I guess automatic updates is not in the cards for my basic system. No matter, I'll just check every few days.

When I turned off Automatic Updates system went back to "normal" speed.

Mitch

 

Will do. Thanks again.

 

Turn off SpyBot's TeaTimer before installing updates. It can stop the update and cause problems. Once the updates are installed and you have rebooted you can then re-enable the protection.

 

set automatic updates to notify only. next time I clicked on start, start menu came up and locked in that position. couldn't get it to do anything. restarted and computer took forever (it's slow enough but this was rediculous). Turned off automatic updates - things are normal. Tried to get updates through Windows Update. It searched my system for an hour before I got tired of waiting and just stopped it.

 

By the sound of it, you have that system humming along quite nicely . A 400Mhz processor is pretty much "entry level" for Win XP. Being such a small system you will need to keep it very lean as far as programs and particularly background programs are concerned.

Another program that you can stop from running at startup is MS Messenger (Tools -> Options -> Preferences) and just run it from Start -> All Programs when you want to use it.

Watch for "updaters ". You can run AVG updates manually if you like and even download and install them yourself.

Watch what might show up in the System Tray from what programs you install.

If you keep it lean you should not need extra RAM. If you want to increase the number of programs running at the same time or have a buildup of background programs, you will need more RAM,

I have set up a similar system running Win 2K, it hums along quite nicely (slow to load though). I keep it as lean as I can.


Matt

 

I try to keep it as lean as possible. The things running on startup are teatimer, avg, something called ctfmon, and messenger. I didn't think about the autoupdates for avg, will turn that off - thanks for the suggestion.

I am in the process of getting things I need to upgrade my little computer; more ram, and a larger hard drive (only have a 6.0 GB drive). Bought the system used from a co-worker for $25.00 so can't complain. Only spent money so far on newer video card and sound card. Ram is next, then the hard drive.

Thanks for your help.