Slo Response

I am running Windows ME on this computer which is part of a three computer home network. The three computers are virtually identical, namely, the same motherboard, same memory, same CPU (actually this CPU is 900 mhz while the others are 850 mhz), and so on. There are minor differences but none of them are significant. I run Windows ME on two of the three and Win98 on the third one. My question is why this computer has a slow response time compared to the others. It is slow for no apparant reason. It is almost as though it has trouble reading the hard drive. The external internet response is just fine but even simple local actions often take a long time to complete. Any suggestions?

 

Very general, are you sure there has not been a specific item that you suspected?

In any case. A very deep clean is in order.

So clean it up. Here are the tools.

Download and run the following:

Registry and System cleaners

RegCleaner
http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/shtml/regcleaner.shtml

Look in first 2 cols for programs you thought you uninstalled or removed, these are the dregs left by the uninstaller.

Also tag and remove any that you are POSITIVE are not supposed to be on your computer. After removing these go to the top Tools-Registry Cleanup-Do them all. Delete all it finds.

EasyClean1.7

http://gswi.com/downloads.htm

Run only unnecessary files and registry clean delete all it finds. If you have ME or XP in the "Unnessesary Files" type the word HELP in the skip box. Do not do Duplicate files!

Spider: http://www.fsm.nl/ward/

Then get rid of Spy/Adware

Spyware and adware removal

SpyBot

http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download
Run this twice delete all it finds, "ALWAYS" run this before AdAware.

Leave all it wants to leave after the second run.

AdAware 6.0

http://www.lavasoft.com/
Run only after SpyBot!
Make sure to configure to Max settings, all files and compressed files. Delete all it finds

HiJackThis
http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/

After this it should be faster than the others, if not then we have a clean slate in order to trouble shoot further issues.

The above is not as bad as it looks download and install them, then run them one at a time. It will be worth it!

Mike

 

Not As Slow Now

Hi Mike,

I thank you for your very definitive reply. I will certainly follow your advice and try the various programs listed (I have several already). I believe I have solved the problem for the most part however. I tried testing the system at http://www.pcpitstop.com and they suggested that I should check the hard drives to be sure that DMA was being used and it wasn't. The ME system is running noticeably better since the DMA change and is probably the major problem. Thanks again for your help.

Paul

 

Im sure there are other opinions I dont like pitstop
It said I had OE set at other than restricted both times I used it.

the other results were differant each time I went there even though I had changed nothing , nor ran any differant programs,

They mayhave a point with the Dma --mflynn would now..

My point is dont completly trust pitstop they are trying to sell something.

Regards
Lonny

 

Trust = ???

Hi Lonny,

Thanks for the warning about trusting someone trying to sell me something. I might mention that I lived for 35 of my adult years in New York City and have an extremely healthy distrust of anyone and everyone trying to sell me anything.

The DMA thing seems to have solved the problem. I am not really shocked that the problem resides with M$'s default settings.

Thanks,

Paul

 

I agree with Lonnie. I like the PCpitstop site but these diags are weak.

I have seen similar results as Lonnie.

But they did hit the nail on the head on DMA. Some M/b, controllers and or BIOS's don't like it. But if it works it helps.

I would consider the cleanups. They will probably make and even bigger diffrence.

mike

 

I have tried the cleanups as you suggested and they have worked very well. It is pleasing to know that the system was sound even if the software was questionable.

Thanks again to everyone and I hope this thread may be of help to others with a slow response problem.