Re: computer getting slow for not the usual reasons

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yes the evidence speaks for itself. It worked for years and under the
current work load it works for >6 months, then performance starts to
decline. Something changed, not something needs to change. I hav had no
major upgrades for a very long time.

If my condition started after upgrading to lets say sp2, then that would be
something else. I often use VideoLAN, since it uses less resources then wmp
and qt, but I occasionally use those two. As can be seen, I am aware of
resources and often did experience slight slowdowns, but I could manage
that. Now it is much less consistent. The only consistent problem that I do
have, is not being able to upload videos. I could do it while doing other
things, but now I can never do it, even while doing nothing else. I
experienced this maybe a week or two before I started experiencing
slowdowns. Every video upload starts and gets slower and slower and stops at
xx%, always double figure and almost always between 50 and 80%. Yes I have
tried different videos. Since this was repeating itself day after day, after
doing all the security scans, bla, bla,bla I actually contacted youtube, I
thought something was wrong with my account. I noticed but was not sure
there was a correlation with my google video postings. They started to fail
more often....Then a week or two later other things start getting slower and
slower. But not consistently slower.

Why after closing several apps should it take 10 minutes for my system to
recover?

Why would apps refuse to open and then open 20 minutes later? I have NEVER
seen this condition before.

My video editing has no undo. But that really does not matter, since I have
been using that program for well over a year.

I check my start~startup folder, my startup in msconfig, and services
running regularly. I hav 3 startup items; zonealarm, teatimer, avg av. I hav
3 non ms services; zonealarm, 2 avg. I also have many ms services changed
from auto to manual or disabled.

One of my security apps also reports new services. So, I keep an eye on this
too.

My only security that runs at startup is avg av, spybot w/ teatimer,
zonealarm, but gee I have been running all those for years, excepting the
avg, since I used to use norton and switched about 12 months ago, since
norton is such a memory hog. Even with norton, I never had apps refuse to
open, folders taking 22 seconds to open....

All system scans are set to off, so I can do them manually during light
loads.

I also regularly check for surprises in add/remove...nothing there.

Maybe about a year ago, I looked into changing my pagefile size, but all the
reading and monitoring I did convinced me to leave it set to auto. Maybe I
should do this again, since maybe I did not investigate enough, but again it
has been working....up until about a month ago.

I m using the same programs as I was 3 months ago, excepting minor upgrades,
which have not been the cause of my condition. After all, I can just have 2
instances of ie opened and be watching a video on one and downloading a
video in the other and I experience noticeable slowdowns, like NEVER before.

When I ran 3.1, and when I ran 95 and 98se I always used less ram then was
recommended. Its the way I m, and I hav always recognized the need for more
and do so.

I found and ran 3 different ram scan apps, since that was a suspect. Its in
good health.

paul

"Gerry Cornell" <gcjc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Opt6nZ4VHHA.5008@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Paul

The evidence speaks for itself.

Running Windows XP on a machine needs a minimum of 256 mb but for most
users 512 mb is needed for a satisfactory experience. Few experienced
users will advise differently.

I recommended pagefilemon to you so that you could test for yourself the
extent to which your system is using the pagefile. You have so far only
conducted minimal tests. You will have a better picture once you have
carried out tests over a longer period.

The second result indicates that at some point use of the pagefile went as
high as 499 mb but has since fallen to 213 mb. On a system with 512 mb ram
I would be thinking of adding RAM if readings went above 100 mb. Running
graphics programs, especially if they include using undo features, require
significantly more ram. Videos are graphics. Photography ( not sure if you
are engaged in this activity ) involves graphics and if editing is
undertaken the undo feature as well. These types of activity render 256 mb
insufficient.

You can try to reduce reliance on the pagefile by closing programmes after
use. You might also check to see whether any programmes are loading on
startup which might be run on an on demand basis. Also check whether
anti-virus and other programmes carrying full system scans are scheduled
to carry these out at times when you are not otherwise using the computer.

Which anti-virus programme are you using? Some have a much heavier
footprint than others. A change might help. It need not cost anything.

Another measure you can take which might help is to increase you maximum
pagefile setting by an extra 512 mb.

It would be helpful to know the model number of your motherboard. This
freeware programme is excellent for getting information about your
computer: Everest Home Edition (freeware)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

Tip: To copy select Report, Quick Report, Plain Text, highlight required
text, right click and select copy. However, whilst this is fine for
posting small amounts of information into newsgroup messages longer
reports will irritate other newsgroup subscribers. Given your present
problems you may fing copy and pasting not working with this programme
also.

Since 2003 programme updates will have changed system requirements. The
Windows XP SP2 update in 2004 being an obvious example. You will not be
using the same programmes today that you were using a month ago, let alone
3 years ago. The anti-virus and anti-spyware programmes in 2007 are much
bigger beasties than they were in 2003.


--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


paulmars wrote:
yea, I just figured that out:

2/23/2007 12:21:20 PM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 213 MB
Session Peak Usage: 499 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 562 MB

2/22/2007 2:13:05 PM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 18 MB
Session Peak Usage: 18 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 432 MB

If I have had enough ram for 3.5 years now and with no new
processes all of a sudden I need more ram???? and over the last
week or so my condition has been getting worse, even though I
have not been doing many of the things I usually do...Does that
mean I need even more ram NOW then the extra I needed a week ago?

Please excuse me for not accepting that I need more to do the
things I used to do 3 weeks ago....also lets not forget that
sometimes when almost nothing is running, clicking on start and
navigation to open a new process each menu that opens might take
5 or 10 seconds. Not being able to send mail when all I m doing
is surfing the web and hav 2 IM apps open. I never had this
condition even before I upped my ram 3.5 years ago...XP was slow
then, I think I had 128Mhz of ram back then.
1.333 ghz

graphics and sound are part of the gigibyte mainboard.

I have been doing what I do not for about a year (uploading vids,
downloading vids, watching vids), and just now it is a
problem....And the problem is there without doing any video
processing. All I have to do is open both IM apps, OE, surf the
web and it creeps. Sometimes much less and it creeps.

paul


"Gerry Cornell" <gcjc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u0CNtIyVHHA.4028@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Paul

pagefilemon takes snapshots. You need to run it at the beginning
of the session at then run it again at intervals throughout the
sessions. I do think your is heading towards a diagnosis of insufficient
RAM memory for the activities you are using your computer for!

What is your CPU processor speed?

What is your graphics card make and model?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


paulmars wrote:
yes and looking at it now, 1/2 a day later and it is unchanged
(2:13:05pm).
Before my problems started 3 or 4 weeks ago, I could upload a
video, edit another video and watch a third online - all at the
same time. And have OE and both IM opened. Now with all that the
upload did show down, but not too much. If I was doing all that,
but instead of watching video online I tried to watch a video on
my HDD it might be chopping, but the audio would be fine, the
upload file would upload not too slowly and the Edit would
complete at a good speed.
No way now!

commit charge
375804
714486
639332


"Gerry Cornell" <gcjc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OMe5KnsVHHA.1200@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Paul

You have posted two copies of the same report ie. the second
report should be 24 minutes later but it has the same time as
the first! 2/22/2007 2:13:05 PM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 18 MB
Session Peak Usage: 18 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 432 MB

At 26 minutes I close the video and:
2/22/2007 2:13:05 PM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 18 MB
Session Peak Usage: 18 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 432 MB

288 mb RAM would reckoned by most people to be insufficient RAM
for Windows XP. The normal recommendation is 512 mb.

Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to select Task Manager and click the
Performance Tab. Under Commit Charge what is the Total, the
Limit and the Peak? --

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



paulmars wrote:
ok, I was watching that google video while it was running last
night. I just started it again now, about 60 seconds after the
desktop appeared. So, now I will run a video, but actually I
have not yet install any players since my last xp reinstall.
Let me install VideoLAN and watch one of my videos....
Ok, now I am watching an mpg...

24 minutes into watching that mpg and:
2/22/2007 2:13:05 PM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 18 MB
Session Peak Usage: 18 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 432 MB

At 26 minutes I close the video and:
2/22/2007 2:13:05 PM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 18 MB
Session Peak Usage: 18 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 432 MB

is this monitoring or just a snapshot?

"...but you need to monitor it over a period of time."
"I left it running, but did not see it in task mgr."

288meg ram since june 2003, before that I was running xp with
less.
Adjust for best performance. That's what I had before and one
of the first things I checked/set after reinstall. I just
double checked and it is still Adjust for best performance.



"Gerry Cornell" <gcjc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:emyQ4NpVHHA.388@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Paul

You need to start Pagefilemon as soon as you can after the
Desktop appears and then see how usage varies. A session peak
of 132 mb would not be too bad but you need to monitor it
over a period of time. It would interesting to see what
happens when you are running a video and what happens when
you stop the video. How much RAM memory do you have? What
are your virtual memory
settings? Which of four settings do you have selected? Right
click My Computer icon on Desktopand select Properties,
Advanced, Performance Settings, Visual Effects to see setting
options.

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"paulmars" <pmars@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23wDlNwoVHHA.5060@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
No errors, but slow to a crawl. I was ready to write this 25
minutes ago, but I could not even make this the active
window, until I closed most other things and each app that
I closed took between 5 and 10 minutes to close. They were
all open and all was fine and I was watching a google video
and after about 10 minutes it started to loose frames, then
the audio started to stop and start. So, I closed ie and
started switching to other open apps and close them, but
switching took minutes and so did closing. one HDD, 4
partitions. C is 20 gig with 14 gig free. OS is on
C. All system files are on C, except that I keep favs and OE
store on D, as I have always done.

No, I had not monitored it. Here is the file from that exe u
mentioned. I left it running, but did not see it in task
mgr. 2/22/2007 7:44:03 AM
Pagefile Physical Location: C:\pagefile.sys
Current Pagefile Usage: 132 MB
Session Peak Usage: 132 MB
Current Pagefile Size: 432 MB

slowdown happens with no graphics and photo editing app
opened. Please note that nothing on my system has changed
when this
condition started. And after the reinstall, I have never
even installed many existing apps that I did have.



.

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