Re: Slow boot

Don


Don Williams wrote:
This is a partial response, more later-


Never thought of that, I used to be pretty handy with Dr. Watson but
had forgotten that iit even existed. I think I'll just delete it and
then reset to not append.

I would be patient and make the change I suggested.




I have a great many installation logs, and also many files which seem
to be some sort of process recoreding logs, they just have some
numbers and then .txt for their names. There are also some
interesting ones, similar to SystemLogxxxxxxxxxx.txt where xxxxxxxxxx
is a date and they are located in a hidden folder, C:\iSitelogs.

Googling on \iSitelogs led me to some odd sites. I would delete it.



Another point to note with System Restore is that it should only be
set to monitor your C (Windows) partition.

I never knew that, but sounds like a winner.

It is.




Everything in this system is compressed. Even some old data and
programs in the Unix system are zipped.

File compression is not the same as compressing a drive or zipping. You
only compress files ,which you may never but could need at a future
time.

How To Use File Compression in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307987


Open Disk Defragmenter and click on Analyse. Select View Report and
click on Save As and Save. Now find VolumeC.txt in your My Documents
Folder and post a copy. Do this before running Disk Defragmenter as
it is more informative.

It's attached.


Adobe Acrobat Reader has a large footprint. Are you just using it to
read and print pdf documents or are you editing pdf documents? Unless
you are editing you could find Foxit a better option.

Foxit Reader (freeware) a more satisfactory programme:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

You should have a pagefile on C even if it is only a nominal. Quote:"an
initial size of 2MB with a Maximum of 50 is suitable"
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.htm

The Master File Table is badly fragmented. I cannot recollect seeing so
many fragments. It is normally 2 or 3.

Are you using Windows Live OneCare?

Download and install cCleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/ccdownload.asp
http://www.ccleaner.com/

With any cleaner you need to proceed with caution. To be safe you
should create a restore point before using cCleaner. cCleaner also
offers backup before removal.

When using cCleaner think twice before checking Autocomplete Form
History under Internet Explorer. You do get a warning but this one has
irritating consequences. You may need to restore your system's
recollection of passwords after use so keep a record off computer so
that they can easily be re-entered.

Leave the Scan for Issues option alone.

Then run Disk Defragmenter and another report after you have completed
these tasks.


I haven't looked at it yet but should have done that long ago. When
you see it on the screen, the paths are so long that you can't really
tell which files have 100 fragments.



The values I sent were with none of those large programs running.


Noted.



What are your anti-virus and anti-spyware arrangements? An automatic
anti-virus scan occuring when you boot will affect performance. You
may be able to retime this to occur when you do not want to use the
computer.

You did not respond to this paragraph.



Have you tried this approach?
How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" state
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/en-us

In the distant past.

You complaint is about a slow boot!


Also look for Error Reports in the System log in Event Viewer.
Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear
in a previous boot.

Next post-

These might highlight a reason for the slow boot.



You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and
double click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which
appears is a button resembling two pages. Click the button and close
Event Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the
body of the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting
from Event Viewer.



The only issue there is that there is no driver for my Sony SCSI DAT
tape but that's handled by backup software in Windows and of course
Unix has several tape programs built in and there are other programs
for Unix tape handling. I forgot the error code but it's the one for
not having a driver but it doesn't affect anything.



--



Hope this helps.

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