Apps loading VERY slowly in WinXP...any suggestions?

[Kwad Guy]

I have a PC running Windows XP. All updates. P4 3.2Ghz, 1Gb ram.

Anyway, over time the following problem has developed:

Whenever I open an application for the first time after a reboot, it takes a LONG time to load (20,30,40s). Once opened, if I close it and open it again, it typically will open a LOT more quickly (until the next time I reboot, at which point, I see the same behavior again).

I've disabled the unessential startup procs in msconfig and defragged the hard drive and the registry.

Any other suggestions as to what the problem might be?

 

[daweasel85]

Have you checked the DMA modes? Make sure it's not running in PIO. This is assuming you're running a PATA drive. I don't know if this applies to SATA drives also.

 

[cker]

One thing that worked for me was to go into a command prompt and run

del c:\windows\prefetch\*.*

That seemed to make things snappy. Of course I had LOTS of junk in the prefetch folder. For background, try googling for things like 'clean out prefetch cache'. I don't really have a strong understanding of the motivation behind the Windows prefetch cache, but I know when mine gets too full things slow down significantly.

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: Kwad Guy
I have a PC running Windows XP. All updates. P4 3.2Ghz, 1Gb ram.

Anyway, over time the following problem has developed:

Whenever I open an application for the first time after a reboot, it takes a LONG time to load (20,30,40s). Once opened, if I close it and open it again, it typically will open a LOT more quickly (until the next time I reboot, at which point, I see the same behavior again).

I've disabled the unessential startup procs in msconfig and defragged the hard drive and the registry.

Any other suggestions as to what the problem might be?

How soon after a reboot are you trying to open up apps? Windows will let you log in and get to the desktop even before it is done loading essential software.
It might take like 60 seconds before Windows is fully loaded and until then, your apps will open very slowly.