WinXP slowdown over time

[JackDanielsDrinker]

When you first install WinXP, boy is it snappy. Then after a year or so of installing applications, games, Visual Studio, Sql Server, Anti-virus, etc. etc., my machine is an order of magnitude slower when booting.

It also seems to be hitting the disk quite a bit after booting which slows it down during normal use. Its just not as snappy as it was at first.

Here is what I've done:
1. I have checked for spyware.
2. I have defragged.
3. I have whittled the startup programs to the bare minimum with msconfig.

Here is what I'm going to do:
1. Uninstall applications that aren't in use.
2. Clean the registry.
3. Maybe disable some services, but I can usually only find 1-2 that I can safely disable.
4. Take out startup programs from msconfig one by one to see if any are really killing me.

Can anyone think of anything else? Even if I get most or all programs out of Startup, I know there is a bunch of other thrashing that is going on down in the guts of WinXP when it boots. Is there a utility out there that will clean out WinXP down at a low level? Beyond the usual deletion or temporary Internet files, etc?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rforum]

You could put your Windows paging file on an alternate disk. Also set the 'initial' and 'maximum' size of your paging file to the same number to avoid page file fragmentation.

http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/11/23/defrag_pagefile.html

Run 'msconfig' and check ini files and unnecessary startup files.

Add more memory.

 

[icarus4586]

How many processes are running right after you log in? How much free RAM do you have at this point?

I've had XP running on this system for 11 months now and it's still snappy. You just have to take care of it enough.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: icarus4586
How many processes are running right after you log in? How much free RAM do you have at this point?

I've had XP running on this system for 11 months now and it's still snappy. You just have to take care of it enough.

Agreed. My XP machine is still snappy.

One thing you can do to improve boot performance is to empty out your Windows Prefetch folder. Your first reboot should be extremely fast, and it will slow down on subsequent reboots until it eventually plateaus. If you've installed and uninstalled a lot of applications, the resulting boot time should be faster than what you're experiencing now.

 

[AlucardX]

also try making a new user name and using that to log in with.. you'll get a nice and clean user registry

 

[timswim78]

If it is booting slower, you can clean out your prefetch folder. However, it may take a little longer when you use some applications for the first time after doing this.

Have you tested the speed of your hard disk? If your hdd is dying a slow death, that could be the root of your problems.

 

[Lasthitlarry]

Recently I went from 2 80Gbs to an 80 and a 160. I put everything on the 160, then partitioned one of the 80s with 10gb Windows, 10gb Programs, and the rest for whatever. It is usually good to not put any programs on the windows partition. Nothing speeds up hard drives like a reformat. Unless of course the hard drive is too old, then I would suggest..... A NEW HARD DRIVE.

 

[Chadder007]

Delete everything in these folders and then defrag after....
C:\Documents and Settings\%Your Username%\Local Settings\Temp
C:\temp
C:\WINDOWS\Temp
C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch

Also I suggest trying out TuneXP...
you can get it here http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/showdoc.php?doc=txp_about

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: Lasthitlarry
Recently I went from 2 80Gbs to an 80 and a 160. I put everything on the 160, then partitioned one of the 80s with 10gb Windows, 10gb Programs, and the rest for whatever. It is usually good to not put any programs on the windows partition. Nothing speeds up hard drives like a reformat. Unless of course the hard drive is too old, then I would suggest..... A NEW HARD DRIVE.

There is really no reason to put programs on a different partition from the OS. It won't spped things up, and you won't be able to keep the installations when you reinstall windows.