2 User Accounts, 1 fast - 1 Slow

Windows XP Home user.
I have 2 user accounts, both with admin privileges.
On my account (MA) I have acceptable "reaction time" when opening or closing any window or program.

On my wife's account (WA) the computer is "sluggish" and I've noticed an odd thing in the way it handles all displayed windows. When simply closing a folder window, the window closes top section first, then another and another in about six are seven pieces. It takes maybe three seconds to go off the screen.

Grabbing the top bar of a mid-size window and pulling it back-and-forth across the desktop causes the background and wallpaper to go all-white (like an eraser). It all then fills back in piece-by-piece in three or four seconds.

With Task Manager opened to the processes tab on WA, the EXPLORER.EXE process jumps to the top in CPU usage when I do the eraser thing. I noted that the peak memory usage for the EXPLORER.EXE task went to 112,088K.

On MA, the "eraser effect" does not happen at all, and swinging a window around the desktop only gave the EXPLORER.EXE task a peak of 32,000K.

Is this a symptom of something else?
What would make our accounts react different?
How can I match her account (settings?) to mine?

 

Just some thoughts:

Which account was set up first? I'm betting it was yours.

Do you have SP2 with updates, or SP3? That might help, and worth getting anyway.

Check that EXPLORER.EXE only exists in the C:\Windows folder.

To help with investigation, set up a third account and see what it does.

Has this been happening since you set up the second account? How long ago?

Any chance your wife's account is running automatic updates and installs?

 

Most startup items are user specific. I'd investigate from there.

You can use msconfig to compare what starts up vs. yours.

 

Also right click a blank spot on the desktop and select properties. Check to see if WA has any special effects turned on.

 

In reply to the Start Up differences suggested by Adrynalyne:
We have the same items EXCEPT the wife's is missing "ctfmon".
Should "ctfmon" be in her Startup list? Also the new account had "ctfmon" and an additional item "NMBgMonitor" in its Startup list.

Big Question - Delete the wife's account and give her the new one?

*Secondary Question: The new user account automatically ran "Personalized Settings" and installed a little toolbar (in the taskbar) titled "Nero Search". It appears it will automatically index something or other. Will it? Or did I disable indexing when I disabled Nero Scout just now?

Thanks for your time and the service you provide!

 

Sorry... this is NOT the big question!

THIS is the BIG question:

"Are you into wife swapping???"


Only joking everyone. Very happily married. :-D

The answer to YOUR big question is, yes, that would be one approach - I was going to suggest that, but some people (like me) like to find out what's going on anyway.

Re: ctfmon.exe... from Microsoft's support website:

Sounds like that could have something to do with it, although it might be symptom, rather than cause.

I don't know much about Nero, but if you open it, you should be able to see if it's indexing. It should have a setting somewhere for that, if it exists. Someone else might know more about this.

Just searched on EXPLORER.EXE - I have pretty much the same as you, so that looks all right.

Bottom line (see, here it is =>), if you're happy to remove the problem account and swap your wife over... to the new account, that would be ... you should be fine.

 

P.S. You should make sure everything's working and all files and so on are accessible in the new account before deleting the old one, if you go that way. It's a while since I've done anything along those lines, but I have vague memories of certain precautions having to be taken (or maybe I'm thinking of profiles).
Maybe someone else can chip in here with a bit more clarity.